Administrative changes at SD 228

• Reprints

Ron Towner. | File photo

Updated: February 23, 2012 8:17AM

School District 228 will have two new leaders of its sports programs at the start of the 2012 fall season.

Bremen athletic director Jim Matlon said Friday he will be stepping down in June, while Hillcrest boys track and field coach Ron Towner will leave the Country Club Hills school to be the new AD at Oak Forest.

“This has kind of been a family decision over the course of the last couple of months,” Matlon said. “In 2008, when I got the job, it was a little different than it is in 2012. I didn’t have a wife, didn’t have a son.

“I kind of decided what I really wanted to do was go back to the classroom. And I’m looking forward to spending a little more time with the family.”

Matlon was a business teacher at Bremen before replacing Vince Kasley, who resigned after the 2007-08 school year to return to teaching.

Towner guided Hillcrest to back-to-back Class 2A track and field titles in 2009 and ’10.

“What helped me bring in Ron is the fact that he has, I think currently, 18 of his students running at college or university,” Oak Forest principal Brad Sikora said. “He is very strong in technology, and obviously his success with a two-time state champion goes a long way with the group over here we’ve got who are very successful, but looking to take that next step.”

Towner, who will not coach track next season, replaces Sue Bonner, who has worked in District 228 for 33 years, 26 as an athletic administrator. She has been the AD at Oak Forest since 2002.

“It’s been a great run,” Bonner said. “Every once in a while I’ll contemplate and reflect, but with this job you’re just too darned busy to have the time to contemplate and reflect.

“Because I’ve been so busy, it makes me think, ‘Oh, gosh. Maybe I’ll capitalize when this is all over.”