For Barnstable High’s new Athletic Director Steve Sentes, his No. 1 goal is clear.

Get more students involved in athletics.

And he’s pretty confident he’s got the recipe to accomplish that. While at New Bedford, he helped develop the wrestling program into one of the best in Southeastern Massachusetts.

2020 FLASHBACK:Sentes builds New Bedford wrestling into a winner

When he took over in 2015, Sentes said the program had just six wrestlers. Last season, about 80 wrestlers attended tryouts.

“I’m pretty good at recruiting within the school,” Sentes, who also taught math, said with a laugh on Friday, which was his first official day with his new title. “I just try to get everybody involved and let them know that sports are available to everyone.”

Sentes will take over for Scott Thomas. Thomas, who will turn 63 in September, retired in June after serving as the AD since 2012.

Athletics have been a huge part of Sentes' life. He began wrestling at the age of 4 while growing up in Fort Myers, Florida. He wrestled at the University of Michigan and began coaching a local high school wrestling program while there.

“I had always wanted to go there as a kid,” said Sentes of Michigan. “I used to go to their wrestling camps all the time, it was just a school I loved. I grew up watching all their sports from the Fab Five on.”

More:How New Bedford High wrestling plans to defend its Div. 1 South title from last year

He moved back to Florida after college, unsure of what he wanted to do outside of coaching.

“Being an athletic director is something I always wanted to be once I figured what I wanted to do,” said Sentes, who has also coached football, volleyball, track, cross country and tennis.

“When I went to college, I had no idea what I wanted to be. Then I realized I like coaching wrestling. I was coaching wrestling and they recruited me to be a teacher. I had no idea what I was doing when I first became a teacher. I didn’t know how to do a lesson plan or anything like that, but I had a lot of help and became a pretty good teacher.” 

He coached a wrestling team in Florida to a state title and three top-five finishes. He was also an assistant athletic director at Riverdale High.

His wife, Caitlyn, a Bishop Stang graduate, led him to Massachusetts. Caitlyn teaches English at Keith Middle School in New Bedford. The Sentes have three children — Madisyn, Ryan and Ryder — and now reside in New Bedford.

While at New Bedford, he was named the Massachusetts Interscholastic Wrestling Coaches Association (MIWCA) Div. 1 South Coach of the Year in 2020.

More:New Bedford wrestling beats rival Brockton in Whalers' only home match of the season

New Bedford senior Camren Perry said this at the time about Sentes: “Coach has been amazing. He’s pushed us to limits we didn’t think we could get pushed to. He taught us if we just try our best, we can achieve almost anything as long as we put our minds to it.”

That 2020 team went undefeated in the regular season and won a south sectional title. The Whalers followed that up with another sectional title in 2021 and reached the state finals.

But it was the success off the mat that stands out about the 2020 team. Sentes said that team sent all 10 of its seniors to college.

“That was probably the most proud that I’ve been of my own team and that’s what I’d like to have here: help kids get into college, help them with their next steps in life whatever that might be,” Sentes said. "I think that’s more of a win than what’s on the scoreboard.”

He was the MIAA’s wrestling coach of the year for the 2020-2021 season.

Leaving New Bedford is a bittersweet feeling for Sentes, but Barnstable was an opportunity too good to pass up.

“It was a really, really hard thing,” said Sentes. “It still hasn’t hit me yet that I’m actually not going to be back there. It’s sad. I’m super happy to be an athletic director, but it was sad to leave those kids, even my students in the classroom I’m going to really miss them.”

Knowing how much sports has positively influenced his life informs Sentes' philosophy of trying to get everyone involved in athletics.

“My biggest thing is I want to see as many kids as I can participate in sports,” said Sentes. "I know from being a coach in New Bedford and competing against Barnstable I know some of the programs don’t have many numbers. I’d like to see as many kids out playing as many different sports as possible.”

He especially wants to focus on helping girls sports grow at Barnstable.

“I think that’s very, very important to them," Sentes said. "I have my daughter and I push her to play sports as well. That’s going to be one of my goals too, to increase that.”

He’ll spend the next two months getting the lay of the land, learning Barnstable’s policies, and getting to know his coaches so he’s ready for a busy fall.

More:West Barnstable cyclist rides 180 miles of Cape Cod in a day, dedicated to mental health

“One of the things I said in my interview is I’ll always out-work everybody, that’s how I’ve always been on the wrestling mat, off the wrestling mat,” Sentes said. “I’ve always tried to work harder than everybody and do what’s best for everyone around me.”

At the high school level, winning isn’t everything and it’s far from the only thing.

“Some things that happen to some coaches is they kind of get caught up in winning,” he said. “You’ve really got to define what winning is. Is it just the scoreboard or is it what they do after they’re done with the sport?

“That’s what I think coaching is and that’s what my job is to just make sure that we’re all helping the kids become the best versions of themselves after they’re done competing in sports.”

Contact Chris McDaniel at cmcdaniel@capecodonline.com. Follow him on Twitter: ChrisMcDaniel88.