Following the retirement of former Athletic Director John Young, Lemont High School hired Mike Sommerfeld as new director of athletics for the 2024-25 school year. Sommerfeld currently serves as the athletic director at St. Charles East High School and is set to start the new position July 1, 2024.
In 2000, Sommerfeld taught social studies at Argo High School for five years until 2005 and was simultaneously assistant coach for multiple teams including the baseball, football and girls’ basketball programs. Starting in 2005, Sommerfield was appointed the position of athletic director at Argo, where he oversaw 26 different teams.
Sommerfeld then moved on to be the athletic director at St. Charles East in 2012 and has held the position since. At St. Charles East, Sommerfeld was President of the SSC’s Athletic Directors Board of Control in 2009 and was also in the same position for the Upstate Eight Conference in 2016. Sommerfeld was also on the IHSA’s Cheerleading Advisory Board for a two year term in 2015-17.
“[I’m looking forward to] getting to know a lot of people with this new position. I [was] at my last school for 11 years, so I am going to meet a lot of new people and I’m excited that I have the opportunity to lead a great department with a great group of coaches that I will be able to get to know and help them along their journey for the upcoming seasons,” Sommerfeld said.
Sommerfeld attended Eastern Illinois University and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History in 1997. At Eastern, he also was an all-conference baseball player. In 2005, he earned a Master of Arts in School Administration from Lewis University.
“[Lemont] is a great place to work,” Sommerfeld said. “I used to work at another school in the same conference, so I know a lot about Lemont. I’ve known Mr. Young for about 30 years, so I know this is a great school and this is the place I wanted to be.”
The incoming director does not plan to make any major changes to the athletic department. Sommerfeld expects to observe what works and change what does not for the multitude of programs at Lemont.
“We’re going to have [a] great year. I think we will continue the level of excellence that we’ve had. I just want to have a really good athletic experience for all our student athletes,” Sommerfeld said.
