Meet the Athletic Director

A native of Vincent, Ohio, and a graduate of Warren High School, Tara Newton adopted the role of Athletic Director for Morgan High School in the summer of 2022. Born and raised in Southeast Ohio, Newton spent her adolescent years playing sports and being an involved and active member of her community. After graduating from Warren in 1993, Newton attended the University of Rio Grande and acquired a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education.

Newton has also been involved in Morgan County for many years. After working for two years at Southern Local School District, she has spent the remainder of her career at Morgan Local Schools. Newton says she applied for a job at Morgan as soon as she and her husband, Kyle Newton, bought a house here. “I was brought up with a strong sense of family and community; thus, living in the community where I was raising my children was a priority”, Newton explains.

Newton quickly got involved in many of Morgan’s growing programs, such as working alongside Morgan Behavioral Health Services to manage Pre-Teen Institute, stepping forward to run Student Council at Morgan Junior High School, and co-creator of the Leadership Summit training student leaders from the MVL and beyond. Newton has also been involved in coaching sports in Morgan, such as volleyball, tee-ball, girls youth and high school basketball, boys youth basketball, and youth through varsity volleyball. Newton and her husband Kyle also ran the youth soccer program for 5 years.

Tara and her husband Kyle have four children who have grown up in Morgan County. Riley (26), an employee at the Boys and Girls Club and AmeriCorps of Marietta, Ethan (24), a graduate of Ohio University and junior high teacher at Waterford, Reagan (21), a soon-to-be graduate of Ohio University and Evelyn (15), a sophomore at Morgan High School who plays volleyball and works at the Twin City Opera House. Newton says, “The combination of raising four children and choosing to work with kids as a career has made me a better person- compassion, organization, empathy, and determination.”

Newton spent her years at Morgan Junior High as a Social Studies teacher. Being a vital part of her community and the education of Morgan’s youth, Newton is a great fit as Morgan’s Athletic Director. Newton has a lot of pride for the area she represents, and continues to improve things for the athletes and parents of athletes within Morgan Local Schools. 

-written by Abigail Shriver, MHS Class of 2025

Athletic Director's Vision

It’s an exciting time to be a Morgan Raider! There are many positive changes happening in Morgan Athletics for this year with the opening of the much-anticipated Raider Stadium and Raider Athletic Complex (RAC) weight room. As athletic director, I strongly believe that many of life’s most important lessons and habits can be learned through participation in extracurricular activities. Attributes such as work ethic, dependability, self-motivation, and self-discipline can all be learned while playing sports. Sports are a great tool that can be used to teach life lessons. A successful athletic department should strive to educate the entire child. Sports can teach young adults things that cannot be learned in a classroom. Athletics can teach our future workforce how to be successful in whatever endeavor they choose to engage in. We must prepare students to be successful in their lives after they leave school. Sports and extra-curricular activities are vital to a complete and well-rounded education.

The most successful student-athletes are ones that participate in as many sports as possible. By participating in many different sports athletes learn how to be a part of many different teams and reduce the risk for overuse injuries. Students need to learn how to be successful in many different environments and with different types of people.

As student-athletes walk their journey through Morgan Junior High School and Morgan High School, it’s important to focus each year on building the characteristics that will build a foundation to successful adults. Each year in school, the hope is to challenge our student-athletes to push themselves as they develop into well-rounded young adults.

• Seventh – Embrace – Embrace new experiences, friendships, learning opportunities, interests, and challenges.

• Eighth – Stand – Gain independence through confidence in who you are (strengths, talents, identity, interests, experiences, etc.).

• Freshman – Connect – Make connections with those around you (family, peers, coaches, teachers, coworkers, employers, etc.).

• Sophomore – Serve – Find ways to serve others in your home, school, and community.

• Junior – Explore – Explore interests, career pathways, and educational options.

• Senior – Lead – Lead with confidence.

All participants of the athletic department should live by one philosophy – Act like a Raider. This means that participants must do their best in everything that they do. One must always represent themselves, their teammates, the school, and their family in a positive way at all times. At Morgan, our student-athletes are held to a high standard both athletically and academically. Whether it be in the classroom, field, court, or course, we expect our athletes to be positive role models for others.

I look forward with anticipation to an exciting and successful year at Morgan Local Schools. If I can ever be of assistance, or if you have any further questions concerning our athletic programs, please do not hesitate to contact me. Have a great year, Raiders!

Tara Newton