Cardinal hires alumnus Jimmy Soltis as new AD

The Cardinal School District didn’t have to look very far to find its new athletic director.

Jimmy Soltis, a 2002 graduate of Cardinal, has been named the successor to former AD Andy Cardinal, who has moved over to be Middle School principal in the district.

“I’m pretty excited,” Soltis said. “I kind of had this idea a couple of years ago, went back to get my master’s degree in athletic administration, with the goal to be the athletic director at Cardinal. I knew it might be available in a few years. I coached there, finished my schooling — everything has worked out so far.”

Soltis was a three-sport athlete (football, basketball and baseball) all four years at Cardinal, then went on to play football at Edinboro University in Pennsylvania, where he got his undergraduate degree in environmental science and geology.

He plans to continue working, along with his brother Adam, on the family farm in Parkman Township, a dairy operation that milks between 110-130 cows and produces crops such as corn, soybeans and hay.

He has coached football under head coach Eric Cardinal and basketball under head coach Jon Cummins for the past six years.

While he is hanging up his basketball coaching duties this year, he said he is still planning on coaching football to go along with his athletic director’s duties.

Soltis’ supplemental contract for being athletic director doesn’t officially start until Aug. 1, but after he was officially hired by the district at the June School Board meeting, he said he “hit the ground running.”

Andy Cardinal said it has been a seamless transition thus far.

“We knew in May he’d be the guy, so we’ve been working together to transition,” Cardinal said. “At this point, he’s doing the job. He calls me now and then to ask a question, but he has made the transition and is doing the job.”

Cardinal said he was in on the selection committee to find his replacement, and characterized Soltis as a home-run hire.

He said numerous attributes made Soltis an ideal candidate, from his familiarity with the school district as a player, coach and citizen, to his credentials via his degrees at Edinboro and Ohio University (for his master’s degree).

“He has all the credentials. He just didn’t have the opportunity — until now,” Cardinal said. “When he interviewed for the position and was asked questions, he answered more or less exactly how I thought he should have answered had I answered those questions myself.

“It was the superintendent’s call, but how Jimmy answered every question in regard to philosophy was how I would have answered them, too.”

Soltis said he jumped right in with scheduling and fundraising for the athletic department. He said one of his main goals is for Cardinal to never have pay-to-participate fees ever again.

But he also has bigger dreams for the athletic department, and said he hopes to “feed off the foundation” Andy Cardinal laid.

“I want to bring back the community involvement,” he said. “I remember watching my brothers play and think the community was more involved with everything. I also want to give them something that is worth supporting.

“Andy has done a great job and got us going in that direction. I want to feed off the foundation he has laid.”

Soltis