After 16 years as the Clear Creek Amana activities and athletics director, Kurt Ronnfeldt has taken another job in the district, making room for Jake Stenberg to take over leading the Clippers with an “all in, all out, all the time,” mindset.
Stenberg, who was named to the position effective July 1, comes from West Branch High School, where he spent nine years as an AD. Now he enters his 10th year in the athletic director role in a much bigger setting.
A graduate of Benton High School, he attended Upper Iowa University and received his master’s at Western Kentucky University.
“At a smaller school, you wear a lot of different hats,” Stenberg said. ” So here there’s a lot more help with certain aspects of things, but there are a lot more students, which also means more athletic teams or fine arts programs. Every school has its own intricacies of how they do things, so it’s learning the institutional knowledge.”
As the Clippers compete at the Class 4A level in football, the enrollment size at the once-split high school is only growing since its merger in 1995.
“With the growth of Tiffin, and North Liberty moving this way, we’ve exploded in enrollment and in size,” Stenberg said. “And those numbers are projected to continue.”
This past school year, Clear Creek Amana had an enrollment of 607 in just the freshman through junior classes, according to a Basic Educational Data Survey (BEDS).
It’s been just over a month that Stenberg has been in the job, tackling everyday needs and, more importantly, learning the way of Clear Creek Amana.
“I wanted to challenge myself, “Stenberg said. “I love Eastern Iowa. I love this area. It’s one of the fastest growing communities in Iowa, and I wanted to be a part of that. Something that would both challenge me as a professional, but would be a good fit for my family.”
The Clippers have a combined 11 state titles in program history, 10 of which have come from its rich history in softball and its more recent success with a girls state basketball title.
“You don’t ever want to go looking to change something, just to change something,” Stenberg said. “You have to be humble with your beliefs and have to be flexible, being able to adjust to how you view things sometimes philosophically. But at the same time, I think it all starts with building relationships.
Preston Zbroszczyk covers prep sports for the Iowa City Press-Citizen. Contact him at PSZbroszczyk@registermedia.com
This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: Jake Stenberg eager to start as Clear Creek Amana athletics director
Reporting by Preston Zbroszczyk , Iowa City Press-Citizen / Iowa City Press-Citizen
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Preston Zbroszczyk , Iowa City Press-Citizen | USA TODAY Network
