It did not take long for Athletic Director Kelly Bermes and her committee to complete the selection process for the school’s new Assistant Athletic Director. Just days after the resignation of previous assistant AD Todd Strom, Ben Bachmann reached out to Bermes. From that point, there was little doubt in Bermes’s mind that he was the perfect candidate.
Bachmann was a finalist for the position when it was open prior to the start of the 2012-2013 school year. He remained in contact with Bermes throughout the year, asking what he could do to get better and how he could prepare himself for working in a school’s Athletic Department. When he called Bermes again this year, she invited him in for an interview.
“We sat down with him and I had some administrators that sat in on my committee and he just blew us away,” Bermes said. “It just reinforced for me why he was a finalist last year and we just knew that he was a quality guy that we needed to get in here. It was a really easy process for me.”
Bachmann received a master’s degree in athletic administration and has 16 years as an NCAA baseball coach under his belt. He knew that ultimately he wanted to make his way into an administrative role.
“I started a family about six years ago and the kids are getting older, so this was an opportunity to get off the road from a recruiting standpoint and get into a path that I wanted to get into,” he said. “This was a perfect opportunity and a perfect setting to go ahead and make that transition.”
Bachmann and his wife both grew up in nearby Michigan City. He graduated from Michigan City Elston in 1993 after playing basketball and baseball in high school.
After coaching stints at the University of Evansville, Miami University in Ohio, the University of Maryland and Lynn University, Bachmann has experience that he plans to use to his advantage in his new role.
“It’s very similar from the off-the-field standpoint where you’re dealing with contracts, you’re trying to get things fixed and repaired and you’re trying to get things set up for your season,” he said. “I think the goals are the same. You want to make the coaches’ jobs as easy as you can and help support them and get things for their program and make sure that their schedules are smooth so that on game day, they can be locked in on taking care of business on the field.”
Bachmann has fond memories of competing against the Portage Indians during his days at Elston and said that everything he has heard about the school system is outstanding.
Since taking over as the Assistant Athletic Director, Bachmann has been catching up on contracts, double checking to ensure that all the officials are set up and acclimating himself to all the new faces and names that he will be working with.
“Working with people and helping people is the biggest thing,” he said. “As a coach on the field, you’re locked into the athletes that are with you and your fellow coaches. Here, it’s a much larger group that I’ll be working with. It’s really still working with people; it’s just a little bit of a different arena.”
Strom resigned after one year, making Bachmann the third Assistant AD in as many years. The school is coming off one of its most successful athletic years in recent memory, and Bachmann is excited to join Bermes and Athletic Secretary Diana Rivera to form the triumvirate leading that charge.
“I’m just looking forward to the opportunity,” he said. “I’m looking forward to getting to know the students and staff and just being a part of the community.”