High School Sports |

Varsity Q&A: Brandon Lauer hired as Howard athletics and activities manager

Former Wilde Lake and River Hill athletics and activities manager Brandon Lauer is now the AAM at Howard High School. Lauer is entering his first school year leading the Lions athletic department.

In the latest edition of Varsity Q&A, Lauer discussed with the Howard County Times his excitement for the role and what he’s learned throughout his career.

Editor’s note: Some questions and answers have been lightly edited for brevity and clarity.

What excited about you about this position?

I’m excited to work with a new community. To be able to get over to Ellicott City and be part of a school with the most tradition and the oldest high school in the county is pretty awesome. It was really exciting to get moved over and be named athletics and activities manager.

What are the biggest lessons you took from your previous AAM positions at River Hill and Wilde Lake?

Being able to be in both of those schools provided different perspectives. There were challenges at each of the schools and triumphs that we could really build off of and learn from. I just try and have a growth mindset when I approach the position each year. Just try to improve what I’m doing on the daily, what we’re doing as a program and be as efficient as we can. Just provide opportunities for the students to be successful. That, at the end of the day is what my goal is and to make it a memorable experience for them and their families the four years that they’re in high school. That’s my MO and what I’m all about.

How excited are you to interact with new coaches and student-athletes?

It’s really cool to meet these new coaches that I’ve watched as an AAM from another school. I’d watch them when they’d coach against our school and just to get to know them and the commonalities. Coaching is a small world. Making those connections and connecting the dots of our pasts and our prior experiences and realizing that, “You know this person and I know that person.” That’s cool to connect those dots. It’s really great to be at another spot that has a really passionate community. The Lions Pride, the boosters here, they do a great job supporting the school and the athletics and activities. It’s just another testament of how great the schools that we have in our county. How much support that they provide for the school, it’s just awesome to be a part of.

What are the pillars that you focus on as an AAM?

Ultimately, I approach the job with an open mind, trying to understand what potential barriers may be in place, how we can provide opportunities for students. For example, at Wilde Lake we had some programs that didn’t have JV programs. So, it was important to try to provide some access for those students to those programs and figuring out creative ways to do that. Just leaning on those kinds of experiences and having conversations with coaches. I think it’s truly important to try to help take the things off their plate that I can, so they can focus on the student-athlete and making sure that they’re maximizing their potential and being as successful as possible. So, if I’m able to have those conversations with the coaches and students and try to make sure that I’m doing all I can, that way they can just focus on coaching. That hopefully lightens their load and they can really ultimately help the student-athlete.

For me, that goes back to just being disciplined, committed to the school community. Working as hard as I can for the student-athletes, for the parents, staff and the whole school community. I enjoy my job, so it’s exciting and fun to be able to go to work and be excited about your day-to-day and just bringing that energy, passion and excitement. I think that allows for it not be as tough because it can be tough. There’s a lot of challenges, but if you approach it with a positive outlook, that’s another key characteristic, just looking for the opportunity to succeed and seeking solutions rather than just saying, “Oh well.”

How have you seen athletics in Howard County change over your time as an AAM?

We’re fortunate that Howard County itself values extracurricular activities. The parents want to see their children involved. The schools provide those opportunities. It’s really just unbelievable. It’s not one school or one part of the county where that is the case, that’s a consistent mindset and theme from school to school. Today’s athlete — you can go back five, 10 or 15 years and hear what the changes and differences are — I genuinely believe that our student-athletes now need us more than ever. They’ve persevered through the pandemic and reacclimated to school. Most of the students in high school were at the end of their elementary, early middle school days. They’ve come through that and now they’re here on the other side.

Youth sports and participation is up. Where we are in high school sports, we’re still trying to build that back. I think we see that in our JV numbers aren’t as solid as they have been pre-pandemic. My colleagues and I are really working hard trying to just provide opportunities for kids, having those conversations and building those relationships within our school community and trying to get participation numbers back up. With technology, cell phones and screen time, that’s a real fight. Having opportunities where kids can be involved, that’s something coaches and sports, athletics and extracurricular activities can offer for the high school or middle school kid these days.