Jason Perry has been an assistant coach, co-head coach, photographer and sports information director at Columbus North.
Now, he can add a new title — assistant athletics director.
Perry was added to the North administrative staff to replace Nate VanDeventer, who took the athletics director position at Central Middle School.
“I love working with high school kids,” Perry said. “That’s my passion. That’s my strength. A role in athletic administration lends myself to that. At some point, I would like to be an athletic director, and this will be great experience for me.”
Perry grew up in Marshalltown, Iowa. He played football and ran track all four years, played basketball as freshman, and was a diver his last three years of high school, twice qualifying for state in diving.
From there, Perry went to University of Northern Iowa and graduated in 1996 with a math degree. He is entering 26th year teaching math at North.
“I was a little too small to play at that level,” Perry said. “I wanted to go to UNI, and I had an academic scholarship waiting for me.”
After college, Perry coached football and was head girls basketball coach and assistant golf coach at St. Charles, Minnesota, from 1996-2005. He came to North in 2005 as assistant varsity boys basketball and football coach and spent the 2006-07 season as co-head basketball coach, along with Darnell Archey.
Perry gave up coaching high school basketball after that year, but stayed on as assistant football coach through the 2019 season, serving as both defensive and offensive coordinator at times. He coached fifth-and-sixth-grade PAAL football in 2019 and was co-head coach at Northside Middle School 2020 and 2021.
The past six years, Perry has coached in the Bull Dogs’ Columbus Revolution youth basketball program.
Perry has taken photos at North sporting events for the Bull Dog Bulletin and the school’s athletics website the past few years. This spring, he took over for Pat McKee as the Bull Dogs’ sports information director.
Brian Lewis is entering his second year as North’s AD. As assistant AD, Perry will work mostly with fall and winter sports, while the other assistant AD, Tim Bless, works mostly winter sports.
