After 16 years, Mike Puzey will resign as the athletic director of Roy High School as just the third administrator to hold the position in the past four-plus decades, following former directors Ted Smith and Mike Hein.

On Wednesday, the school honored Puzey with a ceremony in the RHS commons area.

The decision, Puzey told the Standard-Examiner on Tuesday, is largely centered around his family and changing demands of athletic directors in the Weber School District. Next school year, Puzey will take up a position teaching at WSD’s Two Rivers Alternative High School and Horizons Academy in Ogden.

“I leave nothing but amazing memories,” said Puzey, a Roy alum. “I’m so grateful for such a special community and a special school because of the people. It’s got a magic to it.”

Photo supplied, Roy High School

Beginning next school year, WSD will no longer allow athletic directors to also serve as head coaches within their athletic departments. The change, as referenced during an April 2025 WSD “Study Session,” cites the “upcoming changes to help (directors) be able to handle all of their responsibilities.”

A key part of the change shifts more extracurricular activities underneath the athletic director umbrella, Puzey said. WSD high schools will also no longer have the position of assistant athletic director.

It’s not just a WSD issue, but a change in public education. Local athletic directors Curtis Hulse and Thomas Zarate, who serve at Clearfield and Northridge, respectively, in the Davis School District, are also stepping away from their positions under similar circumstances, working a job that demands long hours and few breaks.

Ann Jackson, elected as Mayor of Roy last year, still works in Roy High’s front office, and spoke with the Standard-Examiner about what losing Puzey means to the school and a community that’s come to lean on him from Friday night football to the prom.

“He’s really sacrificed,” Jackson said. “He does everything, and he doesn’t scrimp on anything,” Jackson said.

Multiple well-known district administrators will see their roles change or, like Puzey, seek another position within their respective districts next school year.

Locally, two area high school basketball coaches have already made up their minds.

Earlier this year, Corey Melaney, athletic director at Fremont High School in Plain City, and Trevor Howell, who serves Weber High School in Pleasant View, stepped away from their respective basketball coaching jobs.

Fremont tapped former Weber boys basketball coach Landon Cosby to fill the vacancy left by Melaney; Weber has yet to fill its girls basketball coaching position.

Connect with prep sports reporter Conner Becker via email at cbecker@standard.net, X @ctbecker and Instagram at @standardexaminersports.