Drake D'Angelo learned of Burrell's wrestling reputation through his work with the District 3 wrestling committee, seeing the Bucs tangle in the PIAA team tournament with the likes of Bermudian Springs, Boiling Springs, Reynolds and others from the central part of the state on an almost-yearly basis.

He's getting a much more intimate look at all of Burrell's teams now.

D'Angelo, a former athletic director at Littlestown and Fairfield school districts and most recently the senior program director at the Greensburg YMCA, took over as Burrell's AD in early July and spent most of his first few weeks getting to know the administrators, coaches and athletes at his new school.

“Everybody's been great here in the district, and I'm just trying to get my bearings, speak with my coaches and get to know them,” said D'Angelo, 35, who replaced Aaron Frech after Frech's resignation to take a teaching job in Florida. “I wanted to get back into the school setting, get back into being an AD. I had this opportunity come up, and it was a good opportunity for me. It's working well so far.”

Burrell made the athletic director job a full-time position as part of a district administration reorganization that came about after Frech's resignation and the retirements and resignations of a few other members of the administration.

Superintendent Shannon Wagner said 50 candidates applied for the position — a huge jump from the five who applied in 2014, when the job still was part-time and Frech ultimately was hired.

“We're a little Double-A (or) Triple-A school district, depending on the sport, but we offer a lot of athletics for a smaller school district,” Wagner said. “So having a full-time AD is very important. Your AD is the face of the district. You can be the superintendent and never be seen, or be seen and not heard, but the athletic director is always on the front lines. He's always in everyone's eye.

“So you have to really take the time to make sure it's somebody who's going to treat people with integrity and dignity first, so then everything else will fall into place.”

Wagner called D'Angelo “someone who has a great deal of integrity and will treat my students and my parents and my coaches and my staff with dignity in every regard.”

A 1999 Hempfield graduate, D'Angelo played football at Clarion, where he started at center for two seasons before finishing his college career at Cal (Pa.).

He followed that with stints as district activities director — overseeing athletics, transportation and facilities — at Fairfield School District from 2005-09 and as athletic director at Littlestown from 2009-12. He returned home for the Greensburg YMCA job but wanted to get back into school athletics.

“To me, working with high school athletes and middle school athletes and helping them accomplish their goals and learn life skills and the values of being part of sports programs is very rewarding,” he said. “I enjoy working with coaches and helping them reach their goals, as well.

“And just being around competitive athletics, there's nothing like a Friday night football game or a big volleyball match, basketball game or wrestling match. The electricity that comes with it, I just enjoy being a part of it.”

D'Angelo compared Burrell's size and demographics to Littlestown, which is located in Adams County.

His years of experience as an athletic director helped Burrell's decision-making, Wagner said. Three of the five finalists for the job this summer had previous AD experience.

“I think that this is a job that experience is really the only thing that can help you,” D'Angelo said. “It's not the end-all, be-all because every school district has its own culture and has their own way and protocols and procedures.

“I'm not trying to come in and have wholesale changes. I'm trying to learn the culture. But it helps to have the understanding of what worked for you in the past or what helped you be successful in a certain area and know the certain time of year when things are happening so you're not out of the loop.”

Married with a 4-year-old daughter, D'Angelo expects long nights at his new job but said he experienced that at the YMCA, too. And he thinks his weekends actually might be clearer.

“I think availability is the importance of it being a full-time position: being available for the students, the coaches during the school day, as well as being present at all the contests — being there to support the coaches and to support the operations of the event and making sure things are running smoothly and being there for emergency situations,” he said. “I think that's important. Aaron and I have spoke several times, and he seems like a wonderful guy and did a nice job here. I'm just hoping to make sure that continues.”

Doug Gulasy is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at dgulasy@tribweb.com or via Twitter @dgulasy_Trib.

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