New BGHS AD Michele Wolf excited to tackle challenges

Jun. 16—BOWLING GREEN — A three-sport athlete in high school, new Bowling Green High School athletic director Michele Wolf felt a calling to give back.

Wolf, who spent the previous seven years as the athletic director at Fostoria, said sports have always played a large role in her life.

"I became an AD, because of the impact that youth and high school sports had on my own life growing up and the part so many coaches have played in the kind of person that I am now," Wolf said. "In high school, I had wanted to be a teacher, so that I could coach and be in the classroom."

Wolf officially takes the reins as Bowling Green High School's athletic director Aug. 1.

She is taking over for Dirk Conner, who left BG to become the head football coach at Perrysburg. Conner also was the football coach at BG and served as the school's AD since 2017.

"This is something that I've always had my eye on, but the timing was never right," Wolf said. "I know a handful of the staff that have been there for years and really enjoy the energy that the younger coaches are bringing. The student body appears to be extremely well-rounded. I think the school is in a great position currently and in a position to make a great surge forward."

Wolf also coached in the Northern Buckeye Conference, leading the softball program at Otsego from 2004 to 2008 and at Fostoria from 2010 to 2012.

Wolf is taking over a BG athletic department that competes in the recently evolving Northern Lakes League. In April, NLL officials invited Clay, Findlay, Fremont Ross, and Whitmer high schools to join the league. In March, Maumee opted to exit the NLL and join the NBC. Beginning with the 2023-24 season, the NLL now is expected to have 11 schools. Bowling Green, which has 361 boys and 353 girls in grades 10 to 12, would be the second smallest school in the NLL behind Napoleon.

"This is going to be challenging, for sure," Wolf said. "I think there are still dominoes left to fall in northwest Ohio with league alignment. I think we're up for the challenge, though. BG is on the right track to get to where we want to be and will be able to compete in the expanded NLL."

NLL officials have said the league is committed to exploring additional expansion in the future to provide a more equitable competitive balance, including a possible two-tier system.

"I understand the reasons behind the expansion, though it appears that it may not be achieved at the level intended," Wolf said. "But I have not been in on any of those conversations and cannot speak too much on it."

Wolf said she is eager to tackle budget challenges and to expand offseason competition opportunities for BG's student-athletes.

Fostoria boys basketball coach Thom Loomis, who worked with Wolf for the last five years, said she is an excellent leader who always keeps students the central focus.

"She will be an asset for Bowling Green," Loomis said. "She worked hard to develop positive relationships with our student-athletes and challenged them to set goals and worked with them to achieve those goals in school, in life, and in the athletic arena."

Wolf played soccer, basketball, and softball at Westlake High School. After graduating in 2001, Wolf attended Bowling Green State University.

"After interviewing some current athletic directors for a class, I came to the realization that I needed to be in education," Wolf said. "At that point, I changed my major to education and tacked on another year's stay in BG. I subbed and coached for a couple of years, before moving back home to obtain my master's in special education."

Wolf graduated from BGSU in 2005 and earned a master's degree from Baldwin Wallace College in 2009.

"I started my first teaching job as a middle school intervention specialist at Fostoria, and my second year I started as the junior high AD, and it's just history from there," Wolf said.

Fostoria became her home for 12 years.

"This community has literally lent my family a hand in raising my kids," she said. "Every coach, teacher, player, and parent that I've worked with has made a mark on me one way or another. It's going to be a tough dynamic to replace."

Wolf said the past year and a half for all athletic directors in the area has presented enormous, unprecedented challenges due to the impact of the coronavirus.

"The most difficult part has been the unknown," Wolf said. "The ADs have all worked really well together and have been flexible with everything. We have all learned new ways to do things, some of which will remain for the better."

First Published June 16, 2021, 4:17pm