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Greenlee enjoying his return home
Doug Greenlee knew he and his wife (Shelly)would return to Putnam County at some point in their lives.
When Greencastle athletic director Greg Hill announced his retirement during the last school year, Greenlee accelerated that inevitability and returned to his Putnam County roots in charge of the Tiger Cubs’ athletic program.
“We knew eventually we would end up here,” he said. “The timing of this job kind of opened the door for it to be a little earlier than we anticipated. It was a situation where the timing was right.”
Greenlee is thrilled to be in his new position.
“It was exciting to know it was a possibility, and then for it to come true,” he said. “We’re happy to be here.”
Learning several new faces and current operating procedures have been the biggest tasks for Greenlee, who spent 31 years at Kankakee Valley High School in northern Indiana, the last 11 as athletic director.
“It’s been a smooth transition,” Greenlee said. “Greg had everything set up very well, and [athletic secretary] Samantha Call has been here a while and has also been a great help.”
Greenlee graduated from South Putnam in 1977 and from Indiana State University in 1981. He worked as the recreation director at the Gibault School for Boys in Terre Haute while Shelly was finishing up her bachelor’s degree in elementary education.
In 1983, Greenlee moved on to Randolph Southern in eastern Indiana and wore many hats — athletic director, junior varsity basketball coach and varsity baseball coach — while also teaching five classes per day.
“It was quite a first job,” he said. “I was young, and I didn’t know any better at that point. I thought I could do all that, but it was tough.”
After two years, Greenlee went to nearby Southern Wells as athletic director, varsity boys’ basketball and baseball coach while still teaching three classes.
Greenlee then moved on to Kankakee Valley, where he spent the last 31 years. He was athletic director the past 11 years, and coached baseball.
“It’s been a good run, and I enjoyed my time there,” he said. “Now I’m focused on Greencastle High School and doing a good job here.”
Greenlee barely missed the opportunity to be his brother’s boss, as Troy Greenlee was a teacher and boys’ basketball coach at Greencastle for 15 years before leaving after the 2015-16 school to take an administrative job at White River Valley.
Their sister, Sandy Welty, lives in Fillmore and is a dog breeder of Shetland Sheepdogs with Welty’s Shelties.
Greenlee has noticed the overall success in the all-sports standing that Greencastle has had in its two years in the Western Indiana Conference, and considers that a good indicator of the overall strength of the program.
“If you can win an all-sports title like that, it shows the depth of your program,” he said. “You’re not just good in one or two sports. There is really good balance, and is hopefully something the teams can use to push each other and try to produce conference and sectional championships every year.”
Greenlee said the part of the athletic director’s job dealing with creating schedules, hiring officials and working with the Indiana High School Athletic Association are consistent things that he is used to doing.
“A lot of this job is business administration, where you need to know the go-to people in certain spots and learning personnel and what everyone does,” he said. “That’s one of the toughest things to learn in a new school.”
He said that one thing you want to do at a new school is to get to know the schedules and where each team needs to be for each event.
“That’s the challenging part,” he said. “Everyone here in the community has been very welcoming and very helpful. That’s what it takes.”
Greenlee said he hopes the good relations with the community will continue.
“The community and the parents seem to be very involved and interested in the success of our athletes,” he said. “We want this to be a community-based athletic program.”
One of the newest trends in high school athletics is the use of assigners, normally a representative of an officials’ association who selects which of its members will work which events.
“I have used them and they are very helpful, especially in the spring when there are so many cancellations and rescheduled games,” he said. “In the past, I have made as many as 25 phone calls in one day trying to find officials and they’re all booked. With an assigner, they know who’s open every day and it’s much easier.”
Greenlee did not know the percentage, but thinks that most schools now use assigners for game officials.
“Greg used four different associations for various sports, and we’ll continue to use those. He has all the officials scheduled for this year, and some even for next year. The assigners definitely help out athletic directors in terms of time.”
Greenlee has not seen any major projects or goals in need of immediate attention, thanks to the solid foundation of the program.
“It’s kind of early,” he said. “My thought process is that I’m going to come in and do more observing than changing. I’m going to see what has been going on, and if necessary make adjustments from there.
“Things are in good shape,” Greenlee added. “I’m ready for some competition to see the kids play and participate.”