By Adam Studzinski
BLOOMINGTON – The Illinois High School Association announced Tuesday who its next top man will be.
Craig Anderson will take over as executive director in mid-January 2016. He’ll succeed current Executive Director Marty Hickman who earlier this year announced he will retire that same month. Anderson told WJBC’s Dan Swaney it’s fortunate he gets to spend time working with Hickman before taking over.
“I’m gonna spend a lot of time on the heels of Marty over these next six or seven months. I look forward to learning a great deal from him,” said Anderson. “I know that there’s a lot of things that he deals with that I’m not aware of.”
Podcast: Listen to Anderson’s conversation on WJBC.
Anderson is the former athletic director of Washington High School, a position he held from 2005 to 2010, and currently serves as the IHSA administrator for football, wrestling and baseball. He also oversees the IHSA Officials Department and he’s a current member of the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Football Rules Committee and the Chair of the NFHS Football Manual Committee.
Anderson said the IHSA could do a better job letting people know the organization is involved with more than just sports.
“We have activities directors that are separate from athletic directors that serve great roles in our schools,” he said.
Anderson added hopes of continuing to communicate the many positive stories IHSA member schools have to share about their students. He also would like to have a closer relationship with the IHSA Board of Directors.
“Marty’s done a great job of shaping that group,” said Anderson. “While I’ve been kind of an outsider, still serving and attending their meetings, I want to get more involved with our board so that we can have a shared vision for where we see the direction of the association.”
Anderson is a 1991 graduate of Monmouth College and in 1997 earned a Master’s of Arts Degree in Educational Administration from Illinois State University.
Anderson will be the seventh executive director in IHSA history.
Adam Studzinski can be reached at [email protected].
