Michael Harrison has only been Ponte Vedra High School’s athletic director for a week, but he already has big plans for the program’s future.
He introduced himself to the community during a meet and greet June 29 in the PVHS auditorium.
During the event he praised the success PVHS has had over the years and explained some of his plan to make sure that success maintains and even grows to new levels.
“The program’s themselves are phenomenal,” Harrison said. “In just 13 years, there’s been 121 district titles, 67 regional titles and 18 state championships, plus 10 individual state champions on top of that,” Harrison said. “If you just look at that, you see that success breeds success.”
Harrison spent 10 years coaching basketball at Middleburg High in Clay County before being Orange Park High’s athletic director the past five years.
According to Harrison, leaving Orange Park was a difficult decision because he was from Orange Park and felt at home in many ways, but in the end the Ponte Vedra job and the opportunity to be an athletic director in St. Johns County proved too hard to pass up.
“Along the way I started meeting people in St. Johns County and really built those relationships,” Harrison said. “St. Johns County athletic directors are a step up from most counties,” Harrison said. “They are aspired jobs.”
Despite the past success, there are still plenty of ways in which Harrison hopes to leave his imprint on Ponte Vedra to insure it is one of the marquee athletic programs in the state.
“Obviously, you can’t go much further than winning state championships, but I think we really have the opportunity to take everything another step up,” Harrison said.
Making sure the focus of the program remains on its athletes is one way Harrison believes is key to ensuring sustained success.
“We can really get out and promote our kids better by growing the social media side of the house,” Harrison said.
Another major emphasis for Harrison was a dedication to improving the school’s athletic facilities.
“We can really up the game here,” Harrison said.
One of the things he will have to adjust to is the wide array of sports that PVHS has, including several sports that are not common at most other schools, such as lacrosse and beach volleyball.
The ability to work around so many different sports excites Harrison and he welcomes the challenge.
“There’s just so many opportunities that our athletes have here,” Harrison said. “They had 700 athletes last year alone, so we’ll get the opportunity to watch them all grow and develop.”
