Grace Edwards is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Dobson by AZPreps365.com

After an extensive 20 years in coaching and teaching, Scott Mohn is in his sixth year as Dobson’s athletic director. 

Mohn misses that consistent day-to-day interaction with students as a coach.

But he’s made an impact.

Athletic directors create a supportive space for athletes, prioritizing empathy and an outline for success among each of them individually.

“Being a coach, you’re more directly involved in the rapport building,” Mohn said. “Do I have rapport with our kids? Yes, I’m a grade level administrator so with the athletes in my cohort, I do get to interact with them.”

Despite not having time to invest in more personalized relationships with the coaches, students and their families, showing compassion towards a student athlete’s success is an important trait in being a trusted athletic director. 

“I’m proud to be a high school athletic director, it’s a really demanding job but it’s also very rewarding. Everything has its pros and cons but you get to see some really neat stuff and the impact it has on the kids,” said Mohn. 

Athletic directors not only oversee athletics but they have one of the most complex leadership roles at any school. Their job is to put them on a path to success. 

“My expectations are to have a positive structured environment for our kids to have meaningful athletic opportunities,” said Mohn. “Our job is to put each kid individually in the best possible position to be successful.”

Mohn is also the assistant principal for the ninth grade and in addition deals with student discipline, attendance issues, manages site safety and all Dobson facilities. 

An AD can serve as the link between the school’s athletic and academic departments, steering them in the right direction.

To ensure a successful athletic program, Mohn must hold his coaches and student athletes to a level of accountability. 

Off-season participation, strength and conditioning and expectations in academic excellence are all factors in that.

When issues among any of the teams or individual players and coaches arise, Mohn works collaboratively with the head of administration to solve all concerns.

Mohn has different expectations for his coaches compared to the student athletes.

“To the coaches, we want to foster that environment where we want to win, we’re competitive, we wanna be our best version of ourselves but we also understand there’s more value in the process,” said Mohn.

Mohn said success comes from making progress and how much you achieve in the offseason. It’s not about the game, it’s about what happens in the weeks leading up to it.