The Rosewood athletics department will have a slightly different look this season.

Longtime athletic director Robert Britt recently stepped down as the Eagles’ athletic director. At the same time, Jason King, who has been at the school for 17 years, has been named Rosewood’s new athletic director.

“It’s something that sort of materialized. I’ve been coaching for 17 years now, and I’ve enjoyed it, and taking on another challenge and being involved with other sports too is appealing to me,” King said about becoming the new AD. “Helping student-athletes in every sport is a big thing, and the other thing is helping our coaching staff.”

The process of King moving into the athletic director position was in the works for the past few years.

Britt, who first arrived at Rosewood in 2007, was looking to step back and concentrate on being the school’s head football and track and field coach, so King and Britt served as the school’s co-athletic directors for the past couple of years.

“Coach King wanted to accept another challenge, so that’s how the conversation started,” Britt said. “After last year’s COVID year, coach King really did the majority of it with me helping him.

“The last two years, coach King did an outstanding job, so it was easy for me to step back and let him be the head man now.”

Over the years, King said he learned a lot from being under Britt’s wing. One of the biggest things King learned from Britt was keeping a calm and cool head when crises arise within the athletic department.

And whenever needed, King can turn around and ask Britt for advice.

“Coach Britt does a really good delegating, and if he needed something done, he’s not afraid to ask for help,” King said. “I think coach Britt does a really good job handling the various crises that pop up from different things.

“Coach Britt is good with people, so those are some things that I take away.”

King said he is committed to continuing Rosewood’s success and positive atmosphere in high school sports that will help student-athletes grow both on and off the field.

“Over the past couple of years, things have kind of been put on hold. There are projects that we were talking about that were in the works that we want to get back on the table,” King said. “As a whole, it’s continuing to build our program. Coach Britt did a great job from 2007 to taking it where it is now, so I want to continue the progress.