As a kid, Todd Dain was obnoxious. Dain’s words, not mine. In fact, when he got the South principal job, his dad told him he had to know how to do the job since he spent so much time in the office growing up.

It’s not that he was mean–just bored, and obnoxious, and his ADHD got the better of him. His eighth-grade English teacher–her name was Pam Lewis–was “so mean.” She had the meanest stare. And, since Dain was so obnoxious in her class, she would give him that look all the time. That look with a unique mix of disappointment and annoyance that only teachers (or mothers) have mastered.

“One day, she called me up to her desk, and she was like, ‘TODD–’” he slammed his hand down on his desk for emphasis, “‘Come up here.’”

So, he went up to her desk, and she said, “Hey, listen. Tomorrow, I’m gonna be gone. I’m gonna have a substitute tomorrow. And, tomorrow, we’re learning gerunds and participles. You already know about that, right?”

“Yeah.” He said.

“Okay,” Pam Lewis said, “Tomorrow, I need you to teach the rest of the class about gerunds and participles. Can you do that tomorrow?”

Again, Dain said, “Yeah.”

So, sure enough, the next day, Dain did just that. He went over the lesson. Then, he sat back down. The next day, his teacher asked him how it went.

“Well, she figured me out,” he said. “I was this obnoxious, rambunctious student, and she knew that I was bored and if she could give me an opportunity to lead, that’s what I needed.”

From that point on, he behaved. But that was also the moment when he decided he wanted to be a teacher. He had so many amazing teachers and coaches who inspired him, and he wanted to have that same impact on other people.

“Growing up, my heroes were my teachers and my coaches who inspired me to be something greater,” Dain said. “It was my coaches that really taught me that I could have or be anything I want if I worked hard enough for it.”

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It was the first football game of Todd Dain’s sophomore year. The team was in the middle of warming up when Coach CJ Hamilton walked up to him.

“Hey,” Coach said, “You’re going to start at free safety tonight.”

His team was going to be playing against Holton–a school that was much bigger than his. They were “always really good,” as Dain said, and he was not prepared to start that game.

The whole moment was a blur. It was early in the second quarter when Holton’s running back came to the line of scrimmage, and Dain was just able to run through and fill the gap. That was the play that won him the “hardest hit” award.

“The upperclassmen weren’t really happy that a sophomore got the biggest hit of the game, I’ll put it to you that way,” Dain said. “But CJ had the faith in me that I could go in and play well. We ended up losing that game, but it was a big impact on me.”

When Dain first became a head football coach at Olathe Northwest, the first person he went to for advice was Coach Hamilton. And they’re still in touch to this day. Dain thinks that relationships with players are a special thing. That’s what he misses most about being a coach.

“I still have relationships with players, you know, 20 years worth of relationships with former players,” he said. “And of course, they’re all grown and have kids of their own and I’m old, but yeah. I miss those relationships, but I don’t miss the overabundance of hours.”

Believe it or not, as a high school principal, the hours that he spends in his job are much less than he spent as a teacher and a coach. What he does every day is different. Sometimes, he has to make more difficult decisions. Sometimes, he has more difficult conversations. But the amount of time spent working is much less.

“I mean, our coaches work so hard and so long over the summer and put in so many hours for no money,” he said. “And that was tough for me. I think when my children were little, because I was gone most of the summer coaching, I didn’t get to spend as much time with my own children when they were growing up because I was dedicated to my career, to coaching.”

It’s easy to tell that Dain’s family is a major part of his life. Framed photos of them are one of the first things you notice upon walking into his office. It starts with his wife. Dr. Jessica Dain is the Superintendent of Piper School District, and the “original Dr. Dain.”

“My wife’s been an administrator for 22 years now,” he said. “And she’s a lot smarter than I am.”

But, really, Dain would say his inspiration comes from his children. His oldest daughter, Andi, is a special education teacher.

“She has this giant heart,” he said. “She just loves young people.”

His second daughter is named Ashton.

“She was the middle child that was always highly competitive and needed attention,” he said. “So that is really what’s made her a successful athlete, I think. She was a four-sport athlete in high school, and obviously competing at the collegiate level, she’s a soccer player at Northwest Missouri State.”

His son, Brock, is the youngest. He was born with cerebral palsy and several other disabilities. He’s undergone 40 surgeries throughout his life.

“When he was three or four years old, they told us that he may not talk, that he may not ever run, and they didn’t know what his learning capacity would be,” he said. “And fortunately, he had a mom that was pretty smart and didn’t listen to the doctors. We found the right people and invested a lot of time and energy to get him the therapy and the resources that he needed to be successful.”

Each one of them are different, and they’ve all had a powerful impact on him.

“Lives are so busy and kind of crazy at times,” he said. “So, we don’t always get time to sit back and reflect and think, ‘Man, that’s awesome.’”

There are a lot of stories Dain could tell about his kids, but one that stands out to him is about his son. Brock works at the Human Society, and he’s working to be certified as a veterinary technician. Throughout high school, he was in a career tech program. In his senior year, he was honored with an award for the program.

“I think one of the most powerful moments was when he accepted that award and got to kind of share a speech about his trials and all that he’d overcome,” he said. “And, for him, the impact of his teachers that made a difference for him along the way. So I think, you know, maybe that’s one of the proud moments that I’ve had as a dad. To watch him receive that award, be acknowledged for that award.”

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While I walked around the school with Dr. Dain, he picked up two things off the floor. One was a piece of plastic he held until we passed a trash can. The other was a rogue pink eraser that he proceeded to fiddle with for the rest of our conversation.

He flipped that eraser around in his hands when I asked him if there was anything he wanted people to know about him. He told me that when it comes to him, “What you see is what you get.” He used that phrase about four or five times to describe himself.

He’d like to think teachers at South would describe him as supportive. He’s not really an authoritarian “top-down” type of leader.

“I want to inspire our teachers,” he said. “I want to support their passions. I want to support them as people and as family members. But, ultimately, my teachers know there are some things that I’m gonna be tight on, and there are some things that I’m gonna be loose on. And I am tight on building relationships with young people.”

The only phrase he repeated more than “what you see is what you get” was “we love all kids.”

“I would think that most teachers would describe me as supportive, but also, they clearly understand our purpose–what we’re doing here and why we’re doing it,” he said. “I think they feel a little bit of freedom and confidence when they know that. There’s not a question mark about who Dr. Dain is and what he stands for.”