Dave Carli aims to maintain Geneva High School sports success as new athletic director

GENEVA – There is a new name on the door at the Geneva High School athletic director's office.

Yet the face is very familiar.

Dave Carli took over as athletic director on July 1 after longtime AD Jim Kafer officially retired on June 30. Considering Carli worked closely with Kafer as assistant athletic director for 12 years, the transition was nearly seamless.

"Jim was a great mentor for me," Carli said.

Carli has been at Geneva since 2002, starting his career at the school as a P.E. teacher. He was an assistant coach for the varsity baseball and football teams and department chair for P.E. and driver's education.

Like Kafer before him, Carli is a people person who has a passion for Geneva High School, its sports teams, and the students, parents and coaches that devote their time to Viking athletics.

"I have an open door policy for the coaches, athletes and parents," Carli said. "That and being organized with your time are two things I learned working with Jim."

Carli has seen Geneva move from the Suburban Prairie Conference to the Western Sun Conference and now into the Upstate Eight Conference. In addition to helping guide Geneva into new conference alignments, Carli also had a hand in bringing several varsity sports on line during his time at the school, including boys and girls bowling, lacrosse, boys volleyball and badminton.

The recent sports additions give Geneva a wide offering of activities for student-athletes. In terms of expanding and improving athletic facilities on campus, Carli doesn't have any immediate plans along those lines outside of the press boxes already under construction at the baseball and softball fields.

"We have great facilities and a great operations department with great people who are always painting, watering, cutting the grass or doing all the little things to maintain them," Carli said. "I am thankful to them for their hard work."

Though there is a new man in charge of Geneva athletics, don't expect any sweeping changes any time soon. Carli plans to keep things similar to the way Kafer did things, including putting in to host IHSA postseason events.

"Moving forward I want to continue the things Jim set before us," Carli said. "I want to do the same things as far as family and student groups and our student-athletes volunteering in the community.

"We're always putting in for IHSA events because it gives us a chance to show off our facilities and our student-athletes."

Carli is a Geneva resident whose three children are currently attending District 304 schools. He is a member of the Lions Club and sits on the board of directors for his town home owners association. He is passionate about being an active member of the community, and that passion carries over to Geneva High School.

"It's a great town to live in, and it's great to be involved with athletics at Geneva High School," Carli said.