Guy Fridley approved for Dickinson High activities director job

• Guy Fridley

Guy Fridley

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Dickinson High School may have found an activities director it can count on for years to come.

At least that’s what Guy Fridley hopes.

Fridley was unanimously approved as the school’s new activities director/assistant principal at Monday’s regular meeting of the Dickinson Public School Board.

Fridley, the former Dickinson State University softball and women’s basketball coach, had spent the past three years as principal and athletic director at South Heart High School.

He said he has been waiting for an opportunity like this since he decided to become a school administrator.

“When I did get my masters in athletic administration, that was always my goal, to be an AD at a Class A school,” Fridley said. “That was my goal 10 years ago. That hasn’t changed.

“I look at this being a solid position for me for many, many years to come. This is what I always wanted to do. I look forward to doing this as long as I can.”

Fridley is no stranger to the Dickinson school system.

He lives in Dickinson with his wife Amber, a kindergarten teacher at Lincoln Elementary School, and their two children.

His family is also well known in North Dakota athletics.

His father, Fred Fridley Sr., is the winningest coach in North Dakota high school football history and a native of the Dickinson area. His brother, Fred Fridley Jr., is the head women’s basketball coach at the University of Mary.

Despite the successes Guy Fridley had in a short time as head coach at DSU — he guided both the softball and women’s basketball teams to their respective NAIA national tournaments in 2009 — he said he’s now happy to be the guy behind the scenes.

“What’s intrigued me the most is working with coaches, working with student-athletes, working with advisors,” Guy Fridley said. “I look forward to working with those people. They have all the same interests, which is to build a successful program. Everybody wants to be successful in their own sport. What intrigues me is I want to have a full, healthy and successful activities program.”

Fridley said it was difficult to leave South Heart.

The school, as a part of the Heart River cooperative agreement with neighboring Belfield, has experienced a strong amount of athletic success since Fridley took over as athletic director.

“It was a great place for me,” Fridley said. “There’s so many great people over there that it was tough for me to move on because of the close relationships I developed there over the years. It’s going to be hard for me to part from that.”

Fridley was one of three candidates to receive interviews for the position, said Vince Reep, DPS assistant superintendent.

The others were Jason Schwarz, the head girls basketball coach at Kenmare, and Pete Remboldt, the principal of Ashby (Minn.) Public Schools.

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