Leah Wooldridge: ‘Back to my roots’

By RICHIE HALL
Reporter Sports Editor
On July 1, Leah Wooldridge was back in a familiar place – in more ways than one.
Wooldridge made a return to Noblesville High School, beginning her duties as the Millers’ new athletic director. Longtime Noblesville fans know, of course, that Wooldridge coached the Millers girls basketball team from 1999 to 2004.
Wooldridge came back to NHS after 10 years at Franklin Community High School, where she was the assistant principal for eight years, and then principal for two years. While she enjoyed her time as an administrator, Wooldridge was ready to get back into the athletic world full-time.
“When I became an administrator, I looked at things from a different lens, and I’m like, ‘Gosh, if I could go back and do that again, I think I could really help people and do a better job,'” said Wooldridge. “I just felt like it was time for a career change for me, and go back to my roots, which is athletics.”
While Wooldridge’s first official day was July 1, she had been working for a couple weeks prior to that date. So far she has gotten off to a fast start, meeting with all of the coaches and working with Tony Oilar, the assistant athletic director who served as the interim AD over the past few months, and athletic secretary Bobbi Davis.
“It’s been great,” said Wooldridge. “Obviously Tony and Bobbi have been a great help, and everybody has been great as far as helping me get up to speed. I’ve met with all of our coaches, and those conversations have been great. Just sitting down, trying to get to know one another a little better and talk about their programs and expectations they have for their teams.”
Wooldridge knows quite a bit about coaching herself. In her first year of coaching, she took the Anderson girls basketball team to the state championship game. She coached the Indians for three years, and also spent some time in the collegiate ranks, assisting at Ball State for a year and the University of Detroit Mercy for three years.
After that, she headed to Noblesville for the first time, then moved up to the administration ranks by serving as the Taylor High School athletic director for three years, followed by a decade at Franklin.
“I think without that administrative experience I gained, I don’t think I could sit here and say ‘Yeah, I’d be a better athletic director,'” said Wooldridge. “It’s because of that administrative experience that I gained, along with my coaching and my teaching and my playing, I think that has made me more well-rounded.”
Since she still lived in the area, Wooldridge is aware of the continued growth of the Noblesville community and school system. As the population grew, the athletic expectations have grown as well.
“What we want for our programs is for the student athletes to be the best they can be,” said Wooldridge. “We do have some students that have aspirations of playing collegiately, and some of them even professionally.”
Of course, Wooldridge is quick to point out that success doesn’t happen overnight – it comes at an expense. “Kids got to come in and coaches have to come in and put the work in,” she said.
Wooldridge has already gotten the chance to see that work with her own eyes. She’s attended a couple of Noblesville’s Championship Wednesdays, where many Millers get up very early – during summer vacation, mind you – and put themselves through a rigorous program supervised by Brian Clarke, Noblesville’s strength and conditioning coach.
Wooldridge told Clarke, “Gosh, if I could go back and have all these resources, I think I would’ve been a much better player than what I was.” Wooldridge believes it’s important for these Miller student-athletes to understand all the opportunities and resources that are available to them to help make them the best athletes they can be.
Wooldridge also talked about qualities that she believes must be instilled in Noblesville students that will help them be successful in life after they graduate high school. Those qualities include “sportsmanship, character, hard work, how to handle success and defeat in a first-class manner.”
“The big thing is, we’re always making decisions based on what’s best for our students, regardless of whether I was principal or athletic director or coach,” said Wooldridge. She also said that communication is important. That includes “always keeping one another informed and from that communication you build trust and that we have a trusting atmosphere, relying on each other and that we’re all in this together to help our kids and our student-athletes and our students.”
One thing you won’t be seeing Wooldridge do is sit behind her desk for endless periods of time. A self-proclaimed “athletics junkie,” Wooldridge is aiming to make herself visible at not just competitions, but also during practices as well.
“You won’t just see me on game days,” said Wooldridge. “I’ll be out watching practices. Just being visible, so the student-athletes can see me out there supporting them and cheering for them and know that myself and the athletic department, we’re in their corner and we’re here to serve them.”

Leah Wooldridge is enjoying her first few weeks as Noblesville High School’s athletic director. Wooldridge spent the past 10 years working at Franklin Community High School, and was a girls basketball coach for the Millers for several years. (Richie Hall)