When Robbie Bates became Van-Far’s new athletic director this year, he felt he was back at home.

Bates grew up in Audrain County, specifically in Laddonia and Mexico, before embarking on a career that involved 24 years of coaching basketball, baseball, track, cross country and softball and most recently three years as the Chamois athletic director. Since this summer, Bates has been the athletic director, transportation director and grounds supervisor.

“For me this was kind of a homecoming, coming back to Audrain County and coming back to this area to be closer to my family,” Bates said. “I still have other family in Mexico and the surrounding area. When the opportunity to come to Van-Far came about in May, it was a homecoming.”

Bates earned his associates degree in general studies from Moberly Area Community College, where Bates did some coaching; bachelor’s degree in secondary education from Columbia College; and master’s degree in education from the University of Cumberlands in Kentucky. Before coaching at MACC, he was an assistant basketball coach at Community R-6. 

During his coaching career, Bates has spent two years as an assistant basketball coach at MACC, four years as the head boys basketball coach at Tarkio High School and four years as the head boys basketball coach at Chamois High School. He said he became acquainted with the Van-Far head boys basketball coach Pat Connaway at one point so he had some familiarity with sports in the area and Van-Far. Bates’ tenure as the Chamois athletic director was his shot in the position and he is having fun now partially through year one at Van-Far as he did during that time.

“When we hosted a home football game here, to me, it was an experience,” Bates said. “When you drove up to our facilities, you knew we had something going on. We had everything marked, and we had banners and flags and things to represent that we are Van-Far. When those kids are competing, I’m going to be their biggest cheerleader. There’s no better feeling after a game to be able to high-five a coach after a big win.”

Bates credits former Columbia College men’s basketball coach and athletic director and Missouri Sports Hall of Famer Bob Burchard, former Moberly Area Community College men’s basketball coach and hall of famer and Moberly High School athletic director Kenny Seifert, and former University of Cumberlands men’s basketball coach and hall of famer Donnie Butcher as key mentors. 

Even though Bates had some experience as an athletic director from Chamois, he said he still has had to learn in his current position. Van-Far has more sports, such as football, so that brought more tasks that needed to be done. That also brought more people Bates could rely on like Mark Udelhoven and Tom Spradling that helped make the transition smoother.

“It was a learning experience in terms of preparing for a football game or preparing for a softball game,” Bates said. “I had two gentlemen who have been unbelievable to work with this fall in getting things ready and learning how to put together a football field, getting the experience of putting together a softball field and getting prepared for a softball game.”

While at MACC, Bates watched Seifert carry out his duties “from afar” because he said he knew he eventually wanted to be an athletic director. He said he took notes from his mentor Seifert’s actions and also learning from current MACC men’s basketball coach and athletic director Patrick Smith. Bates said Smith was the one to make him realize a month ago that giving up coaching for the first time in career wasn’t necessarily a complete abandonment of the position.

“I made the comment that I wasn’t coaching, and he says, ‘But you are. You are an athletic director so you’re always coaching,’” Bates said. “It hit me when I was driving home that night that he’s right. To walk away from it was a little bit hard, but I look at being an athletic director as I just don’t have one program to run, I run all the programs. I enjoy helping coaches when they need assistance with things throughout the day or throughout their seasons.”

Bates has a fiancé that works at the high school and two of three kids going through the Van-Far School District. They have their daily demands for the sake of the district just like Bates. Every day is different for Bates from his regular crafting of practice and lesson plans while he was the junior high and high school coach at Chamois.

While Bates sounds like he would be overly busy as the holder of three titles, he said he is busy but each job feeds into each other and he can efficiently ensure everything is in order. He said he has learned “a ton” about bus routes and the layout of the area around Vandalia and Farber while scheduling buses for teams and preparing facilities. Bates, the self-proclaimed “three-headed monster,” likes being “visible” or available to people and any concerns they might have.

“Every day is kind of a new adventure,” Bates said. “You come in one day and we have to get ready for a softball game. So it’s go drag the field, get the field lined, make sure we have the admission gates covered, and we make sure we have everything out that needs to be out for a home contest. On Friday, when it’s getting ready for a home football game, you’re making sure throughout the week with Mark and Tom that the field is painted, everything is ready and all of the little things – like the programs or your officials are confirmed.”

Several of Van-Far’s athletic programs have been experiencing recent success. The football team has played and won home playoff games each of the last two seasons, the baseball team won a district championship and the cross country program has sent a runner – Garrett Hopke – to the state meet each of his first two years in school.

It hasn’t been just accolades either as participation has been up as of late. Before these past two successful football seasons, the program had to forfeit a playoff game for not having enough players. The season before baseball won a district title, the team barely had enough for a lineup.

Bates said he would like to present young kids, such as those in youth sports programs, opportunities to be involved in junior high sports. Allowing use of the facilities, many of them new and renovated in recent years, shows young kids – who Bates refers to as “the foundations and cornerstones of your high school programs” – with athletic interest that Van-Far can offer places they compete.

“It’s continuing to build our programs,” Bates said. “My job is to find ways to make programs better, whether it’s with the facilities or making sure they have the equipment and uniforms and all of the things they need to be a successful program. If they’re successful, then I feel like I’m successful as an athletic director.”