Greg Ferry is leaving Avon for Southington
AVON, July 27 – Avon High School is looking for a new athletic director. Greg Ferry has resigned and is taking the job at Southington High School.
It was a little over a year ago that Ferry took the job in Avon. He spent the year helping the Falcons prepare for its transition from the North Central Connecticut Conference to the Central Connecticut Conference in September.
But when Southington High athletic director Eric Swallow resigned after seven years on the job in June to take the athletic director’s position at Norwich Free Academy, an opportunity arose for Ferry, 39, who was a guidance counselor for 11 years at Cheshire High before coming to Avon.
“Without Avon, I don’t get to sit in the Southington interview,” Ferry said. “I am extremely grateful for the good coaches and good people who helped move the program forward. I met a lot of good people in Avon. I can’t say enough good things about the principal (Chris Trannerg) at the high school. He is a very good man.”
Ferry hired several new coaches – Jon Yolles (baseball), Megan Godwin (softball), Cat Hanks (girls lacrosse) and Alexis Safo Agyeman (cheerleading) this year.
Avon won a state titles in girls cross country and ultimate Frisbee, shared a state title with Branford in boys soccer and finished second in girls soccer. The Falcons won several NCCC championships this past year in field hockey, girls cross country, girls soccer, girls basketball and boys tennis. Avon took home NCCC Tournament crowns in boys basketball, girls basketball, boys tennis, girls tennis and baseball.
“I am grateful for the opportunity,” Ferry said. “I look back on the year very fondly. I’m proud of the first-year coaches we were able to bring in and I’m grateful for the athletes who continued to get better and improve. We did some good things and I met some tremendous people.”
Southington, one of the founding members of the CCC in 1984, is one of the largest schools in the state with varsity teams in more than 24 sports. It’s a proud program with plenty of success including its football team that just won its second straight state championship last December.
Before coming to Avon, Ferry was a football coach for 14 years. He was a running back coach at Coast Guard for four years and worked as an assistant at Cheshire High, Sheehan High in Wallingford and at Xavier in Middletown for the three seasons. He begins his duties in Southington on July 28.
Ferry was the third athletic director at Avon past four years. Ferry replaced Newell Porch, who ran the Falcon athletic department from January 2011 through July 2014. Porch replaced Tanya Adorno, who worked as the athletic coordinator for about 18 months from September 2009 through January 2011.
Adorno replaced Jeffrey Sunblade, who became the assistant principal in September 2009. He retired in June 2014.
Sunblade was the director of student activities, athletics, health and physical education for 11 years from 1998 to June 2009 when his job was eliminated due to budget cuts. In 2008, the Connecticut Association of Athletic Directors awarded Sunblade the Distinguished Service Award, which is the organization’s highest award.
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