This year, Taft High has welcomed many new people into its family, one of them being our new Dean of Athletics and Student Support Services, Robert Ramirez. Ramirez plans on learning, “…as much about the school as possible and assess the needs of our sports programs,” so that he can make the best decisions for our school athletic programs in the future.

Ramirez came to Taft High because, “Taft High is well known in the valley for having an excellent Athletic Department and Facilities,” and because it, “also has strong community support and some well-known traditions that I look forward to being a part of.” Ramirez was, “encouraged to apply by Coach Falgout. We worked together in Fresno and he was familiar with my background as a teacher and was an administrator, and he thought I would be a good fit at TUHS.” Taft High, which was already filled with great and hardworking staff, has gained another.

Ramirez has already made some moves to help with our uniforms and apparel. According to Ramirez, Adidas is offering us apparel and shoes up to 40% off of retail. When we buy uniforms, this will save us a lot of money and we will have access to the same jerseys that colleges wear on game day. Our clubs are also able to receive the same discounts for their programs and pass the savings on their members. We can even set up fundraisers with Adidas and sell apparel and shoes to the local community. In return, Adidas is asking that we buy only their brand for our sports teams over the next 5 years.

The only thing Ramirez plans on changing this year is the school athletic logos. There are different variations of the “Wildcats” and “Ts”  that are on the sports hats and jerseys. He believes that, “having one or two logos for our athletics teams creates a sense of unity and will help carry forward our traditions.” Another point brought up by Ramirez is how the logos we use now are not registered. He wants to bring together a team where, “The goal will be to determine what the official sports logo will be so that we can officially register it and then prevent others from selling TUHS merchandise without our written approval.” If any student is interested in joining this team to work on unifying the logo, feel free to contact Ramirez via email.