The Indian Hill School District welcomes Cincinnati native Brian Phelps to the administrative team as the new athletic director, pending Board approval. Phelps comes from the Fort Worth Country Day (FWCD) school in Fort Worth, Texas, where he has served as the director of athletics for the past two years. Before arriving in Fort Worth, Phelps spent almost 20 years at The Seven Hills School in Cincinnati.
“Brian Phelps is a proven leader who has developed award-winning and student-centered athletic programs during his robust career,” said Indian Hill Superintendent Kirk Koennecke. “We are incredibly excited to have Mr. Phelps as a member of our Brave team.”
At FWCD, Phelps organized 24 varsity sports in grades 7-12 and managed 115 professional coaches, while guiding that school’s football team to back-to-back state championships during his tenure. Phelps created a football league for grades K-6 serving 400 participants; he also created a fifth and sixth grade girls’ basketball league serving 150 participants. As athletic director at Seven Hills, Phelps was a member of The Seven Hills School senior administrative team and supervised and led a department of more than 100 coaches in four divisions, 22 varsity sports, and 54 teams in grades 7-12.
“I am eager to be a part of such a great community and to work alongside such talented leadership, staff, coaches, and students,” said Phelps. “I look forward to building upon the great things the coaches and staff have worked so hard to put in place. As the leader of the Indian Hill Athletic Department, I will be committed to assuring an athletic environment of excellence. It is my goal that students are prepared to be successful on and off the field of play once they leave our athletic program and our school. I am proud to be a Brave!”
A graduate of The Summit Country Day School, and then of the Community College of the Air Force in Lackland, Texas, Phelps earned an Associate Degree of Applied Science, Security Administration, while as an E-4 Senior Airman in the United States Air Force from 1995-1999. He served in Texas, New Jersey, Wyoming, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Turkey. He continued his education at Northern Kentucky University in Highland Heights, earning a Bachelor of Arts in Physical Education/Health (2002), and then a Master of Arts in Sports Administration (2005) from Xavier University in Cincinnati.
Phelps is married to Dr. Allison Phelps, a sports medicine physician. She received her medical degree from the University of Louisville, School of Medicine and completed residency in emergency medicine at the University of Cincinnati and a sports medicine fellowship through the Bethesda Family Medicine Sports Medicine Fellowship Program. The couple are the parents of three daughters, Madden (14), Meran (12) and Mason (8), and a son, Hawkins (5).
Phelps replaces Matt Haskamp who made the decision to resign at the end of the 2019-2020 school year to pursue other professional aspirations outside of athletics.
“I have been very fortunate to serve as an athletic director for many years in two of the most successful schools in the area,” said Haskamp. “I am ready for a change where I can utilize my skills in a different area in order to continue serving students and communities.”
Photo caption: Brian Phelps