(Pavillion, WY) – Enthusiastic, driven, motivated, eager, passionate and with an infectious drive that seeks to improve everything around him. Those are a lot of adjectives, but they still fall short of describing Todd Ghormley, the newly hire assistant principal and athletic director at Wind River.
Todd bounced around academically for a while after graduating from high school in Soldotna, Alaska, in 2002.
“Soldotna is on the Kenai Peninsula,” Todd said. “About 45 miles by air from Anchorage or 165 by car.”
Ghormley was an undergraduate at the South Dakota School of Mines in Rapid City. He studied at Western Dakota Technical Institute, then at Black Hills State, where he earned a teaching certificate.
Later, he picked up an MS in Education Administration from the University of Wyoming.
“I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life. I majored in interdisciplinary science,” Todd said. “I wanted to go to med school.”
When medical school didn’t work out, he studied to be a pharmacy technician.
“I found it wasn’t really my calling, then I went to BSU,” Todd said. “That’s how I ended up in Wyoming.”
He began his teaching career at Wyoming Indian in the fall of 2013.
“I taught freshman life science and advanced biology, and coached football for six years,” he said.
“The first year Wyoming Indian went six man, I had Trevor Williamson at quarterback,” Todd said. “A monster of a human being, a fantastic kid.”
He came to Ethete to teach science and coach football, but principal Phil Garhart, a college wrestler himself at Dickinson State University, had another idea.
“I was recruited to teach and coach football,” Todd said. “Phil approached me a month or two before wrestling started and asked if I wanted to coach wrestling. That’s how I started my wrestling coaching career.”
Ghormley was familiar with the sport after wrestling for two years in high school.
“I was a lone wolf for three years, then on year three they recruited me an assistant coach,” Todd said. “Keith Bauder came in year four. He was at Arapaho. He brought a kid over to wrestle with us. I’d met him earlier, and I said I’d love the help. The next year he came out and started working with me.”
Ghormley worked at Wyoming Indian for 12 years.
“I wouldn’t trade my last 12 years for anything. I met some amazing folks, parents, teachers and the kids,” Todd said. “Now some of my kids have their kids starting to come through. It’s been a cool thing to experience.”
On top of his teaching and coaching duties, Todd has a wife, Stephanie, and five children. They were married on July 5, 2008.
Stephanie was born in Landstuhl, Germany. Her father was in the U.S. Air Force. She lived in Germany, Las Vegas, and finally Rapid City. She graduated from Rapid City Stephens High School.
“I met her at the School of Mines; she was taking undergrad classes there,” Todd said. “She was cute. She wouldn’t give me the time of day. I finally wore her down.”
In a bit of serendipity, their paths crossed again a few years later.
“She went to Metro State for a year, then came back to Black Hills State,” Todd said.
The five children keep them busy.
Arya, the eldest, was born in 2009, Braden in 2011, and Conner in 2014. They adopted Xakeil and Xiayah.
“Xiayah is 5, Xak is four, they’re Irish Twins,” Todd joked. “They are half-brother and sister, Eastern Shoshone kids.”
The family lives in Lander, where Todd and Stephanie purchased a home seven years ago.
Arya is a sophomore at Lander Valley High School. She plays softball in the summer.
“Braden is a wrestler, and he’s been itching to wrestle for Coach Watson in Lander,” Todd said. “Connor is in 6th grade. Xiayah is starting kindergarten.”
Todd had some options this summer in pursuing an activities director position. There were six openings for ADs in Fremont County alone.
“There are 18 new ADs across Wyoming this year,” Todd said. “When we did our new AD meeting, there were a lot more there. There has been a lot of turnover for whatever reason in that position.”
Todd narrowed his interests to Shoshoni and Wind River.
“I was very interested in the position in Shoshoni, becoming an administrator, an AD was a goal of mine professionally, but the position never opened up,” Todd said. “It was all for the right reasons that I ended up in Wind River. Shoshoni would have been a fantastic place to work as well. They have a fantastic education system with great people. Matt Mason will do a fantastic job as AD.”
Many teachers choose the career partly to coach. Some teach with the goal of becoming a principal or eventually a superintendent. Not nearly as many choose teaching with the goal of becoming an activities director.
“Very early in my career, I set out to accomplish a goal: I wanted to be a teacher. It wasn’t that nothing else fit, I just really enjoyed teaching,” Todd said. “I wanted to be more than a teacher. I wanted to affect kids more than at a classroom level. As a principal, you can effect change at a school level.”
Todd is a hands-on guy who believes in kids and the power of connections.
“Do as many jobs as you possibly can to learn the ins and outs of an organization,” Todd said.
The learning curve for a teacher and coach moving into an administrative and activities position is a steep one, almost as steep as the experience in your first year in the classroom.
“I gave up coaching this year, because I wanted to get good at this,” Todd said. “I can still be around the kids in a different capacity. Being an AD has been an amazing blessing, allowing me to gracefully leave the coaching ranks.”
Not one to accept setbacks, Todd powered through surgery last year.
“I had neck surgery. I was in pain all the time last year. I think that coaching was exacerbating it and making it worse,” he said.
At Pavillion, his duties as an assistant principal are a little different than a traditional administrative position.
“Part of my duties is working with high school and middle school kids on our flex time. It’s an opportunity to work on projects and do mindset skills,” Todd said.
The activities director position at Wind River has been a revolving door for the last few years.
“I was talking with some of the staff, and they said there’s a bet on how long you can last,” Todd said. “Can I get in on it? I asked. Put me down for 10 years, I’m looking at this as an investment. I’m excited to be a Cougar and in keeping the relationship I’ve had with the Chiefs.”
If you’re at a game in Pavillion and notice a quick-moving guy with a wide grin on his face, stop and introduce yourself to Todd Ghormley.
“I’m still on cloud 9 that I’ve been given this opportunity to work with parents, staff, and the kids,” Todd said.