Midwest native, Scott Garvis, hired as new Eastside Catholic athletic director

If it appeared a tornado swept through Scott Garvis' office earlier this week, trust the Midwest native, it wasn't — it only felt like it. Three days after completing a 24-hour drive from Burnsville, Minn., to Sammamish, Garvis spent Tuesday morning settling into his new position as Eastside Catholic athletic director. "It's all been a blur — 1,800 miles later it's just kind of like, 'wow,'" he said, taking a break from hammering decorations on his wall. The 36-year-old, who officially started July 19, was hired at the beginning of the month to replace Lance Gatter, who resigned after four years as AD. He now lives only two miles from the school with his wife, Jayne, and three children; Grant, 11, Alexandra, 3, and Brooke, 1. "To be perfectly honest my family and I were just looking for a school that just had a nice family atmosphere," Garvis said. "We really enjoyed visiting with all the administrative team, and it was just absolutely gorgeous. That was definitely a deciding factor." Garvis comes to Eastside Catholic from the Burnsville School District, located in a suburb south of Minneapolis and St. Paul. He spent the last four years as athletic director, managing a $1.2 million budget, 31 varsity athletic programs, and sports for three middle schools. In his four years at the helm, Burnsville High School won 12 conference championships and six state titles. "Scott stood out as the top candidate in an extremely impressive pool of applicants for the position,” said Sister Mary E. Tracy, president and head of school at Eastside Catholic. “His strong administration skills, coaching experience, ability to fund raise and build community support, and commitment to the academic success of athletes are first rate.” Prior to his time in Burnsville, Garvis was an athletic director in Iowa, for the communities of Monona, Farmersburg, Luana, Marquette and McGregor. He also spent two years as activities director for William Penn University and two years as an assistant football coach at his alma mater, Westmar University. Garvis holds two master's degrees — one in educational leadership and another in athletic administration — along with a bachelor's in political science history. He also has a deep history playing sports. In high school, Garvis rotated between basketball and wrestling every other winter season. He also played baseball and ran track. But, he really excelled on the football field where he became an Iowa all-state player before playing collegiately at Westmar, an NAIA school. With his history on the field and in the classroom, there is little doubt balancing academics and athletics are extremely important to the new Crusader athletic director. "It goes back to my philosophy that athletics should be an extension of the classroom," Garvis said. "There's really a lot of education, a lot of learning that happens after the bell rings at the end of the school day." Garvis said with the facilities and personnel Eastside Catholic has, he thinks the challenges are few and far between and the possibilities for success are endless. "I don't necessarily think right now there's one overall glaring challenge that's facing us, I think it's just the overall development of an athletic program," he said. The biggest obstacle so far? "Right now it's finding out where the light switches are and putting my office together," Garvis said, laughing.

Contact Sammamish Reporter Sports Editor Kevin Endejan at kendejan@issaquah-reporter.com or 425-391-0363, ext. 5054.

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