Congratulations to these Administrators of the Year!
Michael A. Smith - Athletic Director/Assistant Principal
Munster High School - District I
Mike Smith has served as athletic director and assistant principal for the past 12 years at Munster High School, where he has overseen a Mustangs program that has won 123 conference championships, 91 sectionals, 36 regionals, five semistates and one state title. He also oversees a Dance team that has won five state titles and one national title.
Smith has served as host for numerous IHSAA tournaments in boys and girls basketball, football, baseball, volleyball, wrestling, boys and girls golf, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls soccer, and boys and girls tennis.
Previously, Smith was a teacher and coach in Logansport from 1969-91, then became the Logansport High School athletic director from 1991-99. He was an assistant principal and athletic director for one year at Logansport Middle School before moving to his current position in the fall of 2000.
While at Munster, Smith has updated and computerized the constitution and by-laws for the Northwest Crossroads Conference, developed and administered a conference web site and initiated annual conference yearbooks for the Northwest Crossroads and Lake Athletic conferences. While at Logansport, he reinstituted an annual conference yearbook for the North Central Conference and helped initiate and co-chaired the Special Olympics program. At both Munster and Logansport, Smith implemented drug-testing programs and expanded athletic halls of fame.
Smith has been a member of the Indiana Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association for 20 years and served at the IIAAA tennis chairman for two years. He has attended 12 NIAAA national conventions and is a three-time winner of the IIAAA Charles Maas Distinguished Service Award (2003-04, 2006-07 and 2008-09).
Smith and his wife, Annette, have three adult children – all former athletes at Logansport – and eight grandchildren.
Grant Nesbit - Athletic Director
Lawrence North - District II
Grant Nesbit joined Lawrence North in 2001 as Assistant Athletic Director and was promoted to Athletic Director in 2003. An Indianapolis native, Nesbit earned his bachelor’s degree at Ball State University, his master’s degree and building-level administrative license at Butler University, and his specialist degree and superintendent’s license at Ball State University.
During his time at Lawrence North, Nesbit has overseen tremendous change and success, both within the operations of the department, as well as the physical plant. Ten of the school’s 14 IHSAA State Championships have come since his arrival. In 2006, Lawrence North became Indiana’s first national champion in Boys Basketball and in 2009 Lawrence North won its first state championship in a girls’ sport. Nesbit oversaw the $14 million natatorium and weight room additions, installation of artificial turf at Dwaine Bell Stadium, the development of an entire soccer complex and a complete renovation of the baseball diamonds and wrestling room.
A leader in the field of education-based athletics, he has been a presenter to the Indiana Association of School Principals, Indiana Principals Leadership Academy and the Indiana Urban Schools Association. In 2007 he was nominated for Athletic Director of the Year, and in 2010 he represented high school athletic directors from across the country as an expert panelist alongside the Executive Directors of the National Federation of High Schools and the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association.
He has been published nationally, having penned articles for the National Association of Interscholastic Athletic Administrator’s Interscholastic Athletic Administration and Athletic Management.
He frequently returns to the classroom, serving as a guest speaker to undergraduate and graduate classes around the state, having presented at Ball State University, Indiana University, Butler University, IUPUI and the University of Indianapolis.
Prior to coming to Lawrence North, he was the Partners in Education Coordinator and Assistant Athletic Director at Greenfield-Central, where he was also the head wrestling coach. As a coach, he was recognized as a Hoosier Heritage Conference Coach of the Year and was a board member of the Indiana High School Wrestling Coaches Association.
In the classroom, he taught social studies, and developed and implemented the school’s first Advanced Placement course in psychology. Prior to teaching, he was employed as the Assistant Director of Ball State’s London Centre, residing in London, England.
In the community, Nesbit is a board member of Best Buddies Indiana and the Mud Creek Conservancy. In his spare time, he enjoys traveling and is an avid outdoorsman.
Jim Zeller - Assistant Athletic Director
Lawrence North - District II
Jim Zeller was hired as Assistant Athletic Director at Lawrence North in 2003 and has served in that role for nine years.
Zeller, who hails from Bloomington, Ind., participated in football, basketball, swimming and baseball (captain) at Bloomington High School South. He played football (three letters) and baseball (four letters) at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Ill. He was also named six times to Wheaton’s Academic Dean’s list. After earning his bachelor’s degree from Wheaton, Zeller attended Indiana University where he earned his master’s degree in Administrative Physical Education.
