PEABODY — Peabody has a new athletic director — and a whole lot more.
Carroll Elementary School physical education teacher Dennis Desroches has recently been named the district’s director of health, wellness and athletics.
“We had an incredible pool of candidates for this sought-after position, but one candidate rose above and that was Dennis,” said Superintendent of Schools Dr. Josh Vadala. “Dennis has been a consistent leader in the Peabody Public Schools for the past 20 years. His work leading the elementary health and wellness curriculum and his success as a coach will be a huge asset.”
Desroches replaces Bob Bua, who himself succeeded longtime athletic director and Peabody Athletics Hall-of-Fame member Phil Sheridan in 2017.
Bua stepped down earlier this year to return to the classroom at the high school as a history teacher.
Desroches — who previously taught PE at the Welch Elementary School — will be responsible not only for athletics and physical education, but comprehensive health and wellness programs as well, all of it district-wide and spanning grades K-12.
“This is a very demanding role, as is any role in education, but I’ve been a teacher and coach for 20 years and these jobs I’ve had over the years have prepared me for this role,” said Desroches. “I’ve been fortunate to have an incredible staff of veterans in the Health and Physical Education department from the elementary schools right on up to the high school.
“I will be learning a lot more from them than they will be learning from me.”
On the athletics side, Desroches feels he is blessed to have an equally talented and experienced coaching staff.
“Season to season we have veteran coaches that have been around who have great accomplishments so I am fortunate to be able to work with them,” he added. “I appreciate the role that I will be heading into and I look forward to a great year.”
“I’m excited that your background shows a lot of experience and you are already well aware of how things are here and how passionate we are about our sports,” School Committee member Brandi Carpenter said, following Desroches’ introduction at Tuesday’s committee meeting.
Fellow member Beverley Griffin Dunne said she is “thrilled” to have Desroches on board.
Committee member Joe Amico said he hopes Desroches’ ability to connect with middle school student-athletes will help keep them in the district.
“He will do a nice job helping recruit middle-school kids to stay in Peabody,” Amico said. “The one thing you bring is to be able to talk to seventh and eighth graders and say, ‘come to the high school.’ I think you are going to be able to help us get some really good student-athletes coming to the high school.”
With the appointment, Desroches is walking away from two programs he helped build into arguably not only two of the strongest in the Northeastern Conference, but two of the strongest at Peabody High over the last 10-plus years.
Desroches has coached the girls soccer team for 13 seasons, winning a state Division 1 title in 2011 and qualifying for the tournament year after year. Desroches got his start in October 2007 as interim coach and was appointed coach the following spring.
Desroches has also coached the girls lacrosse team to prominence, leading the team to tournament berths the last five years and to winning seasons in 10 of the last 11 seasons.
Vadala said Desroches’ organization and communication skills are “top-notch” and will be key in making a successful transition.
“Dennis is extremely organized and an effective communicator. His strong relationships with students, families and community members will help make his transition to this position a smooth one,” Vadala said. “He has really helped to develop a lot of the K-5 health and wellness curriculum and has been a leader in professional development. I am confident that he will help grow and support our athletic programs and our K-12 health and wellness curriculum.”
“Thank you for taking this on,” said Athletics and Wellness Subcommittee Chairman Andrew Arnotis. “We’ve talked about what this role can be and where we could go with it. From Higgins sports to expanding our college athletes when they leave us, there are a lot of opportunities there. We’re happy to work with you in any way to help our athletes be as successful as possible.”
