The Beard is Shaved: AD Joel Beard switches districts, leaves behind changes

By Kassidy Thomas

News Feature Editor

March 2022

It was recently acknowledged that Joel Beard, our district's athletic director, has resigned. After the school year, he will be moving to a district in McHenry at the start of next school year, continuing his role there as Athletic Director. This has many people worrying as they don’t know who his replacement will be, or whether they will be able to live up to expectations that Beard has set for everyone.

Throughout his six-year tenure as our athletic director, he has connected with many coaches and people here. “Mr. Beard has been here for six years, and in that time he has provided me with support, and I have enjoyed our in-depth conversations about how to improve our athletic programming and the volleyball program specifically,” said girls volleyball coach Kim Gamble.

As athletic director, Beard has multiple tasks that he is responsible for. He is not only in charge of Beloit Memorial High School athletics but the intermediate school athletics as well. It will most likely be very hard to interview for Beard’s spot as he made quite the impact on the district's athletics.

“Joel has been very accommodating and gave me a lot of advice and helped me as a football coach,” said football coach Brad Dement.

Not many people hear about what athletic directors in school districts do because in a way they work behind closed doors, but Beard did everything he could to work with the kids and put a face to our athletic programs.

“He has done a really nice job improving the branding and marketing of BMHS athletics as well as establishing a social media presence that didn't exist prior to his arrival,” said boys hockey and boys golf coach James Hoey.

In an interview with the Beloit Daily News, Beard mentioned that this development was one of his points of pride. "I'm proud of the fact that we now have a real social media presence," Beard said.

As sad as it is to see a member of our staff leaving, change can sometimes be good. Beard is on to other things, and we will have a great staff here to make sure the new athletic director has a smooth transition into the new year.

“Change can certainly be hard, but I believe we have a lot of really amazing coaches and student-athletes that will keep us moving in a positive direction. I am looking forward to working with the next athletic director and helping him or her create the best athletic department in the state!” said soccer coach Brian Denu.