Huntley AD Glen Wilson will step down, plans to enjoy watching his kids’ activities

Huntley athletic director Glen Wilson has made a career out of helping and providing for other people’s children.

Now, Wilson wants to focus on his own.

Wilson will step down as AD at the end of the school year and finish his teaching career in the classroom. He was Woodstock’s AD for 10 years previous to coming to Huntley and has been the Red Raiders AD since then.

“I’m returning to the classroom. I have a few years left in my educational career, it’s been a great run,” Wilson said. “I will have two kids in high school next year who are involved in multiple activities, and it’s time that they get Dad’s full attention.

“Sometimes, an athletic director’s schedule is not lending to that because of all the things we cover dutifully, but I’ve been an AD for 17 years, [my kids have] known no other life than me making some of their events. I’m at a point where it’s been great working in this choice, and I want to be there for my kids a heck of a lot more.”

Wilson deflects credit, but he has headed an athletic department that has dominated the local sports scene. Huntley has the Fox Valley Conference’s largest enrollment at 2,996, but the Raiders also have made their mark statewide, winning the Class 4A softball state championship in 2019 and the Class 3A girls track and field state title last spring.

Red Raiders have won the Northwest Herald All-Sports Award, which goes to the FVC’s best school in boys and girls sports, for eight consecutive years.

Wilson graduated from Woodstock in 1987, got his first teaching job at Pekin and returned to Woodstock as coach and teacher, then AD.

Wilson and his wife Jen have a son, Mack, a sophomore at Huntley, and a daughter, Marin, who is an eighth grader.

Wilson said administrators are going through the course selections for next year, but anticipates he will be teaching social studies, which was what he taught before becoming an AD.

“I loved my experience at Pekin and at Woodstock. Huntley has been amazing at the things we have historically achieved at this school,” Wilson said. You want to ride that out as long as you can. Even though our schedule [as ADs] is frenetic and there are great things to savor, I want to savor my kids, too. I’ve been wrestling with that.”

Huntley’s coaches lauded the efforts Wilson made for them.

“It was a pleasure to work with Glen over the last seven years and appreciate his support with our program and wish him all the best moving forward,” girls basketball coach Steve Raethz said.

Football coach Mike Naymola, hired in the spring of 2022, was one of Wilson’s last big coaching selections.

“He’s continuing on his terms,” Naymola said. “He made it clear he wanted to be present for his family, and now he’ll be able to do that. I appreciate everything he’s done for me and our football program the past three years I’ve worked alongside of him.”