It has been a few years since Lori Onstott has walked the sidelines as a coach at Seneca High School.

A coaching veteran of 11 years, Onstott coached such varsity sports as softball, volleyball and girls’ basketball. In 2003, she stepped down as the head softball coach, which was her last coaching position.

Now, Onstott will be back in the Seneca sports scene as she was named the new high school assistant principal and activities/athletic director for the district, replacing John Whitehead.

“I am really excited,” Onstott said about the new position. “I think that (athletics) was the big draw. I was really happy at the middle school, but the chance to be athletic director was something I couldn’t pass on.”

Onstott is in her 16th year working for the Seneca School District, starting as an elementary physical education teacher. After quitting her job as the softball coach, she became the middle school assistant principal, a job she held for the last three years.

Onstott will have some experience to draw from in her new position, as she coached under long-time athletic director Tom Hodge, and her current high school principal, Tasha Fox, was the athletic director prior to moving to her new position.

“Coach Hodge was a good mentor and I learned several things from him, and Tasha was the athletic director for a couple years,” said Onstott. “Even with John, we have had a good relationship. He was the one that hired me as his assistant at the middle school.

“I think the biggest thing with this job will keeping track of transportation and having officials there (at games). Organization is big and staying on top of it.”

Onstott is a graduate of Seneca High School and then graduated from Missouri Southern. She obtained her master’s degree in administration from William Woods.

Onstott and her husband, Jim, have been married 27 years and are the parents of two children, both former Seneca athletes.

Blake, 26, played baseball, football and wrestled. Their daughter, Shaye, 22, played softball and basketball. Shaye recently graduated from Missouri State and is now in graduate school.