Fraundfelder takes over as Harwood AD
Sept. 7, 2023 | By James Biggam Editor’s note: Times Argus sports writer James Biggam interviewed Harwood Union’s new Athletic and Activities Director Ian Fraunfelder as the fall season began. This piece was published by the Times Argus on Aug. 24.
Ian Fraundfelder. Photo by James Biggam
DUXBURY — Ian Fraundfelder is proud to be a Highlander after taking over athletic director duties at Harwood this fall.
Entering his 15th year as a Vermont AD, he may also resemble a unicorn.
The native of Walpole, N.H., brings a rare combination of multi-sport coaching experience, professional loyalty and institutional knowledge to his new position in the Mad River Valley where he’s recently moved with his family to Warren.
. His track record also includes an impressive history of success after leading Bellows Falls to 23 championships since 2008.
There are only a handful of schools in the Green Mountain State that have ADs with as much experience as Fraundfelder, who was hired after the recent departure of Chris Langevin. Sue Duprat was the HU athletic director for 14 years before retiring in 2017, and she filled in again on an interim basis after Langevin stepped down last winter.
Fraundfelder went to high school at Northfield Mount Hermon, where he competed in soccer, ice hockey and track and field. He graduated from Colby Sawyer College in 2002 with a degree in exercise and sport sciences. His coaching duties have spanned from field hockey to track and field to ice hockey, and he helped several programs at Bellows Falls rise to dynasty status.
The Terriers field hockey squad has been one of the greatest turnaround stories in Vermont history, bouncing back from a combined 0-27-2 record in 2009 and 2010 and transforming into a perennial title contender during the past decade. The 2012 Bellows Falls squad went 12-3 before the team advanced to the final and finished at 14-2-1 the following year. The Terriers wound up with a 15-1 record after losing to Stowe in overtime during the 2014 final.
Bellows Falls capped a 13-2-2 season in 2015 by claiming payback against the Raiders with a 2-0 victory in the final. Following a 16-0 campaign in 2016, the Terriers moved up to Division II and captured their third straight championship by going 17-0. Bellows Falls went 17-0 again in 2018 and walked away with the D-I championship. The Terriers pieced together a 58-game winning streak from 2016-19 and advanced to subsequent finals in 2019, 2020 and 2021. They won it all with an 11-0 mark during the Covid-shortened 2020 season and wound up with a 16-1 record in 2021.
Fraundfelder also watched the Terriers hoist the championship trophy 11 times in track and field. The boys program won seven straight crowns, prevailing at the D-III level from 2013-18 before moving up to D-II and snapping U-32’s run of six straight titles in 2019. The Bellows Falls girls track and field squad rattled off four consecutive titles from 2016-19, triumphing in D-II during the 2019 season to cap a boys-girls sweep for the fourth year in a row.
Bellows Falls earned a girls cross-country running three-peat in 2018, 2019 and 2020 in D-III, while the Terriers won the boys XC top prize in 2011. The school’s football team has been among Vermont’s finest for a long time, making seven title appearances during Fraundfelder’s tenure and winning crowns in 2010, 2016 and 2021. Bellows Falls also advanced to the D-II baseball final in 2015 and 2016.
While Harwood has enjoyed plenty of success in lacrosse and ice hockey, they will be new additions for Fraundfelder because Bellows Falls didn’t field teams in those sports. He’ll also work with a volleyball squad for the first time after the Harwood girls made their varsity debut in 2016.
Another difference is likely to be soccer because HU has made a habit of excelling on the pitch for decades in both boys and girls. The Bellows Falls boys have never won a soccer playoff game, while 2011 was the only season that the Terrier girls won a postseason match.
An interview with Fraunfelder covered a variety of topics.
TA: How did you find out about the job opening at Harwood and how did the hiring process play out?
Fraundfelder: I found out about the job through SchoolSpring, just looking around. I saw that and I applied — and several weeks later I got the phone call and I came up and had about an hour-long interview with a big group in late February or early March. And then two weeks later I came back here and I was here for about four hours, meeting with groups of people. I went through that process and got to meet a lot of kids and different staff members throughout the building. And then about two weeks after that I got a call and I met with the superintendent for about a half-hour or 45 minutes. It was a lot to think about — coming up here — once I was offered the job because we had to move. So I went home, talked to my wife, had some questions and came back up and met with Lori (Greenberg) — one of the principals — and the superintendent again. And then, on the spot, I accepted the job.
TA: In terms of passing the baton, did you talk with Sue Duprat or Chris Langevin and have some back and forth with them?
