An advocate for Olympic High, Stephanie Wilkerson is athletic director of the year
Stephanie Wilkerson said she wanted to show the Charlotte area that Olympic High School’s athletic programs were a hidden treasure.
She didn’t realize that the process would begin in the Olympic community.
“Even in our own community, people didn’t know about Olympic,” said Wilkerson, who just finished her sixth year as athletic director at the southwest Charlotte school. “The education process had to begin there.”
And for the past six years, Wilkerson said, she has worked to educate the community about the school and to provide an atmosphere where Olympic High athletes, in all sports, can learn and thrive.
Her efforts were recognized in March by the N.C. Athletic Directors Association, which named Wilkerson as AD of the Year.
She also is the Observer’s 2022-23 athletic director of the year.
“As a native Charlottean, I had some background about Olympic when I came here,” she said. “I felt as if Olympic didn’t have an identity.”
Wilkerson grew up in southeast Charlotte and played basketball at Providence High.
After graduating from UNC Greensboro, she served as assistant athletic director at Parkland High in Winston-Salem, and after taking a break to start a family, she moved into an administration job at West Charlotte High in 2013. At the start of the 2017-18 academic year, she moved to Olympic.
“Olympic was good for a long time,” she said. “And I wondered, ‘Why does nobody talk about Olympic?’ ”
When she arrived, Olympic was actually several different academic programs, or five mini-schools.
“I think that was part of the problem,” she said. “Our athletes played in one program, but the separate schools confused some people.”
Wilkerson decided one starting point was strengthening the coaching staff. She said the hiring of Baronton Terry as boys’ basketball coach was a key move.
“He was a model coach,” she said. “He represented what we wanted here at Olympic — a strong educator and coach.”
Terry, now a college assistant coach, was followed by other successful hires; Brandon Thompson in football, Stuart Belizaire in track and field, Tommy Small in baseball.
In recent years, Olympic has been a state power in football, boys’ basketball, and track and field. But the Trojans can hold their own in baseball, wrestling and other sports too.
That’s not enough for Wilkerson, though. She wants Olympic to have an athletic program that offers opportunities to all student-athletes.
“With the conference we’re in, it can be tough in some sports,” she said.
As a member of the SoMeck 4A Conference, Olympic must compete with schools like Ardrey Kell, Myers Park and South Mecklenburg, which are strong in soccer, golf and tennis.
“We want to be competitive with all our opponents in every sport,” she said. “That’s a goal we’re working toward.”
She said Olympic High athletics probably operates with a “chip on its shoulder.”
“We feel we have to prove ourselves all the time,” she said.
Wilkerson is not oblivious that she is a sort of unicorn among athletic directors — a black female
“There are some misconceptions about women as athletic directors,” she said. “I think some people believe female AD’s don’t like football. I really like football.
“But women’s sports are also very important to me.”
She said the Olympic High administration and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools athletics director Ericia Turner have been “extremely supportive” of her efforts.
“I think our coaches feel that,” she said.
Wilkerson, the mother of two daughters, Jazmyn, 13, and Jianna, 11, has been more than willing to wade into debates about the rights of student-athletes, including NIL rights for high school youth.
“My job is to support our student-athletes and our coaches,” she said.
A fan of the TV show “Bridgerton,” NBA star LeBron James, travel and sneakers (she admits to having more than 100 pairs), Wilkerson said she is a work in progress.
“I won’t get it right every time,” she said. “I’m still learning. I don’t think Ill ever feel that I’ve ‘arrived.’ ”
Steve Lyttle on Twitter: @slyttle