Advertisement

Lester knew he wanted to teach and, perhaps, one day coach, but his goal was never to head an athletic department.

That is until opportunity came knocking on his door. When that happened, Lester changed his goals.

Lester, 30, recently was named Marlette's new Athletic Director after the sudden retirement of Lori Glidden. Glidden, long respected as one the area's best Athletic Directors, has even helped Lester make the transition from just coach to coach and AD.

"Lori has been very helpful," Lester said. "She has always been there for me throughout this transition process. She did this job for over 10 years, and my goal here to just continue the progress that Lori during her time in charge of the program.

"I'm excited to be here and excited to get going."

Lester even admitted that it still feels a little odd being the AD in the school where he once roamed the halls as a student.

"It's been a little weird, having an office here in the building," Lester said. "I'm slowly getting used to it, though. I've been the football coach here going on seven years now, so it's not as if I'm unfamiliar with being here. I never thought about doing this job until now.

"But when the chance came up, I knew I had to take it."

Lester, who has a BA from Saginaw Valley State University in Elementary Education, will teach half of the day while he also juggles the responsibilities as the school's Athletic Director. He will also remain as the varsity football coach for the Red Raiders, which was something that he says had to be a part of the job in order for him to accept his new role.

"That was always something I wanted to do, coach football," Lester said. "They had to make that a part of the package or I wouldn't have taken this job as the AD. I will get a lot of help and I don't expect the transition to be a difficult one. I like working with the coaches and the students."

Lester's goal during his time as the new AD is to keep the athletic program at Marlette moving in a positive direction. He stated that student participation in sports at Marlette is up and that it is important for the success of the program to maintain those numbers. Lester also said that it is important for him for the school of Marlette to set a positive image to the other schools in the area. Lester is, after all, a Marlette grad.

"That makes me proud to be in charge of the athletics at the high school I graduated from," Lester said. "I never thought this would happen, not when I was a student here back in the early 1990's.

"But it happened for me and I'm real excited to get to work."

Andrew Selich is Sports Editor at The County Press. He can be reached at (810) 664-0811 ext. 8124 or andrew.selich@lapeergroup.com.