Broncos new athletic director Justin Hufft even looks like an adminastrator as he runs Alvirne's football practice. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

HUDSON – Justin Hufft even looks like an administrator when he’s running the Alvirne High School football practice.

He walks around with a clipboard, and has – as most football coaches do – everything timed out. But he observes and watches more than talk, because he has several highly qualified assistant coaches to do that for him.

Delegate, evaluate.

The thing is, Hufft is an administrator, not only taking on the Alvirne football head coaching job, but also following in the footsteps of iconic and now retired athletic director Karen Bonney, who served the district and school well for over 40 years.

Those are big shoes to fill as an AD, let alone also taking over the Broncos football program after former coach Matt Lee gave it new life with two straight Division I playoff appearances and first Division I playoff win ever for Alvirne.

Many would stay away from all of this. But not Hufft. Why?

“The fact that I could coach football and be the athletic director at a Division I school,” he said. “It’s a unique opportunity, there’s not a lot of them. When they come open, it’s in demand.”

Hufft is right – the last Division I football coach in the area to serve also as his school’s athletic director was former Bishop Guretin coach Tony Johnson, and that was just shy of two decades ago. And so Hufft jumped on it, and now will put together his vision for the Broncos program.

Hufft was a member of one of the first classes at Souhegan, playing guard and noes guard for the Sabers and graduating in 1995. He played for the late Jim Mullaney, one of New Hampshires legendary football coaches.

“I loved playing for him,” Hufft said.

Then he went to Boston Univeristy, but didn’t play in college as BU didn’t have a program. But his senior year he began coaching as an assistant at Souhegan, where he remained for several years before taking over the football program and teaching special education at Goffstown. And he guided the Grizzlies to the Division I title in 2015, womping Exeter 42-14 in the title game.

Then he decided there was even more he could do: become Goffstown’s athletic director.

And an administrator was born.

“I’ve always loved athletics, I’ve loved being around teams” Hufft said. “And the whole dynamic of coaching, and how to coach different types of teams. The whole thing behind it, how to do all that stuff, different ways to do it, it’s always interested me.”

You see, Hufft is a sponge.

“I always like to learn,” he said. “Kind of being able to work with more coaches and more teams and influence more athletes definitely appealed to me.”

Hufft said there was a learning curve, “like there is with any job, you don’t know until you do it,” Hufft said of when he began his AD career at Goffstown. “I never felt lost or overwhelmed, I think I had really good support around me. I was in my groove as a football coach, I knew how to do that. We had good coaches in place, that really helped the other teams.

“I really enjoyed the day-to-day challenges of being an AD, working with all the kids, working with all the coaches, all the teams. It’s a really fullfilling job.”

His favorite part, he said, was talking to coaches, especially after games, to go over what happened, or, as he put it, “being debriefed with them, that’s true, win, lose or draw.”

And he would listen to what they were going through, would help his coaches talk through things.

“Doesn’t mean solving it for them, necessarily, but sometimes just being an ear, working through things with them, having ideas, and ways to solve the puzzles that we’re all facing during the season.”

And as a coach as well, who better than Hufft to do that?

“Some of it I’ve been there, some of it I learned from, I’ll see how they deal with something and I’ll use it on my end,” Hufft said.

Hufft would recommend that any athletic director have a coaching background, otherwise what you might end up with is a glorified pencil pusher and numbers cruncher. Bonney was the girls basketball coach originally at Alvirne and after ascending to the AD job she would often have to fill in at one sport or another, be it on the varsity or sub-varsity level.

“Absolultey,” Hufft said. “Otherwise you’re talking about getting a manager or somebody who’s doing the paperwork and stuff, and that’s great, but being able to really work with high school kids and their challenges in the classroom,and how academics interact with it – there’s a lot to it. You really need that base of (coaching) knowledge in order to effectively work with coaches and help them through a lot of what they’re going to be dealing with.”

A couple of years into his duel administrataive-coaching career, Hufft gave up the latter part of it. Part burnout, and part needing to get a lot of things done in Goffstown that would take a lot of time. He was the AD for the Grizzlies for six years overall.