Fraundfelder: I talked a lot with Sue and sent a lot of emails early on. And then at the end of the school year, when I was done with my old school, I came up here a couple times and worked for a couple hours with her. She left me a lot of information and I’m still in contact with her now for any questions. But I’ve also been using Danni (LaFlamme), our trainer, and she’s been very happy to show me some of the stuff that fell to her when everything happened. She’s been like, “Here, yes, you do this and this is how you do it.” She’s been very excited to help me out.
TA: If you had to guess, what do you think are some of your biggest strengths or skill sets that helped you get the job?
Fraundfelder: I think one thing is just the knowledge of how Vermont works: the VSADA [Vermont State Athletic Directors Association], the VPA [Vermont Principals Association].
I had 14 years at Bellows Falls, so I knew a lot of that stuff. And I don’t want to say I know a lot, because nobody knows everything. But I’ve dealt with a lot of situations in those 14 years. So different things have happened that have just given me experience that you’re not necessarily going to learn from other ways. Someone with less experience might not know those things, so it’s just how to handle different things. And I’d like to think that my personality helped too.
TA: Looking at Bellows Falls and Harwood, what are some of the similarities and some of the differences that stand out between the schools?
Fraundfelder: So far the similarities with the coaches is they do it for the kids. Here at Harwood and there at Bellows Falls, the coaches don’t get paid a lot and you’re not there for the glory. You’re there to help the kids grow and become great adults as they get a little bit older. That’s what I’ve seen and that’s who I’ve really interacted with the most here. The biggest difference is that football and field hockey are really big at Bellows Falls. And coming up here, it’s soccer.
And then obviously we’ll get to lacrosse and ice hockey. But just having the soccer and seeing 40-50 kids out here a half hour before tryouts even start, that to me has been the biggest difference so far. And just numbers: Harwood is a bigger school and it’s about twice the numbers that I’m used to dealing with.”
TA: There are six or seven sports here that weren’t offered at Bellows Falls, so does it feel like you’re getting a crash course and just learning as you go with some of them?
Fraundfelder: Yes and no. At Bellows Falls we had all the fall sports we have here — other than volleyball and golf. I’m just learning how those sports go, but the way everything is assigned and everything is run is about the same. And volleyball is not much of a scheduling issue because they’re the only thing inside. With bass fishing, we actually have too many kids. And that’s been tough on the coach, because he wants to keep people involved. So he’s dealing with equity and time on the boat and safety on the boat — all those sorts of things. The similarities are that kids want to do stuff and we provide the opportunities. And at Bellows Falls, that’s what we did. If kids were interested in volleyball, we did signups to see if there were enough interested. There weren’t, but here they already have it. So I’m just glad we can offer a wide array of stuff for the kids to do.
TA: With your peer group, does it seem like you’re in a small minority being in your 15th year on the job? Across different industries as a whole — not just education — that kind of tenure is pretty rare.
Fraundfelder: Yeah, there’s been a lot of turnover lately. I remember when I first started I’d always reach out to Bob Hingston at Windsor and Tim Brown at Mount Anthony. There were all these people in the profession where you could reach out and they’d help. And now it turns out I’m one of those older people and people call me.
It feels kind of weird because, now that I’m up here, I feel like I’m starting new: It’s north vs. south and just different leagues and stuff. So I still get calls from people down south. But up here I feel like a new person again. I’ve talked a lot with Pat Merriam (at Essex) and he’s been helping me out. Before I left, I think I was either the fifth- or sixth-longest person down in the southern schools in the time frame I was there. It’s crazy and I didn’t think about it until it was time to go.
TA: Last year there were 17 Vermont high schools with new ADs. What would you say about some reasons or factors behind that turnover and if you think it may be a trend?
Fraundfelder: I think some of it has to do with what we have to deal with. The toughest thing to deal with is the people who don’t think the rules apply to them. We have these rules and expectations over fan behavior and parent behavior — and some of them just don’t like to follow that and they don’t believe it applies to them. We’re here for the kids. And when we constantly have to deal with adults that are causing issues, it’s really stressful and it’s not a fun part of the job.
I also think there’s a big commitment level. You’re here from the start of the school until sports end. So in the winter, you’re here until 9 or 9:30 at night sometimes. Having a family is really tough and I can totally see that being another issue why some people do the turnover.
TA: You mentioned the fan behavior. What are your thoughts about that being such a hot-button issue? Is it that we’re more aware of it and it’s more documented, or do you think it’s something that’s really changed since you were in high school?
Fraundfelder: I think we’re more aware of it. And I also think there’s a little bit more of it. There was always the odd parent here or there. And now it’s not very many. I want to stress that it’s not like everybody who comes is a problem. But you get one person and they keep pushing it and pushing it. And sometimes they just don’t know when to stop and it can sour the experience for the other people here.