DIXON – Jon Empen has been a valuable man behind the scenes in Dixon High School athletics for more than a decade.

Starting July 1, he will take on a more prominent role.

Empen, a physical education teacher at the school the past 12 years and an assistant boys basketball coach for 10 of those years, will take over as the school's Activities Director. He replaces Kye Gaffey, who announced in January he would resign after one year on the job.

"It's a new phase in my life and something I've worked towards to do eventually," Empen said, "so I'm very excited about the opportunity and the challenges that lie ahead. I know it's going to be a lot of hard work, but I'm looking forward to getting started."

Empen, who applied for the job a year ago that went to Gaffey, will still teach four classes of physical education a day, most likely in the morning. He'll then shift his attention to the administrative side of things. He will be assisted by Kenda Bailey, a former secretary whose new title is Activities Coordinator.

One of the biggest challenges Empen faces is making Dixon's transition from the NCIC to the Northern Illinois Big 12. The Dukes and Duchesses will be going up against new conference opponents Rochelle, DeKalb, Kaneland, Morris, Yorkville and Sycamore, along with NCIC holdovers Sterling, Geneseo, Ottawa, LaSalle-Peru and Streator.

"We've got to make sure we do everything we can to give our student athletes and our coaches a chance to compete and be successful," Empen said.

Empen's duties will include making sure game nights run smoothly, some scheduling and evaluating coaches and programs. He and high school principal Mike Grady will deal with personnel issues. Another goal is to improve the quality of the Dixon Girls Christmas Tournament that has slipped in stature over the years.

Empen will receive a $20,000 stipend at Activities Director, boosting his total compensation to nearly $77,000.

"All I can do is work to best of my ability and work as hard as I can," Empen said.


Empen file

High school: Forreston, class of 1984

College: Illinois State, class of 1989; Western Michigan, class of 1991 (Masters of Arts degree)

Family: Wife, Margo

Resides: Dixon

FYI: Physical education teacher at Dixon High School since 1998. ... Assistant boys basketball coach at DHS for 10 years. ... Hired as Activities Director at the June 16 school board meeting.