Q&A: Board president Eddie Hartnett talks hiring CHSAA’s new commissioner
AURORA — Since 1921, the Colorado High School Activities Association has had eight Secretaries or Commissioners, tasked with leading the Association.
In late April, CHSAA will find out who the ninth will be. The man tasked with leading the group who is making that hire is Eddie Hartnett, the athletic director at Boulder High School who is the president of CHSAA’s Board of Directors.
Current commissioner Paul Angelico is set to retire this summer after 40 years in education, including 26 at CHSAA and six as commissioner.
The Board will ultimately announce Angelico’s replacement to member schools at the Legislative Council meeting on April 20. But they’ve been zeroing in on this process for more than a year.
The application period closed on Feb. 14. And on Wednesday, the Board reviewed applicants for the Commissioner position.
Just before that happened, we caught up with Hartnett to talk about the process for hiring such a prominent position in Colorado high school activities.
Question: Oh man, where to start? What was the application process like? Were you happy with the quality of the applicants?
Eddie Hartnett: Yes. We thought the application process, being that we held it open for six weeks, gave people enough time to really think about and really put thought into portfolios and resumes — and we received many of those.
Going from first of January to the middle of February, that was a good amount of time as far as allowing people to figure out if they wanted to apply and also have enough time to do it properly.
We do have plenty of qualified applicants that the Board has already reviewed, and on Wednesday, we’ll be talking about where we go from here.
We’re looking at middle of March for the interviews, and we’ll have the interviews here at CHSAA. We will have three different interview committees: the Board of Directors, the administrative assistants, and also the assistant commissioners that haven’t applied or are retiring.
Q: What qualities is the Board looking for in a Commissioner?
Hartnett: It’s clear from the Board of Directors that the Board wants to continue the mission and vision that CHSAA stands for, one that Paul Angelico really emphasized over the years that he was Commissioner. They would like to have somebody that cares as much as Paul has for the schools and all the student-athletes, and all the students that are involved in activities across the board in Colorado.
That is what we’re looking for: A person that is compassionate and understands students’ needs, but also the schools’ needs.
Q: To be clear, though, I think many don’t understand that this isn’t just you guys as a group going, “Oh, this is what we’re going to do.” You have spent basically a year getting input from the membership and what they’re looking for.
Hartnett: Right, exactly. We went out for the first time and we decided over a year ago that we wanted to go and personally visit each league.
As a Board, each of the Board members represents an association or three different leagues. I gave the direction to each of the Board members to go to the different leagues around the state of Colorado that they represent and personally hear from each of the schools that participate and are members of that league to create basically the different characteristics (of the position) that each of the leagues wanted.
So each of the schools were heard directly through their leagues at various league meetings.
Q: As a group, the Board has worked very hard to make this whole process transparent throughout.
Hartnett: That’s one of the things that made this process so different than many other hiring processes. For the first time, the CHSAA Board really, really emphasized the need to be transparent to the state, from when we were originally talking about the beginning of the process, to going out to different areas and leagues, taking questions from the leagues and league presidents, and at the All-School Summit.
There were numerous venues that different Board members were able to hit, including CADA outreaches, to field questions and be transparent about the entire process.
Q: Also just in informal settings, too, right? Games, and so forth?
Hartnett: Oh, at games, different competitions. People were asking me questions even at the state wrestling tournament. It creates a comfort and a trust that we’re all in it together and we all want what is best for our athletes and students participating in all activities in Colorado.
So it is a transparent process that is going very smoothly because it’s being so transparent for the first time.
Q: You’re typically a fun, happy-go-lucky guy, but in the this process, I’ve seen your demeanor change. It’s very serious — as it should be. This is a serious thing. Do you feel pressure with this? This is a huge weight to choose the next Commissioner here.
Hartnett: It’s something that I take very seriously. I’m very honored to be the president, to represent all of the different schools, to represent all of the different leagues, and also this (CHSAA) office.
We want to have somebody here that’s not going to miss a beat, that’s not going to take us backwards, but that will hear from the schools, collaborate with the schools, work with the schools, and lead the parents, communities and students of this state into the next decade.
That’s something that’s not only an honor, but something that you have to take very seriously. Because when I’m not around doing the athletic director job any longer, I want to know that I made an impact, and my legacy could be this person, who’s going to lead maybe even my grandchildren into athletics and activities and have an impact on them.
That’s the way I look at my role and responsibility of representing the state.
Q: In terms of hiring, we’re looking at April?
Hartnett: We’re going to announce at the Legislative Council the person who we have considered and recommended and also voted on as a Board to be approved for the Commissioner role. We will be announcing that formally, and that person will be there at the Legislative Council in April.
Q: And the cool thing with that is they get a couple of months to spend with Paul in transition.
Hartnett: They’ll be able to work closely and under Paul’s mentorship and he can help the new person kind of fit in and answer all of the questions they may have. The nice thing about Paul, too, is he has said he will be available even past that point to assist if that person ever needed it. And that’s really important.
