Oswego High School tabs Dan Arntzen as new athletic director

Dan Arntzen has worn many hats related to athletics over an 18-year career spanning multiple school districts.

He can’t wait to get back in it.

“To be honest, I’ve told many people athletics is one of the few administrative positions that is largely positive in every aspect,” Arntzen said, “trying to show kids in a positive light. You do have things to deal with, headaches we all deal with, but overall it is a positive experience. Not every position is that realm.”

Arntzen, a graduate of Yorkville High School finishing up his fifth school year working in Oswego School District 308, will start his sixth on July 1 as the next athletic director at Oswego High School. Arntzen, whose position will be two fold, also the executive role overseeing athletics in the entire district, is taking the place of Darren Howard, who is leaving to become the AD at St. Charles East.

Arntzen’s introduction to the district came as Assistant Principal of Student Services at Oswego East for three years. Most recently, he has served as Executive Director of High School Instruction.

In that role part of his responsibility was an oversight of athletics, everything related to high school and K-12 assessments.

“The 290,000-foot view oversight of athletics, anytime there was a parent or coach’s concern,” he said. “I was involved with our process of getting boys and girls lacrosse as well as girls wrestling approved for next year.”

Arntzen in high school was an all-conference baseball player and team MVP at Yorkville, and went on to play baseball at Waubonsee Community College and briefly at Concordia-River Forest. He coached baseball at Plainfield North and was a middle school teacher, and later the assistant AD before serving as AD at Streamwood for two years.

He said his wife, a 2004 Oswego High School graduate, loves the fact that they’ll be a Panther again. The Arntzens live in Yorkville with three kids.

“I’ll be coordinating with the junior high and even down to elementary school levels, making sure we have continuity with our elementary schools involved,” Arntzen said. “We want to have nights that they can come to high school sports and get involved and excited about being a future Panther and Wolf.”

Arntzen admitted that his first year will consist largely of seeing exactly what the school and district’s athletics have in place, what is working, understanding where coaches are coming from and finding out what athletes and the community wants out of athletics.

“The times have changed. It’s not the 1990s anymore,” he said. “What are the expectations athletes, coaches and parents have? I coach a travel baseball team and travel sports have changed high school sports in so many ways. I see tremendous value in high school sports. It really takes all those travel teams and puts the best players on the field at the same time.

“That first year is getting a feel of what we want to do as a community and trying to support that vision. It’s how do we move forward, do we have the facilities we want, talk about upgrading and not just make it for 2024 and 2025 but 2030 and 2035. Short term, get the lay of the land, long term work with all stakeholders and build the vision.”