Assistant principal exercises authority while having fun

By Pete Kendall/reporter@trcle.com

BURLESON — Whenever a Burleson High student is down in the dumps, assistant principal Scott Shaha is quick to lend an attentive ear.

He remembers his career as an Elk quarterback in the ’80s. He certainly remembers the disheartening injuries.

“I’ve had more than a handful of conversations with kids going through hard times because of injuries and grades,” Shaha said. “I talk to them about my situation. I missed almost all my senior season with an injury. But missing those games also allowed me to realize there’s more to life than football. While I missed playing, I’m grateful for what happened because of where I am today.”

Where he is today is in his third year as assistant principal for student services and operations at Burleson High, essentially anything building and UIL related with the exception of athletics.

The job is probably not as exciting as playing or coaching football, his profession from 1994 to 2006. But it may be more satisfying in the long run, and it’s arguably a better fit for a family man.

Like his father Bill, a former Texas Tech footballer who moved from the Elk coaching staff into the private sector in the late ’70s, Shaha decided it was time to focus on something besides athletics.

“Ten or 15 years ago, my goal was to be a head football coach,” he said. “But once my kids got old enough to be involved in things, I was having to choose between watching them or watching film with the football players. I was missing out on Sunday afternoons with the family. It was time to make a decision.

“I talked to my dad, who left coaching at about the same age. He was very supportive of my decision. I think he was pretty proud that I was making a grownup decision.”

His goal now is to be a principal. He is among the applicants for principal of Burleson’s new high school.

“I didn’t get into administration wanting to be a principal, but the more I go through the process of being an assistant principal, the more I enjoy it,” Shaha said. “It’s different every day. I really enjoyed the classroom and coaching, but that was more of a set routine every day. You never know what to expect in this job. I love it. It’s a lot of fun.”

Shaha broke into coaching in 1994 at Burleson under the late Mark Saunders. He left Burleson in ’99 to became offensive coordinator at Fort Worth Southwest for two years under Larry Stovall, who had been a coordinator under Saunders.

In 2001, Shaha hired on at Weatherford for a year as quarterbacks coach under Mike Sneed.

From Saunders, Stovall and Sneed, Shaha said he learned organization.

“A lot of people don’t realize this, but all three of those guys were on the same staff at Grapevine. They were all just about the same person. The organziation of the staff, all the way down to the paperwork ... that all came from Mark Saunders. There was a business-like approach to every situation. They didn’t necessarily believe in out working the opposition, but they believed in working smarter, not cutting any corners in their attention to detail.

“I’m blessed to have had the opportunity to work for those three guys. You’ll drown pretty quick in this job if you’re not organized. From Coach [Mel] Maxfield [present Burleson coach and athletic director], I’ve learned a lot about how to relate to kids. You can let kids know you’re the authority figure and still have fun along the way. Kids know when you care about them as individuals, and you don’t always get that with the hard-nosed approach. The hard-nosed approach will get you some wins, but there’s a lot more to a program than that. It’s important to get to know the kids off the field. That goes a long way in their trusting you.”

Shaha still sees the students as an assistant principal but not as much as he’d like.

“I’m not in the hallways as much,” he said. “But when I am, I like talking to the kids. That’s the part I miss about the classroom, being around the kids. They enjoy life, and they enjoy it when you get down on their level.”