Bowser can't wait to get started at Northampton

http://www.mcall.com/sports/columnists/groller/mc-todd-bowser-northampton-0511-20120511,0,2188789,full.column FROM THE MORNING CALL Todd Bowser may have grown up and attended high school and college in western Pennsylvania and he may have spent the last six years teaching and coaching in Fort Mill, S.C. But the 37-year-old Bowser he feels as though he knows Northampton. And that's why Bowser applied for the athletic director position created by the upcoming retirement of Mike Schneider. Bowser was approved as the school's new AD by the school board on Monday night and will begin his new job on July 1. Northampton has gone through quite a turnover in coaches in the past few years and Bowser will add to the new landscape in Konkrete Kid country. Hopefully, the community, which can be tough on its coaches, athletic directors and teams, will give him a chance. In Bowser, Northampton seems to have someone who will embrace the past while also forging boldly into the future. He can't wait to get going. "Pennsylvania is my home state and I look at it as though I am coming home," Bowser said by phone. "I enjoyed my time here in South Carolina, but I never really called it home; at least what I consider to be home. I will miss the beautiful weather here, but I miss the food and the sports that I was accustomed to back in Pennsylvania. I am looking forward to getting to do some of the things I always used to do." Bowser was a three-sport athlete and 10-time letter-winner (football, basketball and baseball) at Elderton High School in Armstrong County and said it shared common traits with his new home. "It has a lot of the same standards that Northampton has," Bowser said. "In terms of size, Northampton is a lot bigger, but it still has that tight-knit community type of approach. It will be nice to be a part of that again." He attended the University of Pittsburgh — "I'm a huge Pitt fan," he said — and then embarked on a teaching career that has seen him spend three years at Pleasant Valley and six at Perkiomen Valley in Collegeville before he headed south to South Carolina. It was while coaching at Pleasant Valley as a girls basketball assistant and JV coach on Dave Stefani's staff that Bowser first became impressed with Northampton. At that time, the Konkrete Kids were members of the Mountain Valley Conference. "I loved competing against Northampton because their kids were very sportsmanlike and they were well-coached and prepared," he said. "It struck me as a classy program that provided good competition. "In terms of the Lehigh Valley Conference, it's one of the top conferences in the state of Pennsylvania. Just to be able to apart of the conference and the great tradition of Northampton in both athletics and academics, I'm very honored to be in this position." He's also eager to implement many of the things he's learned along the way. "I've been at three different schools in two different states and I've worked with a lot of coaches and ADs and based on my education, my sports management degree, I am looking forward to the opportunity of running an entire athletic program and not just one team," he said. "Everything is in place at Northampton to progress and get even better with the new facilities. "The vision is there from the top on down and the commitment to athletics remains very strong. There's definitely a new excitement there with a lot of new coaches like football coach Jeff Brosky and basketball coach Coy Stampone. Superintendent Joe Kovalchik and assistant superintendent Jeanette Gilliland have made me feel welcome. I'm looking forward to forming new relationships." Kovalchik, who said Bowser will have huge shoes to fill in succeeding Schneider, likes the newcomer's enthusiasm. "He's a quality guy and we have a lot of confidence in him to lead our athletic department into the future," Kovalchik said. In addition to Bowser, a math teacher, and his wife Theresa, who is also a teacher, Northampton will be getting four future student-athletes in their four boys — 41/2-year-old twins Nicholas and Andrew, 2-year-old Matthew and five-month old Timothy — to play on future Konkrete Kids teams. "I am in the process of finding a home in Northampton and I definitely want my whole family to be a part of the entire community," Bowser said. "I don't just want to work in Northampton, I want my family to be part of everything, and ideally, I'd like the community groups to work together with the high school. Hopefully, everyone will be on the same page and we can get some continuity going." Bowser said one of his main goals will be to get the kids who grow up in Northampton to stay in Northampton. "We don't to lose our best athletes to neighboring districts or private schools," he said. "That's key." But you can expect a lot of black and gold to mix with the orange and black. 'We are Steelers and University of Pittsburgh fans, the whole family," he said. Coming and going: In addition to hiring Coy Stampone as its new boys basketball coach, Northampton also hired Dan Benner as its new cross country coach. Benner has been an assistant for five years and is also a middle school social studies teacher in the district. Salisbury announced this week that it has hired Richard Babyak, a 1977 Salisbury grad, as its new girls soccer coach and Joe Mladosich has been approved as its new girls basketball coach. Babyak replaces Mark Allinson, who will remain the school's boys soccer coach. Both the boys and girls are playing soccer in the fall beginning in September. Allinson was the only girls coach Salisbury has had and Babyak had been Allinson's assistant. Mladosich had been a head coach at Pen Argyl and Saucon Valley and most recently was an assistant at Northwestern. He replaces Bob Mazziotta, who was dismissed after three seasons.