After a 30-year career in education that took him from a coach to a physical education teacher to an athletic director, and finally an athletics director of Madera Unified School District, Marty Bitter has retired.
Bitter made his last drive up the 99 to his office at the end of June, but won’t necessarily be out of work. After retiring, Bitter will now step into the Central Section realm to become the Assistant Commissioner of the CIF Central Section.
“Madera Unified is the only place I’ve been,” Bitter said. “I was at a Torres football game, and talking to some of the leadership. I told them that they thought I was the dumb jock. I told them I spent my whole career in education and athletics. I dealt with athletics. I never had to deal with curriculum, kids who didn’t behave. I didn’t have to know all of the education codes. Who’s the smart guy now? That is so rare to go through your entire life in athletics. I love it. To have that impact is so great.”
Bitter began his 32-year coaching career in Kerman, where he grew up, after he played basketball for Kings River Community College (now Reedley College).
He began with freshman boys basketball, and by the second day of practice, he was reinvigorated.
“The second day in the gym, I re-enrolled in the university and said this was my career path,” he said. “This changed my trajectory. Multiple times a week, I still talk to players on that first team through texts. To get through this career path, and have the opportunity to have an impact in kids’ lives, is great. You get into education, you might never make a million dollars, but the price to have an impact on a kid’s life is priceless. I went from coaching where you have an intimate relationship with kids, to teaching to becoming an athletic director where I could oversee a school to overseeing a district. Now, I get to do the section. I am a little removed from those close relationships, but I still have an influence on a greater group. I couldn’t ever imagine.
“I think we all have a story. I was a brash coach, and kind of cocky. I wanted to take it as far as I could. The boys basketball head job came open, and I put my name in, and I didn’t get it. That kind of kept my trajectory to Madera. The rest is history.”
After he was denied the Kerman boys basketball varsity coaching job, Bitter became a coach under Brian Tessler. Under Tessler’s leadership were future MUSD administrators Bitter, Shandon Schwartz and Todd Lile.
Bitter began his teaching career in 1996 at Thomas Jefferson Middle School as a physical education teacher. He then became the school’s athletic director.
“I had the time of my life at Thomas Jefferson. It might have been the best time I had,” he said.
After eight years, Bitter moved to the MUSD District Office, where he spent two grueling years.
“I didn’t like the work in the District Office,” Bitter said. “At the time, my principal, Jerry Staman, started in the District Office. He told me to work at the DO, and finish off the health grant. Then, we’ll move you into an athletic director office. At the same time, they told Randy Blankenship he could be the MHS football coach or the athletic director, but he couldn’t do both. He chose football coach. I had the option of Madera or Madera South. For me, as a new athletic director, I had all these visions, so it was good to open up a new thing, rather than going to Madera, and following Randy with him as a coach. I chose the Madera South job.”
He helped open the school in 2006, and stayed another eight years before moving back to the District Office in another capacity.
“When I was at Madera South, Shane Riddle was at Madera. Things were a little difficult. I had a great relationship with Shane,” Bitter said. “The opportunity to open a new school at Madera South, and create things like Champions for Life is great.”
To that point, Bitter was noticing something missing in the District Office, and worked to address the issue.
“It took me a while to figure out that every department within a school district had someone at the district level to go to kick around ideas, help solve problems, find solutions and other things, except athletics,” he said. “I talked to Superintendent Ed Gonzalez about any chance of a district athletic director model. We had one at one point, John Denno. They eliminated the position. The other bigger districts have that model. Ed wanted to get that back, but he didn’t know when it was going to happen.”
In the fall of 2013, Gonzalez told Bitter that the school board approved the Director of Athletics position for MUSD, and Bitter threw his hat in for the job.
However, at the same time, the director of human resources at Kerman Unified contacted Bitter about an athletic director opening at his alma mater.
“I asked what my job would be at Kerman,” Bitter said. “He said I could make it up. I talked to Ed about my chances about getting the district job. Kerman is where I grew up. It’s home. Madera is now my home. I don’t want to leave, but I’m looking to advance.”
Bitter talked with Gonzalez about the job, and Gonzalez imparted some wisdom Bitter still holds today.
“He told me something that is one of the things I’ve appreciated the most,” Bitter said. “He said, ‘I want you to put your name in there, but I’m not going to make you any promises. You are going to have to decide. If John Wooden walks through the door, I have to do what I need to for the kids. If that’s going to happen, probably not. I have to be open-minded to hire the best possible person.’ I decided I would roll the dice.”
Despite frequent calls from Kerman upping the ante, Bitter got the job in 2014, and moved from Madera South.
“My first goal, when I moved into the District Office, was to create a sense of community,” he said. “We were kind of broken with the animosity between the two schools. We really tried to get the athletic directors to lead the coaches to understand that these are all our kids. It’s not us against them. Competition tells us to win, but competition is the goal, but not the purpose.”
In his career, Bitter was a first at three different levels, and will now step into another first position. He was the first athletic director at Thomas Jefferson and Madera South. He restarted the Director of Athletics at MUSD, and now he moves into another new position, assistant commissioner of the CIF Central Section after the previous assistant commissioner was moved to an associate commissioner.
“I’ve said this to so many people. Every step of my career, I can’t believe how blessed I have been,” Bitter said.
With Bitter’s Madera career in the sunset, he was able to think about some of the accomplishments of his career.
What do you think is your biggest accomplishment?
MB: When I drove by Buchanan High School, there was always somebody playing. It was important to me to have Madera look like that. You would see kids around. Now, every single weekend, and every night, at every school, there are kids playing. I am super proud of that. I am proud that our participation numbers continue to rise. We have more kids playing in athletics than we ever had. I am very proud that we added Unified, girls flag football, girls wrestling and stunt. Those are more opportunities for girls to play sports.
What do you hang your hat on?
MB: I hope I can hang my hat on relationships. I hope to have the ability to build cultures and relationships. Everybody works hard and tries, but we need to find the best in all of those human beings.
How tough was dealing with the beginning of the Madera/Madera South rivalry?
MB: Squashing the cut throat rivalry is about the positions I have had. When I was at Thomas Jefferson, I had a lot of these kids that are now coaches. Those relationships were established. Now, I can take them to another level and make them understand they are in a bigger role and to have a bigger responsibility. That played a big part of it.
What are your thoughts about the district’s investment into athletic facilities throughout the district?
MB: Just to be a part of the process to get the new facilities built. Facilities are what sell families to the school district. They want a reason to be a part of the community. Schools are a reason people look. Our facilities are none better. People are seeking us out because of the way we built our facilities. We were thinking outside the box to create space and create opportunities for our kids. I couldn’t be more proud of those facilities. When they do the groundbreaking for the stadium, I want to be there. I didn’t get to see it through to the end. You look at our middle school tracks, I would challenge anyone to find districts in California that have middle school full facilities with lights, all-weather track, turf, bleachers, strength and conditioning, snack bar and restrooms. It’s unheard of. I think our kids are starting to take pride in that. That is something I want to hang my hat on.
Talk about the physical education part of your job over the 30 year career.
MB: The other portion of my job is the physical education aspect. I couldn’t be more proud. We started with three elementary PE teachers. They would teach at four schools a day. Now, we have 29 elementary PE teachers. We’ve developed a program that Fresno State and Fresno Pacific want to send their kids to. We’ve been blessed to have district and board leadership that believes in physical education. We’re one-to-one in elementary PE teachers. Most school districts are grade levels. I am very proud we were able to build that. Our kids are getting active at a younger age.