“I was able to focus on other things,” he said of his departure from coaching. “We got the turf field built there, that was a lot of work. We’re proud of what we did there. And now I’m back in the coaching world. I’m glad I’m back.”

ThePelham AD job opened up, and Hufft went for it, even though he’d be going from Division I to Division II.

“I just had the opportunity there, it was a better commute,” he said.

Then, just a month or two into his tenure, his football coach, John Trisciani – father of the forrmer Bishop Guertin head coach – resigned abruptly a day or two before the regular season was to begin. Hufft had to jump in and take over, and the first game he didn’t even know kids names. But it lit a fire under his love for coaching. “I felt kind of invigorated,” he said. “To keep that going, it’s hard to do at a school like Pelham. They did a great job of helping me out that fall, but it’s really not built for an AD who’s a full coach there.”

But Alvirne is, because he has dedicated administrative assistant help, “and that makes a big difference. We have a bigge r coaching staff here. There’s a lot more logistically in place to support that.”

But he’s glad he did the football gig, guiding the Pythons to the Division II finals. “The kids were great,” he said. “And coaching was great. The essence of coaching, which is being with the kids, at practice, at games, that was great. I had forgotten how rewarding that can be. It gets lost in the shuffle of everything else. So getting back to that was awesome.”

Despite the circumstances.

“Were there some difficulties? Yeah, it was unexpected and there was chaos,” he said. “But at the end of the day, it was a ton of fun, very rewarding and kind of reminded me of what I was missing.”

Hufft said he’s received great support from the people at Alvirne so far.

“I think being able to bring in a lot of coaches that really want to help out is a big thing,” he said. “The kids here, we really need to have some stability. The more coaches that can do multiple things, work with the kids in practices, off-season, all that stuff, it’s been nothing but positive so far.”

What’s his vision for Alvirne? How has he seen the school and its program?

“It’s a great community,” he said. “The community here is very passionate. They love their athletics, their kids I’ve found are very well-rounded. The multiple sport thing here is big, which is awesome. The kids are great to deal with from a coaching perspective, and the support in the building’s been great, getting to know the people around.”

Hufft also likes the fact the facilities are for the most part all on school grounds (ice hockey is at Skate 3 in Tyngsborough, Mass.). “So yeah, there’s a lot to be excited about.”

Hufft said that Bonney left organized systems in place, everything was well organized, etc. that makes life a lot easier. “Just kind of keeping the trains rolling,” he said. “And when there’s time, look for new ways to do things, or to adjust to the way things are changing, we’ll do that to and kind of keep up with the times.

“A lot of it is kind of continuing on.”

Hufft’s goal is simple: The more, the merrier, so let’s get the kids out there.

“We really want as many kids as possible to be playing as much as possible,” he said. “So that’s really the emphasis here. Keep finding ways to keep challenging the kids.”

Hufft, like most ADs, is hoping for coaches to be long term. He hates revolving doors.

“I’d love to have coaches that can stay here, build something here,” he said. “And really ride things out. There’s enough kids here playing enough sports that we should be able to start having some success.”

The nameplate is a new site in the Alvirne AD office after nearly four decades of Karen Bonney running the Alvirne athletic department. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

What’s the biggest challenge for an athletic director in today’s ever-changing world?

“It’s being able to find and keep good coaches,” he said. “We’re very fortunate with what I’ve inherited here. It’s kind of trying to keep the coaches, make sure they feel supported, make sure they have what they need in order to work with their kids. The kids have been great so far in trying to do what their coaches ask them to do. So it’s trying to keep that as much as possible and have what they need to be able to operate.”

Having a large staff for football is important. Yes, it frees him up but also ensures the student-athletes get the guidance and attention they need. Building the large staff was the first thing he did when the Alvirne administration gave him the green light to do both jobs. Jobs that Hufft has shown over his career he’s well-suited for.

In any event, the phrase “Justin Hufft, Alvirne Athletic Director” – the nameplate on his desk – looks and sounds pretty good to the former Goffstown and Pelham AD.

“These types of jobs,” he said, “don’t come open very often. Karen was here for a long time, she was an institution here and did a great job. So now it’s time for (him to do the same).”