After six years as CHS Athletic Director, Jon Palarz stepped down on March 6 with hopes of renewing his focus as Head Coach of boys’ basketball. 

During Palarz’s years as Athletic Director, CHS sports teams have both endured defeats and achieved success, including the advancement of the football team to the CIF championship game in 2018. 

“My time as Athletic Director has involved some great success and some great challenges,” said Palarz.

In 2020, Palarz faced a considerable obstacle in trying to give all sports the opportunity to have as close to a regular season as possible after the emergence of COVID-19. Once teams returned to play in spring of 2021, there were still many safety restrictions that limited what they could do throughout the 2021 and 2022 seasons. 

“It’s almost hard to imagine how we got it done,” said Palarz. “It just involved a lot of participation from the coaches, principals and school district office.”

Head Baseball Coach Thomas Cassidy acknowledged the dedication and care that Palarz put in during his tenure as AD.

“I appreciate everything [Palarz] did,” said Cassidy. “He was always super supportive of the coaches and the program.” 

Balancing the workload of both the positions of Athletic Director and Head Basketball Coach became very challenging for Palarz. Although boys’ basketball had a championship season last year, this season, according to Palarz, was a winning season. However, the team’s 6-5 in-league record fell short of last year’s 8-2. Palarz hopes to improve team performance by focusing solely on coaching.

“Both jobs are very demanding, and I hope that I am able to focus better on basketball,” said Palarz.

Administration is in the process of searching for candidates to fill the role of Athletic Director next year.