Mark Ribbens began his teaching career at Wauconda in 2003.
He’ll return as the Bulldogs’ athletic director.
“I’m super excited to come back to a district that’s got great academic pieces in place,” Ribbens said in a phone interview on Friday. “It’s a super-tight community that does a great job supporting the school, great student-athletes in a great conference where they are poised to have some significant success and great district leadership.”
Ribbens will take over for Andy Lambert, who will be the new athletic director at Lake Zurich. Ribbens will officially start July 1. He spent the previous four years as the athletic director at Larkin.
“We’ve been able to get a lot of things done (at Larkin),” Ribbens said. “We’ve been able to renovate some facilities, hire some coaches. It’s bittersweet leaving because I was connected and made some strong relationships.
“But it’s equally exciting to be able to come back to Wauconda and reconnect with those people that I’ve built relationships with and to start new relationships.”
The 42-year-old said some of the lessons he learned while playing high school sports at Fremd, including football, wrestling, baseball and track, remain with him today.
“Participating in athletics in high school taught me several attributes I’ve continued to take with me in terms of high academic goals and standards, being personally responsible, the daily discipline of having tasks to complete and completing those tasks and setting goals,” Ribbens said.
In addition to his previous stop at Wauconda, Ribbens spent time at Lakes and Stevenson. He coached baseball and football at Lakes and track at Stevenson. He credits his wife, Tami, for her support along the way. They have two young daughters.
“Being an athletic director’s wife is a very difficult job and she does it seamlessly,” Ribbens said.
It’s all added up to a job he loves.
“It’s busy and there’s a lot going on, but I crave the relationship piece and meeting all the different members of the community,” he said. “It’s an unbelievable job. I get to watch high school sports. Who wouldn’t want to do that? There are so many pros to it.”
Ribbens is looking forward to the new opportunity with the Bulldogs.
“There will be a lot of listening, learning and building of relationships,” Ribbens said. “That’s going to be my agenda. Connecting with student-athletes and community members is important.
“Who wouldn’t want to come to Wauconda? They are positioned for success in several sports. They’ve already had quite a bit of success and several of the sports are ready for takeoff. And (Lambert) did a great job of setting me up for success.”
