David Enos, the new the athletic director at St. Dominic Academy, stands in front of the Maine Principals’ Association trophy that the Saints earned for winning the Class D baseball state championship earlier this year. Enos also is the school’s athletic trainer and director of facilities and grounds. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal

David Enos knew there was a pathway for athletic trainers to become athletic directors.

But he also has had a lot going on. He’s been St. Dominic Academy’s athletic trainer since 2018 and has worked with several area schools in that capacity since 2013. And he has been St. Dom’s director of facilities and grounds the past couple years.

That didn’t stop him from recently adding athletic director to his list of responsibilities at the Auburn school.

“I think when athletic training became popular, they pictured every AD being the (athletic trainer),” Enos said. “… And then they realized how hard athletic directing actually is and how hard athletic training actually is. I am still going to be doing both. So I think a school like this, it’s manageable.”

St. Dom’s new head of school, Kathy Martin, contacted Enos shortly after she took the job to talk to Enos about the athletic director position because Brandon Rogers stepped down after one year as the athletic director and girls basketball coach to become the assistant principal and athletic director at Wiscasset High School.

Enos, who became St. Dom’s director of facilities and grounds in 2022 when Andrew Pelletier was the athletic director, said he mulled over whether to accept the athletic director position because he already had his hands full being the athletic trainer and groundskeeper.

“At first, I said, I don’t think I was interested, but I sat and thought about it, talked about it,” Enos said. “And, you know, we’ve found a meeting ground. I was the groundskeeper here the last year. So that was my first question, ‘Who is going to mow the grass?’ But … we signed a landscaping contract. So hopefully, I do less of the groundkeeping.”

Since he’ll continue his athletic training duties, Enos said team schedules will be slightly altered to allow him to attend as many games as possible. He also reached out to Mike Burnham, the executive director of the Maine Principals’ Association, for guidance about how to make it work, with an athletic staff member needing to be at every event.

“It will be tricky scheduling,” Enos said. “I have already talked to Mr. Burnham at the MPA level, and he’s aware. I’ve covered MPA events and he knows me. It’s doable. It will be a little shimmying of the schedule, it’s constant communication, it’s detailed scheduling. We’ve had basketball and hockey happen without me being the AD. The National Athletic Training Association has a suggested way to cover sports — collision sports like hockey — where the chances of injuries are higher there, so I’d be at the ice rink.”

Enos said that many St. Dom’s staff members have reached out to tell him they can be at events that he is unable to attend.

Enos decided to accept the athletic director position, in addition to his other roles, because he gets along with the students and parents, and he wants to use sports to help the school grow.

“I think the ultimate goal really is to do every single thing we can to support the kids and make sure that the growth of St. Dom’s is still happening,” Enos said.

St. Dom’s is expecting around 120 students at the high school for the upcoming school year. Enos said there will be about 90 boys and 30 girls.

One of the main things on Enos’ agenda is to strengthen the girls athletic programs to match the recent success of the boys teams — particularly the baseball team, which has won three straight Class D state championships and eight state championships overall under coach Bob Blackman.

The golf team won the state title last year, and basketball team reached the Class D South final last winter. Though the boys hockey team hasn’t been as strong as it traditionally is, St. Dom’s is still considered a hockey school.

“I think my favorite thing about, especially the boys athletes here, a lot of them come because of hockey,” Enos said. “You know, it’s a hockey school. It’s traditionally (a hockey school). I keep telling them it’s a baseball school, and they like to play hockey.

“So, you know, what Coach Blackman’s done to run a program like that, that successful, that long, you know, hockey hasn’t seen that … at least in the modern St. Dom’s.”

The girls soccer team played in the Class D state final last fall, but many of the girls programs have struggled.

“Our girls athletics, that’s something, from an administrative perspective, we are super focused on them,” Enos said. “… I’m trying to utilize as many resources as humanly possible to bolster the girls sports.”

Rogers leaving for Wiscasset means the girls basketball team will have another new coach this upcoming season.

“Yeah, so that’s a big thing, too, because these poor basketball girls, you know, I have good basketball players, but they’ll be on their third coach in three years,” Enos said. “So it’s, you know, that’s what I mean by figuring out continuity and trying to support these girls programs more so than what they’ve been given, unfortunately.”

The first day of fall practices are Monday. Enos is ready for athletes to get on the field when the fall season begins. He’s even looking forward to working on weekends.

“I’m really excited. It’s funny, because now I go from you know as an athletic trainer, ‘Oh, man, Saturday games,'” Enos said. “But now I’m pumped about Saturday games so I can get the families here and we can get more eyes on the students.

“It’s funny, thinking from the administrative point of view — to grow, to make everybody happy — moreso (than) from the grumpy AT side of things.”