Gaston Day athletic director explains resignation
GASTONIA — Gaston Day athletic director Kevin Sims had to choose between soccer and administration.
Soccer won out.
Sims is serving his final year as the Spartans’ AD, and now he’s trying to figure out what’s next.
“I don’t have a definitive solution yet,” he said Tuesday. “I have a couple fans in the fire that I’ll keep to myself until I know what I’m doing. But the idea is I want to really focus my attention on the soccer world.”
Sims, 53, submitted his resignation last month, and the school last week announced boys basketball coach Casey Field as his replacement. Sims’ resignation is effective June 30.
Sims is in his fifth year as the school’s athletic director, and he had also coached the boys and girls soccer teams until this spring.
“I told people that the demands of the job have become such that Gaston Day requires an AD who’s got more time to give in the spring and the fall,” Sims said. “For me, that means stepping out of soccer and I’m not ready to hang up my cleats yet.”
Sims plans to stay in the Charlotte area unless his next job requires him to move. He has prior coaching experience at the club and Olympic Development Program levels.
Sims was elected in January to the National Soccer Coaches Association of America board of directors as the girls high school representative. A 29-year NSCAA member, Sims has served the association in numerous capacities, including as national chair of the high school girls winter and spring rankings and national high school ethics committees.
You can reach Phillip Gardner at 704-869-1843.
