Washington’s Nathan Miller named Southeast’s MS AD of the Year

Washington Activities Director Nathan Miller received a top recognition from the Iowa High School Athletic Directors Association. Miller was named the Southeast District Middle School Activities Director of Year by the IHSADA.

The award puts Miller in the running for the 2025-26 Iowa Middle School Athletic Director of the Year, which will be announced in December. That honor will be given to one of the five district award winners from across the state - Central, Northeast, Northwest, Southeast and Southwest.

“I'm just really appreciative of all the other ADs that nominated and voted for me,” Miller said. “I think it's a reflection of our district and how we have really good coaches in our district that are enjoyable to work with. We do our best in building relationships with our officials and with other school districts in our area.”

Miller is in his third year full time as the Activities Director for the Washington School District. He spent the previous seven years in a part time role, mainly assisting former AD Brent Van Weelden with summertime activities. A 1998 graduate of Washington, Miller started at his alma mater in 2007 as the Demons baseball coach.

Since taking on the AD role, Miller looks both internally and externally for ways to improve the athletics experience for Washington students. During his time charge, the most important factor for running strong activities program remains the same. It requires strong, longstanding relationships.

“You can't just ask people to do things for you all the time and expect them to want to do that,” Miller said. “So building relationships - you’ve got to help others out, and that includes other districts. I feel like just being there as a support, listening to our coaches, listening to other ADs, looking at what other districts are doing that are our size, just to kind of see what's working. Could this be something that could be implemented here at Washington that would benefit not just our kids, but our coaches, our community?”

Managing activities across a school district requires scheduling coordination to ensure a gym or anther space isn’t double-booked. It calls for constant meetings and check-ins with coaches to make sure they have what they need to help student athletes have the best experience.

The diligence to manage activities for a district also requires a team. Miller expressed his gratitude to assistant AD Karla Garrett for her work in making Washington activities run smoothly and called her “one of the best in the business.”

“I’ve told this to our admin team and basically everybody else that has reached out to me with this award and I said, it’s a co-award,” Miller said. “It's as much Karla’s (and) a recognition for her and her work with the other ADs and other schools in our area and across the state.”

Garrett has been in the assistant AD role for nearly two decades. She often takes the lead in finding replacement officials for games. One of the most important tasks that Miller and Garrett collaborate on is creating and sending out information for every event at every level within the district.

For sports and concerts at both the middle and high school, Garrett and Miller make it point to inform the Washington community of when and where to come support the Demons. Garrett’s work also ensures officials and other schools have the information they need.

“If we're hosting something where there's officials and workers and another team coming in, we share that event information even at the middle school level,” Miller said. “I feel like that's extremely important and something that we're going to continue, and Karla is a big help in sending that out.”

Taking the award in stride, Miller’s aims to continue providing more opportunities for current and future Washington students coming through the district. He cited Washington’s creation of an E-Sports team two years ago as a recent example of a new avenue for students to get involved with extracurricular activities.

As an alumni of the school district and a Washington native, Miller’s latest accolade reflects his desire to give back to his community. Miller sees the continued growth of actives programs district-wide as a chance to give students the same experiences that helped shape his own success after his time as a student.

“Those opportunities help open up pathways for them in their future,” Miller said. “So I really feel like it’s, one, my by way of giving back to the community that it's given me so much. But it's also just making sure that our kids have opportunities that open up pathways for them.”