Editor’s note: The following story was submitted for the Shaler Area Student Section, a collaboration between TribLive and The Oracle, the student newspaper of Shaler Area High School.
After 11 years as Shaler Area’s athletic director, retiring Clint Rauscher worked his last day in the school district Feb. 6. He will be replaced by Stephanie Strauss, who most recently was athletic director for the Penn Hills School District.
Rauscher previously served as athletic dirctor of Cambridge Springs High School in the Pennhurst School District for eight years. There, he led the school’s football team to a conference championship in 2015 and consecutive playoff appearances.
Rauscher left Cambridge Springs to become the AD at Shaler Area.
Rauscher, coming from a smaller district, saw taking on a larger one as a welcome challenge, one he was excited to face.
“I wanted to take on that challenge to see if we could turn things around here, get things moving in the right direction. I had known the former superintendent here. He told me there was an opening, so I applied here,” he said.
While here, Rauscher has overseen a very successful athletics program.
This year, Rauscher said he expects 15 Titan teams to make the playoffs after teams like football, girls volleyball, boys soccer, girls soccer, girls tennis already made the playoffs in the fall.
In his 11-year tenure, five WPIAL championship trophies have been brought back to the high school.
There is no doubt that Rauscher has made an impact at Shaler, but his most memorable wasn’t hard to select: a historic trifecta of state championship appearances in the spring of 2023.
“Going to the state championship and then all three teams really being very competitive, small steps away from three titles. It really energized the community. It was a nice thing because it was across a lot of different genres,” he said.
Rauscher has seen a positive change in the makeup of the Shaler Area teams and athletes in his 11 years, one that certainly has contributed to the major success in Shaler Area sports.
“We had over 500 athletes last year, and the largest number that ever had physicals last June. So we’re happy about that and the competitiveness of all of our teams. So our competitiveness, for certain, has become a lot higher. Our expectations and standards that we have for our kids have come up as well,” he said.
What he’ll miss the most isn’t the shining trophies displayed in the case outside the gym or in the windows of the athletic office.
“I’ll miss the people. They’re good people. They care about the kids. Whether people believe it or not, they really do. That’s not the same everywhere.”
The people who have worked with him will miss him, too.
Longtime volleyball coach Paul Stadelman talked about the impact Rauscher has made on Shaler.
“Mr. Rauscher had definitely left Shaler Area Athletics better than he found it. He created a culture surrounding athletics and made an impact not only on the community and school, but on coaches who worked with him as well as student-athletes,” Stadelman said.
Jim Ryan, head football coach and a teacher at the high school, had similar compliments for Rauscher.
“He challenged me and made me a better coach as he did with all of our district coaches. He elevated our school district, and we are grateful for the level of care and accomplishments under his tenure,” Ryan said.
But all good things must come to an end, and Rauscher is confident his work over the past 11 years will continue with his successor.
“(Stephanie Strauss) reminds me a lot of myself as far as what she’s about. It’s not about her, it’s about the teams and her school. That’s her focus: elevating the school and the teams. I have hopes that a lot of the things are going to continue to grow,” he said.
