Dan Vosnos wants to create a new billboard for Homewood-Flossmoor.
The day after a controversial school board meeting that ended with the dismissal of girls basketball coach Anthony Smith, the newly named athletic director said he’s relishing the challenge of turning the athletic programs in the right direction.
“Every AD has his challenges,” Vosnos said Wednesday. “I’ve been through some challenging issues in the past. It helps grow you professionally. I’m kind of embracing the opportunity to get my hands dirty.”
Vosnos has more than a decade of high school administrative experience. From 2003 to ’11 he was the associate director of athletics at Evanston, and since 2011 has served as the athletic director at Jacobs.
He worked at Evanston under former H-F athletic director Alec Anderson, who died Aug. 7, shortly before Anderson was to start his second year at the school.
“Last May at the ADs’ conference we had lunch and he (Anderson) just raved about H-F, the community, the staff, the top-notch students, everything that goes into the school,” Vosnos said. “He was like, ‘This is a dream job.’
“When he passed away in August, I wasn’t thinking about anything at that time. But starting a family with my wife (Elizabeth) and commuting ever day from Chicago to Algonquin was taking a toll on me, and I began to explore options.
“Based on my conversation with Alec and my conversation with another AD who has had H-F experience, I went for it in late December. I don’t think there’s a better community, a better school, a better staff that fits me for who am as a person and a professional.”
Vosnos inherits an athletic department reeling from IHSA investigations and sanctions. The girls basketball team was disqualified from the state tournament after self-reported participation violations. Other programs also were scrutinized, but spared any IHSA penalties.
Since Anderson’s death, the athletic department has been run on an interim basis by football coach Craig Buzea and longtime department member Gail Smith.
Vosnos, who will finish the school year at Jacobs, said he plans on taking part in resolving the status of the girls basketball program and the reorganization of the athletic department.
“I plan on being a part of the entire process,” he said. “I’m going to embrace the opportunity to put a little TLC into the department that I think it needs now. The challenge in front of me is something that actually excites me.
“There are a lot of positives. H-F is heading in the right direction, they just had a little bit of a speed bump. Their billboard may be for the time a little scarred, but we’re going to re-create that billboard.”
