Since returning to Windham in 2001, graduate Dougle Hankins has worn many hats while working in the school district as a teacher and a coach. He now wears a most important hat, having been hired as Windham’s newest athletic director.
“I have had an interest in being the athletic director since I first started in 2001,” the Windham alum told The Weekly Villager on June 20. “For a couple of years, I was helping the athletic director with basketball games and football games and stuff like that. I was never able to take on a full-time role to be the athletic director because I had my kids. Now that my kids are fully grown, it was an opportunity for me to do something.”
As head of the athletic department, Hankins replaces Daniel Gross, who just completed his 10th year as the Bombers’ athletic director before stepping down. In addition to assuming the position, Hankins will also continue his responsibilities as the varsity track coach and intervention specialist in the school district. He will relinquish his role as the junior varsity girls’ basketball coach but even with a new set of responsibilities, Hankins will still be keeping in touch with the pulse of the community.
Although he is a new figure at the head of the athletic department, Hankins said that being a key part of the school district for the last 24 years will serve him well as he transitions into his new role.
“I think it is very important to have your athletic director in the building, knowing the kids, knowing the coaches and all of that stuff — just being there for day-to-day events and day-to-day questions,” the 1994 Windham graduate said.
As a student in the school district, Hankins was a multi-sport athlete, competing in football, basketball, cross-country and track. Hankins said that although several of his teams were small in roster size, they embraced being the underdogs and brought down larger teams several times in his high school career.
“A lot of times in the 1980s or 1990s especially, we beat a lot of the bigger schools consistently. That was enjoyable and honestly, just being a part of such a small school environment, it is the coaches,” he added. “It allows for more of a bond between a coach and a player.”
After graduating from Windham, he traveled to Alliance to pursue his teaching degree at the University of Mount Union. He spent several years in Alliance and then Cortland before returning to his alma matter in 2001.
According to Hankins, no matter how far away he was, he never stopped bleeding the black and gold of Windham.
“It is one of the few things I take pride in,” he noted. “Windham and the people are great. The kids are great, and it is where my whole life has been. I honestly could not imagine being anywhere else.”
Several years after settling in as a teacher, Hankins began coaching, taking on the roles of junior high boys’ basketball coach and head volleyball coach. He also coached in several other sports over the years but found the most success in being the head track coach since 2014, when the track program was officially revived and also as the junior high girls’ basketball coach.
He acknowledged that there was a significant difference in coaching the same students that he taught during the day.
“When you are coaching kids, they really want to be there. As a coach you are trying to figure out a way to bring that out in them. I have a lot fun coaching,” he added. “I have a lot of fun teaching, but it is a different kind of relationship and I definitely relish those moments.”
Hankins added to his responsibilities by assisting several of the athletic directors in managing football and basketball games over the years.
Having served under four different athletic directors in the 24 years since becoming a teacher in the school district, Hankins said that he learned a lot from each one.
Now it is Hankins’ turn to oversee Windham athletics. It is an opportunity he is relishing as he seeks to continue maintaining the standards set by his predecessors. In addition to ensuring that their work is respected, he also seeks to leave his own unique mark as the new Bombers’ athletic director.
“My goal is to do the job as well as all of the people before me,” Hankins noted. “To do as good a job as they did and put my own little mark on there somewhere. How that happens, I am not sure. I feel like the athletic director a lot of times is like a referee in the basketball game. If you don’t notice the referee is there, they are doing a good job.”
