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Photo courtesy of Westwood Public Schools. Milton native and Curry College graduate Richkaard Verrier, who was a four-year collegiate soccer player, is Westwood High School's new athletic director.
9-14-2025 12:08am
Richkaard Verrier Announced as Westwood High School's New Athletic Director
Darlene Cancell
Editor
Thanks to Westwood Public Schools for contributing this news to Westwood Minute.
When Richkaard Verrier started his first year at Curry College in Milton, he planned to pursue a career as an accountant. That was until Curry introduced a sports management major during his junior year. “I grew up playing sports and was on Curry’s men’s soccer team for all four years,” said Verrier. “When they rolled out the sports management major, I thought it would be great to work on the business side of things, but I didn’t know exactly what capacity in sports I wanted to do.”
The Milton native graduated from Curry in 2016 and began working as a coach and paraprofessional in the Foxboro School District. Verrier says it was during this period that he realized his goal was to become an Athletic Director (AD). He did some part-time coaching in his hometown then landed a position as Assistant Athletic Director in Brookline, where he spent two years and most recently in Needham as the Assistant Athletic Director & Coordinator of Club Sports.
“I am very excited to have Richkaard join our team as our new Athletic Director in Westwood,” said Superintendent of Schools Timothy Piwowar. “His energy and enthusiasm are contagious, and I know that he will bring a level of dedication to the role that will allow our student-athletes to thrive both on and off the playing fields.”
Verrier says one of the most common questions he gets is, “What exactly does an Athletic Director do anyway? People think ADs are just in their office watching games on ESPN,” joked Verrier. “I come in everyday and make a checklist and I’m lucky if I get through 20 percent of it.”
Scheduling games is one important part of the job. Each high school athletic league in Massachusetts works closely with the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) to schedule league games for every sports team. But it falls upon each school’s coaches and ADs to round out their schedule with non-league opponents.
“There is some strategy to scheduling non-league games,” said Verrier. “The MIAA has a new power ranking which includes strength of schedule. So, coaches sometimes try to play certain out of league teams to boost their power ratings to give them a better shot of making the playoffs. I try to support our coaches as much as possible with this.”
The AD also schedules transportation for away games as well securing referees to officiate each home game. On the day of games, Verrier says he’s on the phone ensuring both the buses and the officials know where they are supposed to be and when.
That’s not to say that Verrier’s job is all about paperwork. It’s probably no surprise that Verrier’s favorite part of the job has nothing to do with scheduling. “The thing I love most is interacting with the kids,” said Verrier. “There are real teaching moments during games, and I love to see the growth of students when they come in as ninth-graders compared to when they leave as 12th-graders. That’s what is most fulfilling – seeing them go through these stages and making sure they have the best experience possible.”
Verrier has a 3-year-old son named Roman and spends most of his free time with his family. He says he’s getting into golf and tries to find time to get on the course; and he saves some energy for cheering on his favorite sports team, the Boston Celtics.
“I’m an open and honest person and I’ve heard such great things about Westwood,” said Verrier. “I’m really excited to meet everyone in the community and attend as many games as I can!”
