Emery High School Principal Steven Gordon has announced that Jake Atwood will be the new Emery Spartan Athletic Director, replacing long-time AD Todd Jeffs who announced his retirement early this year.

“I look forward to letting the coaches coach and take care of everything else,” Atwood said. “There’s a lot of things that go into coaching that people don’t understand, and I want to take that pressure off the coaches and let them just coach their sport.”

Atwood graduated from Emery High School before attending BYU-Hawaii to receive his bachelor’s degree. He would then go on to earn his master’s degree from the United States Sports Academy.

“I’m just really looking forward to going back and being a part of the school that I went to,” Atwood said.

After his graduation from BYU-Hawaii, Atwood spent time as an assistant basketball coach at Snow College in Ephraim, Utah. He served as an assistant under Michael Ostlund from 2007-12 before accepting the head coaching positions of the Mont Harmon girl’s basketball and track teams.

Atwood hopes to officially start in his new position as soon as possible, but sees mid-August as a realistic time to begin.

“I really have a positive impression about where [Steve Gordon and Dean Stilson] want to take Emery athletics,” Atwood said. “Obviously we are getting some new facilities that I’m excited to be a part of and be able to utilize.”

The brand-new Emery High Sports Complex is close to completion and will host an open house on Thursday, May 19 to mark the beginning of a new era of Spartan Athletics.