Scott Shepherd is returning to his roots as the new Athletic Director at Southwestern High School.

The Linton, Indiana, native recently accepted the position at Southwestern after working several years with the athletic departments at North Central, Pike and Ben Davis in Indianapolis.

“When I saw the Southwestern job open up, I threw my name in and gave it a shot,” said Shepherd. “You never know if you got a real legitimate shot. Sometimes you are just going through the motions and other times they are really giving you a legitimate chance.

“It was a great interview process. I am really, really comfortable and happy where I am at.”

Shepherd is one of four new athletic directors hired this year at Mid-Hoosier Conference schools.

“Four of the seven schools have turnover there. We just had our first meeting with the group,” said Shepherd. “Our friends over at Hauser and North (Decatur) and South Decatur are very graciously helping us new folks along and getting us up to speed as quickly as they can. Their knowledge will be invaluable.”

Morristown, Waldron and Edinburgh also have recently hired new athletic directors.

Shepherd replaces Collin Rigney, who returned to his alma mater as Dean of Students at Greensburg High School. His departure from Southwestern created two position openings – athletic director and assistant principal at Southwestern Elementary School.

Shepherd is in the unusual position of being only the athletic director in a small-school environment.

“I have that unique situation and I am really excited about it,” said Shepherd. “I get to focus 100% of my efforts on everything athletics, everything from the game-day experience, making sure the kids are getting out of it what they need to get out of it, and making sure our facilities are where we are wanting them to be. “I get to solely be zeroed in on all of that and that is my passion. That is what I want to be doing.”

Shepherd originally attended Indiana State University out of high school to study Geology.

“My original path was going into Environmental Geology,” he said.

With a newborn daughter, Shepherd realized he needed a career that would not have him traveling five to six days a week.

“It was follow that path and be on the  road or switch up and be there for my family. It really wasn’t much of a decision,” he said. “I decided to pivot over to a teaching degree. That led me to my first teaching job at Attica Junior Senior High School.”

Shepherd taught and coached track and field at Attica before the family moved to Indianapolis. He left teaching for an insurance opportunity but found himself being drawn back to athletics.

“I was doing fine with it but it wasn’t what I really wanted to be doing,” he said. “I realized I needed to get back where I am happy. It dawned on me that I wanted to get back into the athletics side of things. I wanted to do athletic director type of stuff. So I got my master’s degree in 2017 from Ohio University.”

Shepherd contacted highly-regarded North Central athletic director Paul Loggan for advice. In a matter of minutes, he had an internship with the athletic department.

“I was hoping maybe he would give me five minutes of his time and talk to me,” said Shepherd. “Instead, he opened the door up and said can you be here at 7 a.m. tomorrow and we can start your internship. He let me right in and took me under his wing and gave me the opportunity to make connections with so many people. I got so much of a benefit from him. He not only gave me that start but also solidified that this is where I want to be. This is what I want to be doing.”

That experience led to athletic department roles at Pike and Ben Davis.

“All the while as I was going through that was to get that first athletic director’s job and take an athletic department and really help shape it and move ahead,” said Shepherd.

In his short time within the southern Shelby County school system, Shepherd is already enamored with being back in a small-school environment.

“It is the family atmosphere. You kind of feel that the whole community is banding together around these kids,” he said. “When you are in those smaller communities, you tend to get that feeling. People that don’t have kids in the school but will still show up to every basketball game all winter long because they care what is going on at the school. You feel like you are part of a family.

“That is the part that is sometimes missing at some places. It’s what I’ve really enjoyed so far, in just a couple of weeks time, really getting to experience that and being welcomed in already.”

Shepherd’s entire life is in transition. The family will be moving to Shelby County soon. His oldest daughter graduated from Indiana University in December and is moving in preparation for her first job.

His second child will be attending Indiana University this fall and will be moving to Bloomington.

Shepherd’s youngest daughter will be coming to school daily with her father. She will be an eighth grader at Southwestern.

“She is really looking forward to that small school environment. It is much better suited for her,” said Shepherd.

Southwestern’s first day of school is Aug. 8.

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