Dan Boring takes over as Southmoreland’s athletic director

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Monday, August 31, 2020 | 5:20 PM

Dan Boring knew Charlie Swink had been hinting about stepping down as athletic director at Southmoreland for some time.

As the Scotties wrestling coach, Boring had many conversations with Swink around the athletic department water cooler. He even inquired about what Swink’s position entailed — the schedule-making, the meetings, the busing and the selling of tickets, among other things.

The more he learned, the more he warmed up to the notion of taking over for Swink.

Boring, who has coached a number of sports in Alverton, turned his curiosity up a notch by applying for the job. The district, in turn, hired him last week and now he plans to simply pick up where Swink left off.

“Charlie and I always talked and I told him this is something I might be interested in,” said Boring, 30. “I watched how Charlie did schedules and I sometimes filled in at athletic events when he could not be there. He did a lot to bring change here and I want to keep things moving forward.”

Boring, a physical education and health teacher at the elementary level at Southmoreland, is a former three-sport athlete at Derry and attended West Virginia. A former wrestler, he took over the Scotties mat program in 2019.

His first job won’t be to fire the wrestling coach. He still wants to guide the team. He has been with the program for seven years — four as an assistant.

“I would like to do both jobs,” he said. “I have to see how things go in the beginning and decide if it will work.”

Southmoreland has seen an upswing in several sports over the last decade. The school produced a PIAA wrestling champion in Jake Beistel, the softball team won a WPIAL title, the football team made the playoffs for the first time in 40 years, and the girls basketball team reached the WPIAL finals and state playoffs for the first time.

The Scotties are now being taken much more seriously outside of Westmoreland County.

“The last two years we’ve had all three of our winter sports teams make the playoffs,” said Boring, who used to coach the Scotties baseball team. “I’d like the team success to continue, but it would be nice to see more individual athletes do well. Maybe in the more obscure sports. Some of our teams haven’t had the chance to make the playoffs (in recent years).”

His elaborate list of other coaching jobs in the district include stops with the middle school baseball, boys soccer, girls soccer, football and boys basketball teams, and one year as a varsity football assistant.

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.

Tags: Southmoreland