Congratulations to these Administrators of the Year:
Robert Falls - Athletic Director
Michigan City - District 1
Robert “Bear” Falls has impacted the lives of countless students and student athletes in Northwest Indiana, as an educator, coach and athletic director.
He began his career as a teacher of Physical Education, Health, and Driver’s Education at Elston High School in Michigan City. During his 20 years at Elston, he was an assistant coach at the freshman, JV and Varsity levels for both football and basketball.
Falls was named Head Basketball Coach for Michigan City High School in 1995, a post he held until 2001. Under his leadership, the Wolves went 80-40 and never had a losing season. He guided City to a Duneland Conference championship in 1997-98 and three second-place finishes.
This June, Falls will retire as Athletic Director for the Michigan City Area Schools, a post he held since 2005.
Over his 40-year career, he has been active in Indiana athletics, most recently serving on the Indiana High School Athletic Association Board of Directors and Executive Committee (2007-2009). A strong supporter of youth sports, he has coached and officiated community leagues and tournaments for both softball and basketball.
Falls holds a bachelor’s degree in Education from Illinois State University and a Master’s in Education from Indiana University-Northwest.
As a high school athlete at Elston, he was named to the all-state football team. At Illinois State, he was the first player in school history to play both offensive and defensive halfback, breaking school records in pass receiving.
Geoff Penrod - Athletic Director
Columbia City - District 1
Geoff Penrod is currently in his currently in his 29th year as Athletic Director at Columbia City High School. He began his teaching career as a science/physical education teacher at Columbia Township in 1976. He then taught biology at Columbia City High School, where he served as an assistant basketball coach for seven years. Penrod moved into the Athletic Director’s position in 1985 and has been at Whitley County Consolidated Schools his entire career.
Penrod has served on the IHSAA Board of Directors since 2003. He has led numerous committees in his time on the board as well as being the President of the Board of Directors in 2007-08 and 2013-14.
Penrod has also been a member of the IIAAA since 1985 and has been District Athletic Director of the Year in 2003, 2004 and the State Athletic Director of the Year in 2004. He has served the IIAAA as the 1st Vice President, President and Past President from 2005-2009.
Penrod has served as the Secretary-Treasurer for the Northeast Indiana Athletic Conference and Northeast Hoosier Conference for four years each. He also is a member of the NIAAA and NFHS professional organizations – receiving the NFHS Citation in 2011.
Penrod is a 1972 graduate of Bluffton High School and was inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame in 2004. He graduated from Manchester College with a bachelor’s degree in physical education and biology, later earning his master’s in secondary education from Indiana University-Fort Wayne.
Penrod has been a leader in athletic administration for most of his career and enjoys the interaction with student-athletes, coaches, officials and other athletic administrators. He is passionate about athletics and wants to provide great opportunities for all student-athletes to have the experience of being part of a team and working together to reach a common goal.
He appreciates everyone who has given him the opportunity to do his job that he loves, former principal Donald Weeks, former Superintendent Ralph Bailey and current principal Jennifer Reiff and current Superintendent Patricia O’Connor.
Penrod has been married for 38 years to his wife, Nicole. Their children, Brandon and Elizabeth, also are educators. They have five grandchildren – Conner, Quentin, Zeke, Adrianna and Eric.
Chad Bolser - Athletic Director
Richmond - District 2
Chad Bolser is in his sixth year as Athletic Director at Richmond High School after 10 seasons as boys’ basketball coach for the Red Devils.
During his tenure as an administrator, Bolser developed and expanded the Bob Wettig Memorial Basketball Tournament from a one-day, four-team event to a three-day, 16-team extravaganza for schools from around the state and the Midwest. During the four years of the expanded event, 30 teams from across Indiana have participated in the tournament.
Bolser also helped to bring post-season basketball back to the Tiernan Center, and the venue hosted both boys’ and girls’ semistates in 2013 and 2014. These are the first postseason basketball events in the facility since 2005.
