Jerry Wyman retires after 16 years as JCPS athletic director

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Jerry Wyman realizes this is a difficult time to be stepping down from his role as athletic director of Jefferson County Public Schools, but he's confident the schools and ADs are doing all the right things as winter sports get started again during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Friday was Wyman's last day on the job. The Pleasure Ridge Park High School and University of Louisville graduate retired after 16 years in the position and 32 years in the county system. He started as a teacher, baseball coach and soccer coach at Western and Doss high schools.

Several accomplishments stand out to him during his tenure: adding certified athletic trainers at each school, removing the requirement that athletic directors must also teach and greatly expanding sports opportunities at the middle schools are among them.

"We have kids at the middle school playing every sport we have at the high schools now," Wyman said. "We had basketball, cheer and dance when I started. Those are the developmental years that they need the most. They need to find some niche that they love."

And despite what you may have heard, building the new gym at Valley High School that has hosted numerous events in the last eight years was not done because it was close to Wyman's home.

"When the federal government was going to throw money into a renovation at Valley and build them a new gym, I went to my boss and said, 'We have to build something big enough that we can accommodate everyone who wants to get into these games,'" Wyman said.

He referenced a story from several years before when fans had to be turned away for games at Bellarmine University's Knights Hall.

"One of our security people being offered money to let a grandpa in — that one hurt," Wyman said. "I brought that home to my wife and said, 'We've got to do something about this.'

"This isn't in the middle of town. I get that. I live out in PRP, so it's not too far from Valley Station, so it's got to be why it's there," Wyman said, mimicking what he's heard many times. "I always laugh at that."

He called his final week bittersweet.

"I wasn't a big crier until I got a little bit older, and it seems like I've cried a little bit every day now," Wyman said. "It's probably funny to some people, but to read some of the nice things people have to say about you is pretty cool."

Dr. Jim Jury, a longtime principal in the district, will take over the job on an interim basis until a permanent replacement is named.