Tug Of Athletics Pulls Bullock Back -- Former Coach, Ad To Guide Athletics In Tacoma Schools

FEDERAL WAY - Joe Bullock tried to sever the ties. A new job. A new career. A new direction.

But the old feelings just wouldn't go away. So, this summer, Bullock will return to his first love - athletic administration. He has been hired as the Tacoma School District's athletic and activities director.

"I'm really excited to get back into athletics," he said.

Bullock, 47, spent 14 years in athletic administration before last fall, when he resigned as Federal Way School District AD to become assistant principal at Saghalie Junior High School.

"When I made my decision late last spring to come here to Saghalie as assistant principal, I really thought I was making a career change and putting athletic administration behind me," said Bullock, who was assistant AD for the Metro League office in Seattle for 11 years before coming to Federal Way.

But when he attended a few clinics sponsored by the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association early this year, Bullock felt a strong pull to return to his roots.

"Getting back out there with the coaches really let me know where my heart is," he said. "When the opportunity presented itself (in Tacoma), I decided to pursue it. I started my teaching career in Tacoma."

Bullock, who grew up in White Plains, N.Y., got his first teaching job at Mount Tahoma High School in 1971. He spent three years there and was an assistant coach in football, boys basketball and track. Then came a five-year stint at Seattle's Ballard High, where he was boys basketball coach. For two years, Bullock was assistant men's basketball coach at Eastern Washington University. But he returned to Seattle in 1981 to become assistant AD in the Metro League office.

In Tacoma, Bullock fills a position vacated last June when Karst Brandsma left to become director of secondary programs in the Tumwater School District. He will finish the school year at Saqhalie and assume his new post July 1.

Bullock said he has enjoyed his present job.

"I just missed being out there with the coaches," he said. "But being at Saghalie has been great. This is going to sound contradictory but I've loved it. I love being back around the kids. At the same time, after being in athletic administration for 14 years, there are things that are comfortable for me.

"My leaving here is not so much out of a desire to leave Saghalie as it is just to have the opportunity to go back to an area I really enjoy."

Another plus, Bullock said, is that he already lives in Tacoma after remarrying last summer. His wife, Jeanette, teaches at Totem Junior High School in Federal Way.

Looking out at the pouring rain, and all the athletic rescheduling it has caused this spring, Bullock admitted not everything about his new job is sunny.

"That's one thing, right now, I guess I haven't missed," he said.