The sound of thuds in the wrestling room and voices whirring from the walkie talkie remind Coppell High School assistant principal Dan McCready who he is: a man with passion for guiding students, faculty and wrestlers.
For him, the transition from wrestling to coaching wrestling and becoming an assistant principal was a change of venue, not of purpose.
McCready grew up in Elgin, Iowa, the state considered to be the heart of wrestling. It was expected that he would pursue wrestling from a young age, mostly influenced by his father.
He has wrestled on all levels before wrestling at Wartburg College in Iowa, a Division III program. His Wartburg team won nationals twice. Because of his success, he proceeded to coach wrestling prior to transitioning to being an assistant principal.
McCready coached wrestlers between the ages of 5 and 23 for 20 years. He coached under national teams for older age groups and recently taught at a high school level.
An unforgettable moment McCready keeps close to him is the two state championships occurring the years his two children were born. The first one was in 2016, when his daughter Stella was born. McCready received another state championship while coaching in 2021 when his son Forrest was born.
“Things have really fallen into place when I used to coach and I had a lot of success. I wear my state championship rings as a reminder for the luck I got,” McCready said.
McCready implemented his experience as a wrestler and coach to become an assistant principal, carrying his key value: discipline.
“Wrestling requires a lot of organization, dedication to improve and discipline to stay consistent with good habits,” McCready said. “That transfers pretty easily over to being an assistant principal because you have to be able to work on a lot of projects at the same time while being organized and staying calm under pressure.”
McCready combines passion with his job.
“He is a big supporter of wrestling as he helped us run our regional tournament last year. It was our first time hosting it, and he was in charge of the entirety,” Coppell wrestling coach Chip Lowery said. “That was a big deal for the whole state, him being involved.”
This lifelong passion recently required him to clear a legal hurdle to continue officiating wrestling while administering at the high school.
The House Bill 3372 restricted school administrators from taking outside payment from school-contracted organizations. Through a clarified exemption for sports officiating, McCready is able to continue his dual role as being a school administrator and officiating UIL wrestling.
McCready makes an impact on the people around him, like he strives to do.
“He is a high achieving wrestling coach who helped us support and understand athletes. He tells really great stories and is a great guy to work with,” CHS assistant principal Taylor Smith-Bothun said.
Regardless of his transition from coaching to administration, McCready’s lifelong passion for wrestling motivates him to give back to the wrestling community.
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