Anthony Armas has officially been named the new athletic director of Denair High School. Armas will be replacing Melissa Treadwell, who served in the position for nearly four years.
While Armas will assume new responsibilities in the AD position, he will continue to serve as the school’s head football coach, where he has previously led the Coyotes to a state title.
“It’s going to be something different, but I’m excited,” Armas said. “I’m looking forward to working with some of the other sports and the other coaches.”
Armas is an alumnus of Denair High and has been involved with campus activities for a total of over 14 years. After graduating from DHS in 1997, he returned to his alma mater in 2003 to be an assistant football coach. He remained in the position for five years before coaching at Pitman for three years. In 2015, he returned to Denair again to teach and take over as football head coach. While Armas now finds himself as the school’s athletic director today, he explained that it was not always in his plans.
“Way back in the day, being an AD was something I wanted to be, but once I started coaching, I really found that the coaching aspect was something I wanted to focus on most,” he said.
This past year, Armas explained that he heard rumblings of Treadwell potentially leaving her position as the school’s athletic director. When the news was finally confirmed in April, Armas initially wasn’t interested. It wasn’t until coaches, administrators and Treadwell herself urged him to take the position.
“Lots of people came to me and thought I could do it, so I started thinking about it a little more,” he said. “Everybody encouraging me really guided me through it.”
Armas was officially named the new athletic director back in May and has continued to see an abundance of support directed his way. Treadwell and previous Athletic Director Darrin Allen have offered assistance to Armas throughout the early stages of the transition, which is something he is incredibly grateful for.
“Both of them have reached out and said that they can help me out, especially in football seasons when I will be coaching, so I think that helped a lot,” Armas said.
Balancing coaching, teaching and the new position is something he will be a challenge, but it is one he is determined to conquer.
“I’ve got a lot of work to do,” Armas joked. “It’s definitely a new experience, but we’ll keep things rolling.”
Armas explained that, as a graduate of Denair High, he also feels a sense of pride to lead the athletics department.
“There’s a lot of people in the district that have gone to school here and are now teaching, and that sense of pride is something that we all share,” he said. “We all want to give back to where we came from, and I think that is what makes us successful.”
