St. Mary's High School athletic director Dave Lanham will become the new athletic director at Meade High School in Anne Arundel County next year.
by Aaron Grayagray@digitalsports.comEver since he graduated from
Glen Burnie High School, Dave
Lanham wanted to be involved in the Anne Arundel County public school system.
Lanham, 33, a Millersville resident, announced Thursday that he will become the
new athletic director at Meade High School effective next school year. He has
been the athletic director and baseball coach at St. Mary's in Annapolis for
the last six years.
"Honestly, I've been trying to get into the county system in some capacity
over the last few years," said Lanham, who will continue to coach the
Saints baseball team this spring. "I talked to (county coordinator of
athletics) Greg (LeGrand) and I got a very good feel for his vision. There's a
lot of excitement at Meade and their increased enrollment is a great thing. It
should be a good challenge for me."
Lanham replaces Ralph Beachley, who stepped down Jan. 25 after 20 years of service.
Lanham played football and baseball at Glen Burnie, where he graduated in 1992.
He played four years as a baseball shortstop at Pfeiffer College in Charlotte,
N.C. before graduating in 1996.
Right after college, he landed a job at Archbishop Spalding and that's when
his 12-year run in the MIAA/IAAM started. He was the assistant athletic director
under Lee Dove for six years and was the baseball coach for five. After he earned an
Athletic Leadership and Administration master's degree from Goucher College, he made the move to St. Mary's. He took over there when Dave Lombardi
stepped down in 2002.
"I'm a product of the public-school system in the county and I've always
had aspirations for coming back and helping out," said Lanham, who would
like to also coach in some capacity at Meade. "It's going to be
interesting. Hopefully, I can just step right in and make things happen."
Leaving behind all the great people he's worked with at St. Mary's will be
difficult, he said.
"I've had very mixed emotions the last 24 hours," said Lanham, who has compiled an 87-41 career record as the Saints' baseball coach. "I told my guys
(the baseball team) yesterday and it was much more difficult than I thought it
would be. I just wanted them to know that even though I'm leaving at the end of
the year, I'm still 100 percent dedicated to all of them and the spring sports
at St. Mary's."
Under his watch at St. Mary's, the athletic programs have steadily improved.
The football team won the B Conference title this past fall while the boys basketball
team advanced to its second straight B Conference championship last month. The
girls and boys lacrosse programs have become some of the most elite in the state.
"It just needed a point person," said Lanham, who led the baseball to
a 8-7 win over Boys' Latin in last year's B Conference title game. "When I
came to St. Mary's, I was able to hire a lot of new people that understood my philosophy.
They knew that in order to be successful, you have to be with kids in the gym,
work out with them in the offseason and push them to a higher level."
Lanham oversaw the installment of a new turf stadium off Bestgate Rd.
in Annapolis this past year. That, along with the addition of a new scoreboard,
were among his top achievements at the school.
Meade will be installing a safety turf playing surface at its existing stadium
next winter.
"I'm really excited about the facilities," Lanham said.
"When we put in the turf stadium at St. Mary's, I really enjoyed that
process. It wasn't just me, of course. The boosters played a huge part. I had
an influence on research and selecting a company. That will come in handy for
Meade in the future."
A student increase is expected at Meade in the near future due to the Base Realignmnet and Closure program, which will move thousands of jobs to the Fort Meade area.