Zeller completed his 25th year as a Marion County Athletic Director at the end of the 2010-11 school year. He previously held the position of Athletic Director at Bishop Chatard High School from 1986-97 and at Decatur Central High School from 1997-2003. While at Chatard, he also served as the Trojans’ head baseball coach. Zeller started his teaching career at Grace Brethren Christian School in Clinton, Md., from 1982-1985 and coached baseball and basketball.
Zeller has had the privilege of experiencing eight of the school’s 14 IHSAA state championships during his time at Lawrence North. With his background in baseball, Zeller was instrumental in the planning and coordinating the renovations of the baseball facility – which included completely relaying the outfield, new backstop, fencing, irrigation system and bleachers. Zeller also was closely involved with the $14 million natatorium addition and the installation of an artificial surface on the football field.
Zeller has served the Indiana Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association as a presenter and Junior Representative for his district. He has also been recognized by the Indiana Football Coaches Association and Bishop Chatard High School for character and leadership.
Zeller and his wife, Wendie, have three children – Justin, a football and All-America baseball player at Wheaton College; Julia, a student at Hillsdale College; and Jacob, a student and baseball player at North Central High School. In his free time, Zeller enjoys following his children in sports, jogging and home-improvement projects.
Paul Neidig - Director of Athletics
Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp. - District III
Paul Neidig has been employed by the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation for the past 25 years, most recently as the district’s Deputy Chief of Staff and Director of Athletics. He also has been on the Indiana High School Athletic Association Board of Directors for the past eight years, serving as the Chairman of the Executive Committee in 2007 and 2010.
During his time with EVSC, Neidig coached basketball for 10 years and has been involved in athletic administration for the past 16 years. He served as Athletic Director at Evansville Central High School for 10 years, hosting more than 75 IHSAA tournament events.
More recently, he became the district AD, coordinating a program for five high schools and 11 middle schools that totals more than 297 teams and more than 400 coaches.
Neidig, a certified athletic administrator, has been an Officer for District 6 of the Indiana Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association and has presented at numerous state and national conferences. In 2007, Paul was named Athletic Director of the Year for the state of Indiana.
He is also a state and national instructor for the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association leadership-training program, LTC 714 and 720. He also has been an instructor for three years for the National Federation of State High School Associations’ national Student Leadership Conference and been involved with the IHSAA Student Leadership Conference since its inception.
Neidig and his wife, Jean, have been married for 26 years and have three children: Ashley, Chris, and Kyle.
Jerrill Vandeventer - Superintendent
Greater Jasper Consolidated Schools - District III
Jerrill Vandeventer is the superintendent of Greater Jasper Consolidated Schools and a strong believer in the benefit of high school athletics.
A former successful basketball coach, Vandeventer has served in school administration for 17 years, the last six as superintendent of Greater Jasper Schools.
Vandeventer was a varsity basketball coach for 11 seasons, compiling a 147-96 record with three conference titles, three co-Evansville city championships and one sectional crown. He coached four years at Owen Valley, three years at Boonville and four years at Evansville Harrison. His best seasons were 21-2 at Boonville in 1985-86 and 20-2 at Evansville Harrison in 1988-89.
He coached 10 players who went on to play college basketball, including Calbert Cheaney, Walter McCarty, Chris Lowery, Brent Kell and Brad Brownell. Cheaney and McCarty went on to play in the NBA, and Cheaney, McCarty, Lowery and Brownell all have become college or NBA coaches.
Vandeventer began his career in education in 1975 as an industrial arts teacher at Mooresville High School. He was an industrial arts and health teacher at Tri-Central High School from 1976-78, then an industrial arts teacher at Tell City for 1978-79. He was an industrial arts teacher at Owen Valley High School from 1979-83, then a physical education teacher at Boonville High School from 1983-86. He served as an assistant principal at Evansville Harrison High School from 1986-95 before moving to Greater Jasper Schools. There he was an assistant superintendent from 1995-2006 and superintendent from 2006-present.
A 1971 graduate of Bloomfield High School, Vandeventer attended Milligan College and Purdue University, earning his bachelor’s degree from Purdue in 1975. He received his master’s degree from Indiana State in 1980 and a degree in secondary administration from Indiana State in 1986. He completed the Educational Specialist at Indiana State in 1997 and received his doctorate’s degree from Indiana State in 2005.
Vandeventer earlier this year was named District 7 Superintendent of the Year by the Indiana Association of School Superintendents. He has announced his retirement from Greater Jasper Schools effective the end of the current school year in May.
Vandeventer and his wife, Jill, have three children – son Tyler and daughters Tory and Tara – and three grandchildren.