A 1988 graduate of Clinton High School in Clinton, Ill., Bolser played basketball in high school and earned the opportunity to play in college. He attended Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Mo., helping the Lions to success in NAIA competition while earning a bachelor’s degree in history. He later earned a master’s degree in education from Earlham College in 2007.
Following graduation from Lindenwood, Bolser was a college assistant coach for two seasons at his alma mater before becoming boys’ basketball coach for two seasons at St. Teresa High School in Decatur, Ill. He guided St. Teresa to an Illinois regional championship in 1996, the school’s first since 1985, as well as to Macon County Tournament titles in 1995 and 1996.
Bolser returned to the college game as an assistant coach for two years at Millikin University, an NCAA Division III program in Decatur, Ill. In 1998, he accepted the head coaching position at Richmond High School, guiding the Red Devils to the 2002 North Central Conference championship and mentoring 2005 Indiana All-Star Dominic James during his tenure that ran through the 2007-08 season.
Bolser was named winner of the Rufus Award for his contributions to IU-East athletics in 2012.
Bolser and his wife, Leslie, are the proud parents of two daughters – Mallory (9) and Maren (7).
Phil Ford - Principal
Jay County - District 2
Phil Ford is currently in his sixth year as principal at Jay County High School.
He started his teaching career at Amelia High School in Ohio in 1972, then taught chemistry at Delta High School before joining the staff at Jay County teaching biology and chemistry in 1976. He served as a dean for three years at Jay County before becoming the school’s Athletic Director. He then expanded his administrative experience at Wes-Del High School as Athletic Director and Assistant Principal for five years. He returned to Jay County in 2004 to serve as Athletic Director and Assistant Principal. Since 2008, he has served as principal at Jay County.
Ford is a past member of the Indiana Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association and a current member of Indiana Association of School Principals. He has served on the IHSAA Board of Directors since 2006 and is currently the President of the Board.
Ford is a 1968 graduate of Dunkirk High School (which later consolidated with four other schools to become Jay County High School). He graduated from Ball State University with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and biology, and he later earned a master’s degree in Secondary Education and an Administrative License from BSU.
As a long-time advocate of the importance of all extra- and co-curricular activities to the successful development of high school students, Ford recently offered a proposed By-Law change to the IHSAA that would allow Junior Varsity and Freshmen games to increase the six-minute quarter to seven minutes, in order to provide increased opportunity for student-athletes to participate.
While he has embraced the day-to-day challenges of being the principal of a large rural high school, he counts his years as an Athletic Director as some of his most enjoyable, largely due to the experiences of working with the athletes, coaches, officials and other administrators he has met and grown to know across the state of Indiana.
In addition, Ford gives credit to the many principals he has served under and the assistant principals that he has both learned from and worked side by side with over the years. Phil Gardner, Bob Lutton, Harold Schutz, John Minch, Bill Goshert, Larry Paxson and Jim Elbert are all included in the group that he counts as facilitators to any success he has achieved.
Ford has been married for 42 to years to his wife, Jill, a recently retired teacher. They have two sons, Jon and Josh, who reside in Indianapolis. They also have three grandchildren with a fourth to be added soon.
Mike Whitten - Principal
Boonville - District 3
Mike Whitten is in his 11th year as principal of Boonville High School.
Prior to guiding the Pioneers, he was principal for one year at Tecumseh Junior/Senior High School and served five years as assistant principal at Boonville Middle School.
Before entering the administrative ranks, Whitten started his education career at Pike Central Middle/High School where he taught math, coached cross country, basketball, baseball and track & field, as well as sponsoring the Student Council and Fellowship of Christian Athletes for 11 years.
Whitten soon will be in his fourth term on the IHSAA Executive Committee, where he has served as Chairman and President of that group. He is a deacon at Main Street General Baptist Church.
He holds undergraduate degrees in math and physical education from Oakland City University. He also has a master’s degree in secondary education, a principal’s license and an educational specialist degree from Indiana State University.
Whitten and his wife, Karen, are parents of two children, Brittney (26) and Kyle (22), who both played “Indiana’s Game.” They also recently welcomed their first granddaughter, Finley McLaughlin.
