CROTHERSVILLE — It is never easy to move, from your first move out of your hometown, or moving schools, or moving for jobs or family. It is even harder to leave if you have made a solid foundation in that community and impacted the lives of others along the way.

Luckily for Jacob Dunn, he’s moving right down the road, to neighboring Austin. Dunn announced in June that he would be leaving his position as Crothersville High School athletic director.

After four seasons at Crothersville, Dunn was doing much more than an AD, teaching multiple periods a day and keeping everything in the athletic department running smoothly.

His favorite parts included publicizing the Tiger athletes on social media and being around the group of kids at Crothersville.

Dunn spoke about his beginning for the Tigers.

“This is the one story I tell everybody, I applied and interviewed for the job in April of 2020,” Dunn said. “Right during COVID, I got hired during the second week of July. So, I only had a couple of weeks until school started, then I was told I had to have a COVID plan in place with the county health department before any of the teams could practice.”

“We were behind, but we were able to get it finished,” he said. “We had it in place the next day and it’s been a pedal to the metal ride ever since then.”

He spent four full seasons running the operations and countless hours at games, along with sending statistics to media outlets. He covered every single avenue and picked up slack when things were not finished.

Dunn spoke about his tenure in Crothersville.

“It started off a little rocky, we were probably one of the schools in the county that didn’t have fans for the first year, until we got to the outdoor sports,” Dunn said. “I coached JV basketball that first year and golf for two seasons. I have taught everything from special education in elementary school to teaching computer science and PE classes to middle-schoolers, all the way to career classes in high school.

“It’s kind of been a roller coaster of a ride. I’m always going to be an athletic administrator and it’s been a fun time, but to be honest, it was a little bit of a rough four years, just because of COVID starting off. I just felt like I never got caught up from that.”

Dunn also will teach business — assisting newly hired Eagles varsity basketball coach Brent Jameson and helping their athletic director in Keith Henderson. The two go back to their time together at Scottsburg High School where they coached.

“Being in the classroom already teaching all these different subjects will help, because I’ll have classroom management skills,” he said. “On the athletic side, of course I’m coaching basketball with Brent (Jameson), I coached with him at Scottsburg, so I’m glad to be back with him at Austin.”

As we all know, social media has grown enormously in the past decade and Dunn has put in a lot of work for the Crothersville athletic pages.

“I think I did a hell of a job with that,” he said.

He will still be in contact with many people from Crothersville, and the Tigers battle the Eagles in many sports, so he will be around. The kids and people of Crothersville have had a massive impact on Dunn’s life.

“They mean so much, I cannot thank them enough,” Dunn said. “Living in Scottsburg, I had been through this town, but not stopped in until I got the job. The relationships and people I’ve met have been so awesome here and I’m going to miss them a lot.”

Out of college, Dunn coached at Scottsburg for six years in basketball, helping as varsity assistant and coaching the freshman or C team. He then coached the Crothersville JV team for a season. This season will be his 8th on the sidelines. Now, Dunn has been at each school on U.S. 31 from Crothersville to Scottsburg.

“That’ll mean I’ve coached all down 31 from Crothersville to Scottsburg, with Austin being my final stop,” Dunn said. “I told Brent (Jameson) that he would be one of the few people I would come back for. I think it will be a fun ride, I’ve been able to be around and help coaching the team this summer.”

Dunn mentioned he’s excited and can’t wait for the next generation of Austin Eagles basketball.

The Crothersville athletic department now lies in the hands of Curtis White, who has been head coach of the Lady Tigers basketball team.

Dunn believes White was a suitable selection to take his place.

“I thought he was the best choice. I’ve gotten to know him well, he’s been a great hire for us,” Dunn said. “I’m glad he was the one that got the job. Maybe in the future I’ll get back into being an AD, but I am glad that he is taking over this department. I can’t wait to see where he takes it.”

He posted a statement on social media last month leaving some final thoughts on his tenure.

“I never thought that Crothersville would become my home, but I’m so glad that it did,” Dunn said. “I have worked with a lot of different people over the past four years. I’ve made lifetime friends. Thank you to every student, staff, coach, AD, administrator, other teams/schools, officials and anyone else that I have had the pleasure to work with.”

“There are times in your life where you have to go out of your comfort zone,” he added. “I am so glad I did. After all is said and done, I feel like I am leaving a little piece of my heart on Preston Street. It isn’t goodbye, it’s see you later.”

Dunn said wanted to thank Terry Goodin and Adam Robinson who gave him the chance to be the athletic director at Crothersville. Goodin was superintendent, while Robinson was principal at the time.

He also wanted to thank this reporter, and fellow Tribune reporters Arv Koontz, Dylan Wallace and Lew Freedman for their work during his tenure at Crothersville.