Picture game day: a brand-new athletic complex showcasing the achievements of past teams, sporting school spirit on the radio station as the team runs through an inflatable welcome tunnel displaying Grandview Heights in its glory.

With a vision for building facilities and curating game day experiences, Athletic Director Logan Dunn brings a passion for sports, education and community to Grandview Heights Schools.

Now, as Dunn kicks off his first spring season with the Bobcats, he sets his legacy in motion through uplifting student experiences, school pride and athletics.

The road to new heights

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Photo of Logan Dunn by Ray LaVoie

 

Growing up in the small town of Morral, Dunn’s love for sports started early, playing football and basketball from elementary school on, and later adding baseball as a third sport in high school at Ridgedale Jr./Sr. High School.

As he approached college, Dunn knew he was destined to work in sports – but getting there required some additional steps. Inspired by his experience volunteering at the elementary school, Dunn decided his first step would be to work with kids as a positive male role model for younger students.

“At Ridgedale, we did not have any male (educators) in the elementary school, or if we did, it was very few, so that was the career path I was going to take, knowing that I wanted to get into coaching and become an athletic director, but starting off in early childhood education,” Dunn says.

He went on to play football at the College of Wooster, where he studied communications with a minor in early childhood education, student teaching in Buckeye Valley Local Schools in Delaware. While attending Wooster, he met cheerleader and his now-wife, Melissa.

Following his graduation in 2012, Dunn and Melissa settled down in Delaware as he worked his way through different grade levels, starting as a long-term substitute for third grade at North Union before going on to work in second grade, then third grade full-time at various districts. Over that time, he stayed involved with athletics by coaching football and basketball.

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Dunn with his wife Melissa and their son Lennox

While teaching, Dunn started his master’s degree in athletic administration through Ohio University and became the athletic director of North Union Middle School following his graduation in 2018. He then made a goal to expand his administrative experience, taking a position as dean of students at the middle school.

Over the next six years, Dunn was recruited for two athletic director positions at schools in need of extensive facility renovations and athletics development.

The first was Triad High School, where Dunn was asked to step in after the fall season to develop stadium plans. He held this position for three years, working on plans for new locker and weight rooms, concessions, a community meeting room and more with the support of corporate sponsorships and a newly passed levy.

Then, the retiring athletic director of Fairbanks High School recruited him as his replacement. Dunn was drawn by the welcoming atmosphere and community investment in athletics and got to work developing plans and partnerships to support the stadium work.  

“We were able to develop student athletes at a higher level than I was at Triad because our participation numbers were significantly higher, but they still lacked from a facility standpoint,” Dunn says.

In the spring of 2025, the athletic director position for Grandview Heights opened with the retirement of Brad Bertani – a rare opening Dunn saw as an opportunity to put down roots for his family.

School pride

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Since his start this past summer, Dunn has committed to uplifting school spirit and developing branding in the athletics sphere and across the schools.

Building relationships was his first priority. He met with coaches and athletic staff to establish policy and procedures for conduct and expectations, along with streamlining communication across sports and schools. He also met with stakeholders and local businesses to maintain and establish partnerships supporting the department and new projects.

During his average workday, he is preparing for game time – scheduling and coordinating the teams, as well as working on the plans for the updated K-12 athletic complex and planning ahead for the 2027 sports seasons.

This work has included refining plans for the athletic complex to include upgraded locker rooms – from two to five – and new spaces for meetings and watching film, along with tailoring the weight and equipment rooms for each sport.

These plans will enhance game day experiences for players and fans alike with new turf fields, a ticket booth and concessions, a press box and bleachers – allowing for the band to be a part of the crowd and feed the energy of game night. With this, there will also be the addition of a Victory Plaza to socialize and highlight the achievements of the athletics programs.

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Dunn with a former student, Ryker Green, on a college tour at The College of Wooster.

Branding has been another component of the project, with efforts towards elevating game days with the stamp of Grandview Heights. His work has included:

• New Adidas jerseys and gear for the teams
• Integration of a new athletics department website and app – allowing for easy access to stats and schedules, with the ability for students to gain credit towards new school merch or gift cards for checking into games
• A customized radio station playing family-friendly music and school-specific content
• Inflatable mascot, welcome tunnel for teams and more

These efforts have also come inside the building, with athletics spaces seeing plans for a locker room wall of photos, from 1910 to present day, of Grandview Heights history with the words “Honoring Our Tradition” and “Creating Our Legacy”, and a “Champions Are Made Here” lit sign with the Grandview Heights Schools logo for the weight room.

“No matter what sport you play, when you walk into that back hallway, hopefully you understand that there’s a really rich tradition that came before you, and really, this is your time, and it’s such a short amount of time, to create your legacy,” Dunn says. “And it’s not (just) your legacy. More importantly, you understand that it’s our legacy together, whether that’s going to the weight room, going to practice, going to a game, whether that’s a coach. (It’s to) inspire them to do the best that they can and to work to achieve a common goal as a team.”

Beyond his work with the athletic complex and branding, Dunn has prioritized building relationships with the students and highlighting their achievements through Athlete of the Month spotlights. He is also implementing what he calls Next Level ceremonies and videoboards, starting a new tradition for celebrating students signing on to play sports at a higher level with a Next Level pen to sign with and a board to show their commitment.

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“My long-term goal is to set the standard of what an athletic department looks like, not just a division six athletic department,” Dunn says. “So, if you compare us…to any division one school, division seven school, I want them to say that Grandview Heights set the standard, from game days to how we run our website, social media, how we highlight student athletes, the entire experience.”

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Photo by Ray LaVoie

 

Jane Dimel is an assistant editor at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at [email protected].