By Steven Bradley (Contact / Staff Bio)
March 29, 2008 - 12:14 a.m. EST

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Kenny Fey

West-Oak High School girls’ soccer coach Bobby Norizsan talks with his team during their match against Seneca on Thursday in Westminster. Principal Scott Smith confirmed Friday that Norizsan has been chosen as West-Oak’s new athletic director.

WESTMINSTER — When Lynn Fleming announced his resignation as head football coach and athletic director at West-Oak High School earlier this month, it left a pair of very large voids in the school’s athletic department.

West-Oak principal Scott Smith confirmed on Monday that one of those voids has been filled – and he didn’t have to go far to find a suitable replacement.

Warriors boys’ basketball coach and girls’ soccer coach Bobby Norizsan has been selected as the school’s new athletic director, effective on April 1.

Smith said he wasn’t necessarily looking to hire from within, but rather decided that Norizsan was simply the best candidate for the job.

“Coach Norizsan, obviously he’s been with us, but he comes with a great deal of experience,” he said. “He knows our school, he knows our kids – and we felt like that was a strength. He knows the direction we want our athletic program to go in, and he’s got a ton of creative ideas.

“And he’s really excited about the opportunity to put some of those ideas into place and take us to the next level.”

Smith said that while Norizsan’s coaching prowess has been proven – he’s been named the Daily Journal/Messenger Golden Corner girls’ soccer Coach of the Year each of the last two seasons – it was his relationships with the school’s athletes that made him really stand out.

“We wanted someone that had the best interest of the kids in mind – and that’s not to say any other candidate didn’t have that – we just were looking for the best fit for our program and for our kids,” Smith said.

For his part, Norizsan said his familiarity with the students and the community would be a major help in terms of transitioning into his new role.

“I think because I know the people, I know our community, I know our athletes and I know what our needs are, I think that’s obviously going to be an advantage for me,” he said. “And I think that’s going to help our whole athletic department.”

Norizsan is a 1995 graduate of Walhalla High School and earned a BS in Physical Education from USC-Spartanburg in 1999. He has since received two Masters degrees – in Sports Management from the United States Sports Academy in 2001 and in Administration and Supervision from Jones International University in 2006.

Clearly, Norizsan has the resume for the position, and he said it’s something that has been a goal of his for some time.

“I’ve been involved with athletics for awhile, and ultimately, you want to keep progressing – and becoming athletic director is definitely a pretty good achievement,” he said. “That was one of my goals in athletics.”

The new West-Oak AD said he also felt like he was well prepared for the added responsibility that his new position would require.

“I think so,” Norizsan said. “I think Coach Fleming has done a lot for our program, and I think he sort of set us up to continue. We’ve reached some success, and I think that stepping in right now is going to be a good time to do that, with us transitioning to AAA.”

With the Warriors moving up to Class AAA in 2008 as part of the South Carolina High School League realignment – joining Seneca and Daniel, among others, in the Western AAA region – it’s obviously a pivotal time for West-Oak’s athletic programs.

“It’s definitely going to be a challenge, but I think there’s a lot of neat things that are going to come out of it too,” Norizsan said. “Our region is going to consist of a lot of local teams, and that’s going to help with getting people out to the games – and I think that’s going to be a neat part of the transition.”

With one of the aforementioned voids filled, West-Oak will now turn its attention to filling their head football coach position, and both Norizsan and Smith said there was some urgency to do so – with spring practice just around the corner.

“Our goal is to have that position filled by the time we come back from spring break, which will be April 14 – our first day back – so that’s our target date to have everything lined up,” Smith said. “That gives the new coach a chance to get his spring practice organized and get people in place, how ever they want to do that.”

Whoever is named the Warriors’ new coach will have some big shoes to fill, as Fleming led the Warriors to playoff appearances in three of his four years at the helm and was named Daily Journal/Messenger Golden Corner Coach of the Year in 2004.

“Coach Fleming has done an outstanding job here for the past four years and laid some very solid groundwork,” Smith said. “And what we’re looking for is somebody to come in – in both positions, AD and head coach – that can pick us up where we are right now and keep us moving forward.”

Norizsan, who will be involved in the search, said the process is already getting cranked up.

“I think it’s going to be exciting – we’ve had several interested applicants, and I think whatever happens, we’re going to end up getting somebody who wants to be here and ready to work hard and help us transition into AAA,” he said.