Pennington coming home as Elgin AD

With fall sports officially under way, Paul Pennington won’t have much down time at his new job for the foreseeable future.

Pennington is Elgin High School’s new athletic director and department chair for physical education, driver’s education and health, meaning he has a myriad of responsibilities pertaining to both the classroom and the playing field. While handling both roles is a heavy load, the 1991 graduate of Elgin High would have it no other way.

“This is something I pursued,” Pennington said. “I wanted to come home and I wanted to contribute in the community I live in. There’s familiarity here and there’s an opportunity to be part of tradition.”

Pennington hit the ground running in June when he took over for Gwen Poore, who stepped down from the athletic director and P.E. department chair positions last winter when her husband accepted a job in Minnesota. The new position marks a homecoming for Pennington, whose ties to the area run deep.

As a student at Elgin, Pennington spent four years playing football and running track for the Maroons. Among Pennington’s coaches during high school was current Elgin football coach Dave Bierman, who was an assistant on Dick Stephens’ staff at the time.

Pennington parlayed his successful high school athletic career into a four-year run on the Eastern Illinois football team from 1991-94. Following college he made his way into the professional world and eventually returned to School District U46 as a teacher and coach.

During a stint at Bartlett High from 1998-2006, Pennington served as the girls track coach for all but one year. He also worked as an assistant football coach, spent one year as a cross country coach and another year as an assistant athletic director.

From Bartlett he went to South Elgin and served as a dean of students from 2006-09 before moving on to Downers Grove North, where he worked as the department chair for P.E., driver’s education and health for two years. Then the opening at Elgin became available, and Pennington couldn’t pass up what seemed like an ideal situation.

“This position really kind of blends both of my passion areas because I want to advocate lifelong fitness in our young people and be a leader in my profession as well as support our coaches and their programs,” Pennington said. “Earlier in my career I realized I was wired up to use my leadership skills beyond the classroom and beyond being a head coach, and that’s what led me to wanting to be an administrator.

“I miss coaching and I miss having that connection with kids, but I think when you look at it more globally, I now have an opportunity to create a positive impact for all sports and the whole department with P.E., health and drivers ed. That’s appealing to me.”

Pennington takes over an Elgin athletic program that has seen varying degrees of success in recent years. The Maroons boys basketball team has enjoyed several strong seasons of late, and Elgin’s football snapped a long playoff drought last fall.

On the other end of the spectrum, the Maroons have struggled mightily in several sports over the past few years, most notably girls basketball, girls volleyball and baseball. For Pennington, the hope is to maintain the upward trajectory of the more successful programs while also creating an atmosphere that encourages participation and steady improvement in the programs that are lagging behind.

“We have programs that are thriving and programs that need boosting and support,” Pennington said. “I’m looking forward to trying to uplift some of the strengths this Elgin community has had and finding opportunities for young people to thrive.”

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