Gann hired as Tribe athletics director

FORT RECOVERY — Once again, Fort Recovery didn’t have to look very far to find its next athletics director.

Fort Recovery school board on Monday unanimously voted to hire Holly Gann as its next athletics and transportation director. Gann will take over for Brent Niekamp, whose resignation after two years in the position was accepted Feb. 22.

“I feel that career-wise this is the next step for me,” said Gann, 32, who noted she still plans to coach the Tribe girls basketball team. “I always wanted to become a teacher, but since teaching for the last nine years I’ve gone back to school to get a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction.”

Gann, a 2007 FRHS graduate who is also an assistant girls track coach, will assume her new role Aug. 1, the day after Niekamp relinquishes his duties in that position.

“We are excited to welcome Holly Gann to the Fort Recovery Schools management team,” Fort Recovery Local Schools superintendent Larry Brown said in a statement released during Monday’s meeting. “She offers a great balance of educational knowledge and coaching experience to this position.”

Gann has been a teacher in Indiana and Ohio for the last nine years, and is currently a remote learning math and science teacher for Greenville Middle School’s seventh and eighth graders. She recently completed her second season leading the FRHS girls basketball team.

“I have a strong passion to teach,” she said. “I wanted more leadership roles and this aligns with my goals. That alignment was huge for me. It’s just an opportunity to be in an administrative position and put those skills to the test.

“I’m just so happy to be home. I want to be all in with Fort Recovery, be that person for the community and work with a great staff in the district.”

Niekamp was hired as athletics and transportation director in April 2019, and began Aug. 1 of the same year. Citing a desire to return to teaching, his resignation was accepted by the FRLS board at its Feb. 22 meeting.

Brown’s statement said the district received 34 applicants, and the interview committee included administrators and other Fort Recovery head coaches. FRHS principal Tony Stahl and volleyball coach Travis Guggenbiller, both of whom were in attendance Monday, were among those on the committee. Gann was offered a two-year contract.

Gann, who is currently taking courses to receive her administrative license, will work alongside Niekamp until the end of the school year to make the transition as smooth as possible.

“I’m excited to be able to walk through the spring with Brent,” she said. “Try to do as much as I can with him in the spring, walking through things on the back end of my own job.”

Also at Monday’s meeting, Niekamp was unanimously hired as high school intervention teacher.