Michael Hughes, CMAA

His own summary of the job is disarmingly simple.

"Show your student-athletes that you care for them," Hughes said.

At Lakewood, Hughes serves in a dual role as assistant principal and athletic director — a combination that requires him to sit in the building's academic leadership and its athletic leadership at the same time. He has used that vantage point to keep athletics connected to the school's larger mission rather than running alongside it.

His service to Jefferson County has been equally hands-on. Hughes currently chairs the county's track and field and football committees, previously chaired its volleyball committee, and serves on the Jefferson County Professional Development Committee — work that shapes how coaches across an entire district are trained and supported.

Hughes' influence extends well beyond Jeffco.

He has served on the Colorado Athletic Directors Association Executive Committee since 2006, including a term as CADA president in 2013-14 and years of service as the association's secretary. His work with the Colorado High School Activities Association has been just as sustained: 15 years on the CHSAA Legislative Council, terms on the officials, football, golf and basketball committees, and service as the CHSAA state track and field championship administrator since 2005.

That last role deserves a moment. Running a state championship meet means thousands of athletes, hundreds of officials and volunteers, weather that does what it wants and a results system that has to be right the first time. Hughes has done it for two decades.

Nationally, Hughes has invested the same energy in developing other administrators. A longtime member of the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association, he has served on the NIAAA Publications Committee since 2015, including a term as vice-chair, and edits the Media Minute column in Interscholastic Athletic Administration magazine. He serves on the national teaching faculty for a Leadership Training Institute course, has presented multiple times at the National Athletic Directors Conference, and has represented Colorado at the NIAAA Delegate Assembly on eight occasions.

He also serves as Colorado's NIAAA liaison — the person a Colorado athletic administrator reaches when they need a way into the national organization.

Those contributions have brought recognition.

Hughes received the NIAAA State Award of Merit in 2010, and in December 2022 he was honored with an NFHS Citation, one of the most prestigious awards presented to an athletic administrator, recognizing contributions to interscholastic athletics at the local, state and national levels.

What the awards do not capture is the through-line. Publications work, committee work, training faculty, delegate assembly, state championship administration — every one of those roles is about making the profession more workable for the person doing it next. Hughes has consistently chosen the tasks that make other people's jobs easier.

The most influential athletic administrators understand that their responsibility extends beyond their own building. They create environments where students feel valued. They equip coaches to lead well. They serve on the committees that set standards, and they take on the work that keeps a state's athletic community running.

Michael Hughes has done all of it, and has done it in Colorado for nearly three decades.

For his sustained leadership at Lakewood High School, his decades of service to CADA and CHSAA, his national contributions to athletic administration and his steady commitment to the student-athletes in his care, Bound proudly recognizes Michael Hughes, CMAA, as the Bound Athletic Director of Influence for Colorado.