Owensboro Catholic High School has named Jeff Hurley as the new athletic director. Hurley will take over for David Blanford, who is retiring after holding the position for 19 years.
Hurley is no stranger to the duties of AD, as he served the same role at Daviess County High School for five years.
“It’s a job that I know well,” he said. “I’ve only been retired for about a year, but I wasn’t finished by any means after retirement. You’re always kind of wanting to try something new.”
Hurley said he knows both Blanford and principal Gates Settle well, and he had several talks with them before he was offered the position.
“I know David personally and he’s done a great job there,” Hurley said. “It will be some big shoes to fill. He’s a hard worker.”
Blanford has been with Owensboro Catholic for 43 years in total, and he said it was the right time in his career to take a step back.
“I’ve had a great career and had blessings every year I’ve been there,” he said. “It was time for me to retire. I have a grandson that’s just less than 2 years old. It’s just the right time for me to do that.”
Blanford is not going to leave it all totally behind, though. In addition to finishing out this year, he’ll still work part-time at the school. His contract runs through June 30, so Blanford said May will be his month of moving out and June will be when Hurley starts to settle in.
Though they knew Hurley, Blanford said Settle still did an in-depth interview because of some differences in the school systems.
“Gates interviewed him, because there are some things done differently in public schools and private schools, just to make sure Jeff would be comfortable with those things,” Blanford said. “Just because there are so many things that are a little bit different, I’m going to be there as a resource for Jeff if he needs it.”
Hurley said he is ready to get started and is glad to be joining another school with longstanding success in sports and in the classroom.
“They have a strong tradition in athletics and it’s a very good school academically,” he said. “I thought it would be a good opportunity. I’m just going to take it one year at a time and see how it goes.”
Just like during his first stint as an AD, Hurley said much of the first year will be spent staying the course and making observations.
“You just familiarize yourself,” he said. “You can’t really make a decision or know if anything needs to be improved upon without knowing first how everything is run. I don’t have any big plans or preconceived notions about things that need to be changed. They seem to be doing quite well.”
ABOUT HURLEY
Hurley spent 25 years at Daviess County, where in addition to his teaching position he also at various times served as an assistant coach for football, girls’ basketball and baseball, as well as baseball head coach.
Hurley retired from public school education in 2018 after 28 years, teaching health and physical education at the elementary, middle and high school levels.
Hurley has degrees from Kentucky Wesleyan College, Western Kentucky University and Indiana Wesleyan University. He is married to Tammy Hamilton Hurley, a 1989 OCHS graduate, and they have one son, Braxton, a sophomore at Thomas More University.
