After spending 16 years as the busiest person in the Watseka athletic department, Barry Bauer’s calendar will be a little more open going forward.

Bauer will stay on as girls basketball coach, but will retire as both athletic director, a position he’s held since 2010, and head softball coach, a position he’s held since 2002.

The move comes after Bauer retired from teaching following the 2024-25 school year. After another year of the around-the-clock duties that come with being athletic director, as well as a coach in a winter and spring sport, he decided it’s time to take another step back.

“I knew I was retiring from teaching, and I thought maybe I’d continue to do the others, but it really didn’t slow anything up,” he said. “Being athletic director and coaching, it’s a year-round thing. I just decided after this year I’d coach just girls basketball.

“I’ll be starting my 39th year coaching basketball, and 32 as a head coach, so that was kind of my first love.”

Bauer, a 1983 Cissna Park graduate, started his career at Watseka teaching and coaching freshman/JV basketball. He moved to Fulton in 1994 and started his head coaching career with the boys basketball team, winning three regional titles before coming back to Watseka in 2002.

He became the boys basketball coach upon his return, but found himself taking an additional job he wasn’t expecting to hold for long.

“The AD at that time was Rick Odgers, and he knew I’d played fast-pitch softball quite a bit,” Bauer said. “He said ‘we can’t find a coach. The program is only in its third year. Would you do it until I find somebody?’ I think I told him no twice.

“We were getting closer to the school year, and he said ‘you’ve just got to do it until we find somebody.’ He still hasn’t found anybody.”

Bauer leaves the softball program as the owner of 333 of the program’s 350 wins. He will look to build on his 288-72 record with the girls basketball team going forward.

But for all the success Warrior teams have claimed, whether with Bauer as coach or AD, he said the part of being AD he enjoyed most was meeting all the people who work to keep high school sports humming.

“When you start, [success] is what you want,” he said. “Early on, we went to the state tournament and got third in volleyball. But I look back at success not as much. I got to know so many officials and game workers, and those people are angels.

“... Getting to know them is the biggest reward of the job.”

The head coach behind that state volleyball run in 2014, Krista Pufahl, will follow in Bauer’s steps as Watseka’s next athletic director.

“We taught PE together for a long time,” Bauer said. “I know Krista very well and what kind of coach she is, and I think she’s going to do a great job as athletic director.”

A Crescent City native, Pufahl first came to Watseka in 2006. She took over the volleyball program that year and has coached 19 of the 20 seasons since, leading the team to 10 regional titles, five sectional titles and a record of 474-178-1.

As she prepares to take on her new role as AD while continuing to coach volleyball, she said that she knows people like Bauer and Cissna Park AD/volleyball coach Josh Landon will be valuable resources for her.

“I feel like I have a good support in the AD world within our conference that’ll help me out if I have any questions, along with Barry,” she said. “Barry is very organized and really bleeds that Warrior maroon. Everything ran so smoothly with Barry in control, and I only hope I can keep up with that legacy he left with the athletic program.”

With the AD responsibilities left to Pufahl, Bauer said he will enjoy the extra time with his wife, Jody; daughters Taylor, Madison and Kennedy; and granddaughter Serena.

Basketball will also keep him plenty busy for the time being.

“Just spend more time with family, and I know that’s cliché with everybody when they stop,” he said. “I’m still looking forward to coaching girls basketball, and we’ll be very busy here in the month of June. So things haven’t really slowed down much yet.”