Searcy Leaving IHSAA
INDIANAPOLIS – Sandy Searcy, Assistant Commissioner of the Indiana High School Athletic Association since 1999, has announced her resignation effective July 31. Searcy has accepted an opportunity to join the executive staff of the Indianapolis‐based National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) beginning August 1.
Searcy, a former swimmer at Elkhart Central High School, has been named Director of Sports for the NFHS and will be responsible for swimming and diving, water polo and softball and will assist in planning workshops for the NFHS Summer Meeting and the National Athletic Directors Conference.
“After 16 years of exemplary service to the IHSAA, Sandy Searcy has resigned to accept a position with the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS),” IHSAA Commissioner Bobby Cox announced. “The Association is indebted to Sandy for her tireless efforts on behalf of our organization and we wish her continued success as she advances her career at the Federation.”
As part of the IHSAA executive staff, Searcy has most recently administered softball, boys and girls swimming and diving and volleyball and has also been responsible for gymnastics and boys and girls track and field. Her duties have also entailed organizing the IHSAA Student
Advisory Committee, plus the IHSAA Student Leadership Conference. At the national level, she has served on the NFHS National Student Leadership Planning Committee since 1999, the 2006‐11 NFHS Gymnastics Rules Committee, the 2008‐ 11 NFHS Softball Rules Committee, and is currently a member of the NFHS Spirit of Sport Committee.
Searcy was honored with a Citation from the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) in July 2014 for her contributions to the NFHS and Indiana high school sports programs. It is one of the most highly‐regarded achievements in national high school sports.
“I am honored to have been selected as a Director of Sports at the NFHS,” said Searcy. “I have thoroughly enjoyed my tenure at the Indiana High School Athletic Association over the course of the last 16 years, and it has been my privilege to work with one of the finest staffs at the state level. I truly value the friendships and relationships that I have had an opportunity to develop while at the IHSAA and I am hopeful that I have made a positive impact upon the student athletes in my time here.”
Prior to joining the IHSAA, Searcy had been the girls athletic director and girls swimming coach at Bloomington High School North. She began her high school coaching career in 1983 while a sophomore at Indiana University, serving as the boys swimming coach at Bloomington High School South. Searcy was named the girls swimming coach at Bloomington North in 1984, a position that she held until 1999. Searcy also was the boys swimming coach at North from 1986‐96. Searcy’s administrative career began in 1988 when she was named girls athletic director at Bloomington North. She held that post through 1999, in addition to serving as a physical education teacher.
Searcy was an executive board member of the ICGSA from 1991‐95, serving as president in 1997‐98. She served three times as a member of the rules proposal committee of the Indiana Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (IIAAA) and the IHSAA. She also was involved with the IHSAA as a member of the Girls Advisory Committee.
Searcy competed in swimming while at Elkhart Central High School and also at Indiana University for one season before an injury ended her competitive career. She earned a bachelor’s degree in sport science from IU in 1986 and a master’s degree in sport administration and physical education in 1987.
She and her husband, Dean Voyles, reside in Bloomington.