Randy Cuthbert looks to turn around Wissahickon athletic program

It has been 17 years since the last time Randy Cuthbert assumed responsibilities as an athletic director.

In those 17 years since he was the AD at Pennridge, Cuthbert has been the head football coach at Pennridge and most recently at Emmaus. Cuthbert has been sharpening his skills and his mind in classroom as well as he is currently working on completing his Ph.D. in Education and Sports Administration.

“I have one year left but I knew when I started that I wanted to be an athletic director,” Cuthbert said. “I think that’s the appeal of being an athletic director you can have a bigger impact on a lot of different kid in a lot of different programs.”

Cuthbert explained how he has a plan as to how he can unlock the untapped potential of the Wissahickon when he assumes his role sometime near the end of January.

When Cuthbert does take over in early 2016 he will have his work cut out for him. He will have a football team coming off back-to-back sub .500 seasons, rebuilding basketball programs and a field hockey team currently without a coach.

Something that Cuthbert wants to take a look at right away is a facilities upgrade. Cuthbert explained how upgrades to the weight room and training facilities helps athletes in a wide range of sports and should hopefully extinguish a little bit one of Wissahickon’s bigger problems which is getting its athletic talent pillaged by local private schools.

“I think that’s a big concern, we have a lot of those private (schools) very close to us and from what I understand we have lost a lot of players in the past and part of my job is to change that,” Cuthbert said. “Kids wont leave Wissahickon because they want to get a better education so we have that piece.”

“As far as the commitment and facilities and upgrading some things, I think we need to do that,” Cuthbert continued. “We need to develop a long term plan to make sure our kids have great facilities and great opportunities.”

While Cuthbert acknowledges there is much work to be done he also feels as if there is a fair amount of work that can be done quickly and if done correctly will hopefully result in winning programs for the Trojans.

“The good news is there is a lot progress we can make quickly I think,” Cuthbert said. “We’re going to develop a plan to move the athletic department forward.”