Lakes High athletic director Scott Nordi announces retirement
Scott Nordi didn’t plan to follow in the footsteps of his late father, George Nordi, the legendary Tacoma sports figure who coached the Mount Tahoma High School football team to back-to-back Class 4A state championships in 1979 and 1980, spending his entire 35-year teaching career at Mount Tahoma, including the last 14 years as the school’s athletic director.
No, Scott Nordi was going to take a different path. After graduating from the University of Washington with a degree in sports health and athletic training in 1987, Nordi was trying to figure out how to make ends meet as an athletic trainer.
“Early on, I wanted nothing to do with education, nothing to do with teaching and coaching,” Nordi said.
He can only laugh about it now. Last week, Nordi announced his retirement and turned in his keys, after serving as the athletic director at Lakes High School for the past seven years.
He went back to school to Pacific Lutheran University and obtained his teaching credentials. The rest, as they say, is history. Nordi began teaching shortly thereafter in Tacoma, teaching at local middle schools before teaching at Foss in the mid 1990s. He took over as the head football coach at Foss in 1999, where he spent seven years coaching the Falcons.
Nordi, 56 took over as the athletic director at Clover Park High School in 2005, before taking over at Lakes.
Looking back now, it’s easy to see the influence his dad had on Scott’s life. He played on those George Nordi-coached state championship teams in his sophomore and junior years at Mount Tahoma, and saw a model of coaching and service to youth that he would later strive to emulate.
“I think he was a major influence,” Nordi said. “As I got into coaching, working with young kids and athletes, the enjoyment I reached from that … you evolve to ‘what’s next.’ Being an athletic director and coaching coaches was next, being able to broaden my influence. I’ve been fortunate. I’ve had a really good career.”
One lesson he took from his father was to try to put yourself in the shoes of the kids.
“You have to remember what it’s like to be where the kids area, be where your coaches are — you have to be an advocate for them,” Nordi said. “You have to be able to go to sleep with yourself at night. (George) always did it right. I tried to always do it right. That’s the biggest thing.”
Nordi said he’ll miss the relationships — with coaches, administrators and of course, student-athletes.
“Building those relationships — I’ve got friends from the athletic community now across the entire country, coaches I’ve coached, athletes I’ve coached,” Nordi said. “They’re everywhere. Staying connected with them, that’s special.”
Nordi said he plans to spend retirement with his wife, Mary, hitting the road with their fifth wheel and seeing different parts of the country.
Nordi said he’s most proud of fighting to expand girls sports at Lakes — the school added girls bowling during his time — and making sure the program’s priorities were always in the right place.
“Hiring coaches that do it for the kids and not for wins,” he said. “If you’re doing things right and for the kids, the lessons that are learned from athletics, winning will take care of itself.”
This story was originally published June 24, 2020 at 12:00 PM.
