Sharp takes over as athletic director at Paloma Valley

Ryan Sharp, a coach at Paloma Valley High School the last two years, has been named the school’s athletic director by principal Jennifer Thomasian.

Sharp has served as head boys track and cross country coach since 2016. He has extensive experience in coaching runners and also has some experience in administration. He replaces Michael Pfeiffer, who is now athletic director at Redlands High School.

Sharp started at Paloma Valley as a teacher, coach and Admin Designee (substitute assistant principal).

“The AD job has long been a dream job for me, and I am very excited to take over,” Sharp said.

Sharp grew up in Washington State and attended Boise State, Cal State San Marcos and National University. He has a BS degree in Mathematics and a Masters degree in Education. He has been involved in running for more than 25 years as an athlete and a coach and has coached cross country and track since 2001.

He started as an assistant coach at Orange Glen High School, then became the head coach for both sports at Mission Hills High in San Marcos in 2006. In seven years at the school, his teams made the state meet in cross country and track every year.

After moving to the Temecula area, he taught and coached for two years at Temecula Prep, earning the first girls cross country league title and track titles (2) in school history. Sharp lives in Menifee with his wife Lisa, who works in Special Education at Paloma Valley and last year coached cross country, boys volleyball and girls water polo. She is also now the head boys water polo coach. They have two children: Fiona, 8 and Weston, 6.

Sharp said, “My goals as the leader of the Athletics Department at Paloma Valley are:

“Build a culture of success, excitement and involvement at Paloma Valley. I want our stands packed, and loud.

“Be competitive in everything we do.

“Use athletics to teach our student-athletes about dedication, work ethic, responsibility, bouncing back from failure, and team work. These are attributes and lessons that can be carried into the rest of their lives.

“Build a relationship with the Menifee Community. Have Paloma Valley athletes reaching out through volunteering. Keeping the community updated on upcoming sporting events.”