Kyle McLain, the new Activities Director for Star Valley High School, stepped into the SVI Radio studio during First Bank of Wyoming Sports Friday to discuss his new role overseeing athletics and activities at SVHS.

(0:00) Duke and Dow with you in studio and joining us in studio right now is the new Activities Director (0:05) at Starbody High School. That’s Kyle McLean. Good morning, Mr. McLean.
How are you today? (0:10) I’m doing well. Thanks for having me. This is the first time I’ve ever been on a live show before, (0:15) so a little nervous, but I’m excited.
Well, you should be nervous. We’re (0:19) going to make this very difficult. Yep, I would expect nothing less.
(0:23) Mr. McLean, thanks for coming in for us this morning and maybe give us a little bit of a (0:27) background. We’ve mentioned you come from Oregon where you’ve lived most of your life, but (0:32) kind of talk to us about your background and how you came to be in Star Valley. (0:37) Yep, I was born and raised in Oregon.
This is actually my first job outside of Oregon. (0:45) I was previously at Pleasant Hill School District where I was the Athletic Director and Assistant (0:50) High School Principal. I was there for three years, and this is my fifth year in an administrative role (0:56) and so, yeah, I’m super excited to be here.
Everybody that I’ve met has been really welcoming, (1:03) really supportive, really passionate about the work that they do with kids, (1:09) so I’m excited to get the ball rolling and see where we go with the school year. (1:15) Typically, an Activities Director is going to have some sort of background (1:18) in athletics. Is that the case for you before you became an AD in Oregon? (1:22) Yep, I was a Head Wrestling Coach for six years, coached a little bit of football and baseball, (1:30) but yeah, I grew up wrestling, playing baseball, football, all in Oregon.
I always knew I wanted (1:37) to be a coach and a teacher, and COVID actually hit, and I figured, you know what, let’s go back (1:43) to school and get my admin license, and the rest was history. Here we are. (1:48) Kind of talk to us about applying for this particular position and finding this job.
(1:54) What drew you to the position? (1:56) Yeah, I’m an avid outdoors person. Not avid, but I’m still learning the ropes of fly fishing and (2:04) hiking and backpacking. I want to get into skiing and mountain biking, and I’ve always wanted to (2:13) live in a mountain state like Wyoming or Montana, Idaho, Colorado, and so I was just doing some (2:18) research, and Star Valley High School came up, and I was diving into Star Valley High School and the (2:25) success that they’ve had in recent years and throughout its history and the support, and like (2:31) I said, the passion is second to none, I feel like.
One thing that I was really impressed with (2:37) was the amount of coaches on staff in the building as teachers. Where I came from, (2:42) Pleasant Hill School District, I think we only had one head coach that was a teacher, (2:48) and so this will be a refreshing change for me is the amount of coaches that we have in the building. (2:55) New Star Valley High School AD Kyle McClain in studio this morning with First Bank of Wyoming (2:59) Sports Friday.
So, of course, the administration began this week, so this was your first week (3:05) actually in the school and doing the job, and then sports, I mean, we just talked about it, (3:12) golf starts on Monday, so I mean, you’re jumping right into this thing, right? (3:15) Oh, yeah, yep, yep. I’m drinking from a fire hose right now, but yeah, Monday and Tuesday, (3:22) we were the district administrative team. We were at the district office for the beginning of the (3:28) year retreat, so it was really awesome to meet everyone at the district office and all the (3:33) administrators throughout the district.
Like I said, everyone has been super welcoming and (3:38) really supportive, so it’s been really great getting to know everybody. I think that’s my (3:45) biggest goal for this year is to build relationships based off of trust and then be available and (3:52) visible for the community. The athletics, it may not be the most important part of school, (3:59) but it is the most visible part of school, and I really want to amplify student experience (4:05) through that.
Going along those lines, what are maybe some small window and big picture (4:14) ideas that you have for the position? I’m a younger guy, so I’m really into (4:20) social media and communication. I really want to make sure that our community is aware (4:25) of what’s going on and really celebrate the successes of our kids and our programs, (4:31) just because our coaches, like I said, they’re super passionate and they’re successful. Last (4:37) year, we won three state titles, and I really want to celebrate those kids.
I was a head (4:43) wrestling coach, so I understand what it’s like to not get the publicity of a major sport (4:49) like boys basketball or football, so I really want to celebrate all of our programs, not just with (4:55) athletics, but with all activities, FFA, art, newspaper, things like that. (5:02) It’s actually going to bring that up. A lot of people think it’s athletic director, (5:07) and it is activities, right? Activities director.
(5:10) And so outside of the athletics, Star Valley High School also has a very strong (5:14) arts tradition in the performing arts and musicals and the band program and the orchestras, (5:20) the choirs. I mean, you go down the whole line, the dance, I mean, all of it, right? (5:24) Yep, yep. I mean, when I first got hired, I came here and toured the school with Farron (5:31) Hatterly, the principal, and we walked in the auditorium, and I was just awestruck by the (5:38) beauty and the scope of the auditorium.
I was like, oh my gosh, this facility is second to none. (5:48) So I’m really excited to be a part of the band program, the music program, (5:52) the art program, the theater, drama, all that. And it’s something that I’m not used to.
I’ve (6:00) always just been an athletic director. And so I’m really excited to learn more about those (6:06) programs and how I can support them and really publicize them. (6:13) What’s a part of your job that maybe the average person maybe isn’t quite aware of? (6:19) Not to put you on the spot.
(6:22) I would say the coordination piece for scheduling, for example. You have to schedule officials, (6:31) you have to schedule buses for away games, especially in Wyoming, with the travel, (6:39) you have to schedule hotels. So I think the coordination piece is really cumbersome (6:46) and takes a lot of my time.
Luckily, we have a full-time activities secretary, Christy Clark, (6:54) and I’ve heard nothing but good things. The little work that I’ve done with her has been amazing. (7:00) So I’m really excited to work with her hand in hand with the daily operations of (7:06) the activities department.
But I think the coordination piece is really cumbersome. (7:14) Ultimately, I want to be a mile high and look at our programs from that perspective and really (7:22) focus on quality instruction, quality coaching, and making sure that we’re providing the best (7:29) experience for our kids. Kyle McLean, the new activities director at Star Valley High School, (7:34) joining us for First Bank of Wyoming Sports Friday.
Well, Mr. McLean, thank you again for (7:38) your time. You mentioned you love the outdoors. This is, as you said, a great place to really (7:44) dive into that.
And you have a Wyoming fish hat on, which is fantastic. So it sounds like you’ve (7:50) really delved into the lifestyle already. Yes, yes.
And I’ve kind of been overwhelmed (7:55) by the amount of outdoor recreational pursuits there are around here. But I’ve really enjoyed (8:01) fishing the local rivers and creeks and kind of getting into big fish. And so if anyone’s (8:08) listening out there and wants to hit the river, hit me up.
Perfect. Perfect. Well, the media in (8:15) this town is pretty rough to get along with, we’ve been told.
So just a heads up for you. Yeah, (8:21) yeah. Just a heads up.
Yeah, I appreciate all the work that you guys do to kind of promote our kids (8:26) and our programs. And in a community like this, I was really surprised by the amount of coverage (8:32) that you guys do. So that is definitely unnoticed, going unnoticed or going noticed.
Appreciate it. (8:40) That’s again, new activities director Kyle McLean this morning. It’s all part of First (8:44) Bank of Wyoming Sports Friday on the SVI Radio Network.