For Beth DeVinney, sports have always been a part of life.
“Every lesson I learned in sports translates over into real life – the way you communicate, the way you deal with people, your competitive nature,” she says. “All those things are part of our everyday lives if you really look at it, so it molded me into who I am.”
DeVinney has served as the athletic director at Sheridan High School since July of 2018, and was recognized as a Certified Master Athletic Administrator by the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NIAAA) this summer. With years of experience in the world of high school athletics, DeVinney most recently worked as an assistant athletic director, teacher and varsity coach at Lebanon High School before making the move to Sheridan High School.
Originally born in Pittsburgh, DeVinney and her family moved to small-town Indiana when she was in middle school, and she went on to become a three-sport athlete at Boone Grove High School.
“I went to a small school, and it just gave me a lot of opportunities that I may or may not have had in other places,” says DeVinney of her time at Boone Grove. “I really just enjoyed my time at Boone Grove, and it obviously has a special place in my heart.”
DeVinney attended Purdue University to pursue a degree in education. While at Purdue she participated in intramural sports, but she needed something more to scratch her itch for competition, which led her to coaching.
“I went to a small school, and we never advanced in the sectional,” DeVinney says. “We never got to cut a net down. That just stuck with me.”
DeVinney got her coaching start under Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Jan Conner at Benton Central High School, before landing her first head coaching role at Pike High School in 1997 where she was also a teacher. Following her time at Pike, DeVinney worked as a teacher and girls basketball coach at Seymour High School (2001-2012) and Lebanon High School (2012-2018).
After devoting her life to coaching for more than two decades, DeVinney decided it was time for something new, and accepted the athletic director role with Sheridan High School in 2018.
“When you’re a coach I don’t think people realize the hours, time, and the fact that your whole life is coaching,” DeVinney says. “I decided it was just time to try something different. That’s not to say I can never go back to coaching.”
With roots in small-town Indiana, DeVinney says the tight-knit community surrounding Sheridan High School has been the perfect fit for her.
“Everybody here is just really great,” DeVinney says. “Our principal is amazing. He’s such a great leader. He’s kind and thoughtful. It’s just really nice to work in that atmosphere, where people have our back and are just kind. I really feel like our whole entire building is the same way.”
You can keep up with Sheridan High School athletics at SheridanAthletics.net.
Writer / Seth Johnson
Photography Provided
