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Bartlesville High has found its new Athletic and Activities Director.

Thad Dilbeck, a name that may be familiar to many in the area, has been tapped as the new BHS AD. Bartlesville Public Schools made the announcement on Tuesday morning.

Dilbeck has been the principal and assistant principal at Ponca City High School since 2012. He had previously served as a teacher and coach in Bartlesville and Dewey in the late 90s and 2000s.

Dilbeck says he and his family are excited to return to Bartlesville.

Dilbeck has experience in both athletics and activities, being involved in both during his tenure in Ponca. The Bartlesville Board of Education will be asked to make the hiring official at its next meeting on Feb. 17.

Dilbeck says he will likely start the job full-time in the early parts of the summer, as he will finish out the school year in Ponca City.

Dilbeck talks about the timeline of his position at BPS going forward.

The hiring of Dilbeck means a bit of reshuffling in the Athletic Department at Bartlesville High. Bruin head football coach Jason Sport will take over the duties as Assistant Athletic Director, while Terry Hughes will stay on in his current role as Auxiliary Assistant Director of Athletics.

Matt Hancock, who will remain the Principal of Bruin Academy, will swap the role of Assistant Director of Athletics and Activities for that of Director of Online Learning.

Dilbeck says that community support in Bartlesville was a major factor in making BHS his home once again.

We will have more on this story in the coming days.

Listen to our entire interview with Dilbeck

Here is the entire BPS press release.

BARTLESVILLE, OK. (February 4, 2020) – At its meeting on Monday, February 17, the Bartlesville Board of Education will be asked to designate Thad Dilbeck, a former teacher and coach in Bartlesville and Dewey, as the Director of Athletics and Activities, effective upon his release from being the Principal of Ponca City High School. The board has already approved having varsity football head coach Jason Sport assume the added duties of Assistant Director of Athletics, and Terry Hughes will continue in his current role as Auxiliary Assistant Director of Athletics. Matt Hancock, who will remain the Principal of Bruin Academy, will swap the role of Assistant Director of Athletics & Activities for that of Director of Online Learning.

Bartlesville Schools Superintendent Chuck McCauley stated, “We are most appreciative of the work of Matt Hancock and Terry Hughes in keeping the Athletics and Activities programs running during a difficult transition with the loss of former director Spence Rigdon. I am excited to have Matt leading both Bruin Academy and a new Bruin Virtual School this next academic year. With his leadership, we will be able to support that initiative to improve our district’s online and blended learning opportunities with a reorganization which will not add administrative staff.”

Thad Dilbeck has been a principal and assistant principal at Ponca City High School since 2012, with Ponca City’s athletics and fine arts directors reporting to him for several years. That experience will benefit him in his new position over both athletics and activities in Bartlesville. Dilbeck’s previous experience includes teaching social studies and coaching varsity and junior high football and track in Dewey. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, he taught social studies and math in Bartlesville, including a stint as an alternative education teacher at Bartlesville Mid-High, and he was a coach in the Bruins’ varsity and junior high football and track programs.

Dilbeck earned a Master of Educational Leadership degree from Southwestern Oklahoma State in Weatherford and bachelor’s degrees in education and business administration from Northwestern Oklahoma State in Alva, where he played football. Thad and his wife, Claudia, have a daughter, Adele, who is a junior at Ponca City High, and two sons, Thatcher, 28, and Riley, 22.