BELLAIRE — A familiar face has returned to lead the St. John Central athletic department.

Jaela (Thoburn) Koller has been named the Fighting Irish’s latest athletic director. She replaces Gary Krol in that post. Krol left SJC to become head football coach at Bridgeport.

Koller, age 36, has held volleyball and softball coaching positions at St. John’s. The Bellaire High grad will also serve as the Fighting Irish’s head volleyball coach this season, assuming that position earlier this month when the head coach suddenly yielded the job.

Jarett Kuhns, named the school’s new principal earlier this summer, made the hire and is excited about what Koller bring to the table.

“I see great things from her in growing the program,” Kuhns said. “She brings great passion and knowledge to the position.”

“Becoming the athletic director at SJC is giving me the opportunity to make a difference in this school’s programs. With the vision of Principal Kuhns moving forward, I believe that the success of this school is already starting to take shape,” Koller said. “I want to be a part of the renaissance that is building this athletic program into what it has been in the valley for decades. Working alongside dedicated coaches like Jerry Magistro, Ben Taylor and Bubba Kapral who put their blood, sweat and tears into these kids futures as athletes made taking a job with St. Johns an easy decision for myself.

“Now I want to take the next steps to ensure the rebuilding of all athletic programs in the school,” she added. “As any athlete will tell you, sports helped them develop the skills they needed to succeed as an adult so now I get to be a part of that growth and can’t wait to build the future of our school.”

Koller served as St. John’s head volleyball in 2003. She then matriculated to Columbus, where she coached two D-I schools from 2004-08. She spent time at each coaching volleyball and softball.

Koller returned to coach at SJC in 2012 in both sports.

Koller steps into her new role with a well-designed game plan in place.

“As the athletic director I am going to have three main focuses. First is combining the high school expectations of our academics with our sports programs. Our students should come to our school and expect nothing less than our best,” Koller said. “Our academics are being molded to the second to none and I expect the same from our athletic programs. I want our teachers and coaches to work together to build the best student athletes in the valley.

“My second focus is our elementary and junior high programs. In order to grow our enrollment and youth programs, the parents and kids involved in our schools must see how strong we are from start to finish. I am going to work tirelessly to build our programs to be successful at every level,” she added. “Lastly, I want every student to walk out of St. John’s with the best experience possible. Our school is building to become a place where kids of the Ohio Valley can receive the best education possible, along with our strong sports programs, and most importantly the values and beliefs that our diocese game them best opportunity to succeed in the future. Go Irish!”