ZELIENOPLE — As his time in high school was coming to a close, David Fuhmran’s parents asked him what it was he wanted to do with his life.

Being the son of longtime Bradford basketball coach Dave Fuhrman, the soon-to-be graduate of Bradford High had a simple and perhaps expected answer: to work in sports. He’s living that out now as an assistant athletic director at Seneca Valley High School, located just north of Pittsburgh in Butler County.

“From the time I was born until I was a senior, I was always around the gym and at athletic events,” the younger Fuhrman said. “So that’s the career path I took.”

After graduating from BAHS, Fuhrman went off to Robert Morris University, just outside of Pittsburgh, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration. While he was there, he interned at nearby Quaker Valley High School and worked under the school’s athletic director (who also served as the basketball coach) for two years. He was also able to serve as an assistant coach for the basketball team.

“Just anything I needed, I was in his office, and that was huge for me,” Fuhrman said.

After completing his undergraduate coursework, Fuhrman earned a master’s degree in sports management from California University of Pennsylvania. He followed by taking over as athletic director back at Bradford High for a couple years.

He began his tenure at BAHS in April 2016 with a transition period with outgoing athletic director Tim Walter, who was set to retire that June.

“Tim’s a great friend of mine, and he’s been a mentor for me,” Fuhrman said. “It was nice being able to spend those three months learning under him and getting the ropes before stepping into the (athletic director) position.”

Once Walter’s retirement became official, Fuhrman served as Bradford’s AD until Aug. 31, 2018, when he accepted his current position in Western Pennsylvania. It was a position he figured on making eventually, but not quite that quickly.

“My wife is from the Pittsburgh area, so we said if the right opportunity came up, we’d consider going back to Pittsburgh,” Fuhrman said. “We didn’t expect it to be that soon, only being at Bradford for a little over two years. But when the Seneca Valley job opened up, it was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.

“I think it worked out for everyone, though. I know (current Bradford AD) Mike Erickson really well, and worked with him when he was at DuBois, and he’s doing a great job.”

And though Fuhrman says his time at Bradford prepared him well for Seneca Valley, life in the WPIAL is a little different than in McKean County.

In terms of facilities, Seneca Valley features four turf fields for its football, baseball, softball soccer and lacrosse teams, and SV also has its own aquatic center being completed on campus.

Also, in Bradford, Fuhrman served as a one-man band, dealing in event management, scheduling, uniform and equipment orders and more. At Seneca Valley, though, the school is so large that the district has a four-person athletic department: an athletic director, an assistant athletic director and two administrative assistants.

In addition, Seneca Valley graduates roughly 600 students per year, and fields 63 sports teams from the middle school level to varsity. It equates to about 1,300 student athletes in grades 7-12 and about 150 coaches, according to Fuhrman.

“My duties at Seneca Valley haven’t changed much since when I was at Bradford, but we’re triple the size, so it takes two people to handle it.”

Fuhrman also oversees athlete eligibility, the athletic department’s website and social media, as well as game management during the evenings.

But since there are two people who can oversee those events, Fuhrman still gets a couple nights at home each week, which wasn’t necessarily the case at Bradford most of the time.

Recently, though, his job has taken an unexpected turn, as the coronavirus pandemic has put sports in a precarious position. Right now, Fuhrman and Seneca Valley athletic director Heather Lewis are taking the same approach just about every administrator is: day-by-day.

“Information is constantly changing as more is becoming available, so we take it day-by-day and continue to deal with it,” Fuhrman said. “All we can do is follow the PIAA’s and Governor Wolf’s guidance. But the No. 1 priority is keeping students, faculty and our community safe… We’re just in a waiting game.”

Like Bradford, Seneca Valley had to submit a return-to-action plan to its Board of Education for approval to begin offseason workouts. That was approved on June 25, and workouts began on June 29.

Even with the uncertainty, though, Fuhrman is thrilled with how his career has started.

“I’m in a really good spot,” he said. “Our athletic director is fantastic, and just finished her 18th year at Seneca Valley. She was previously the field hockey coach and associate athletic director at Bucknell, so her wealth of knowledge is phenomenal.

“For me, the knowledge and experience I’m getting from being around her is huge for me. She’s very well connected, and that puts me in a great spot.”