Head of School Derrick Willard has announced that Director of Athletics Ned Gonet will retire at the end of the 2025-26 school year.

"After an outstanding and successful career as Ravenscroft’s Director of Athletics, Ned Gonet has shared news that he will retire at the end of the 2025-26 school year, his 45th year at Ravenscroft," Willard wrote. "True to the Ravenscroft mission statement, Ned has certainly established a legacy of excellence. Under Ned’s leadership as Athletic Director, Ravenscroft teams won a remarkable 51 state championships."

Those championships include: boys swimming (13), girls swimming (8), boys golf (8), football (5), girls basketball (3), girls soccer (3), boys soccer (2), girls cross country (2), boys basketball (1), girls tennis (1), baseball (1), girls softball (1), boys track (1), girls lacrosse (1), boys lacrosse (1) — and countless conference championships.

Ned Gonet was hired in 1981 after graduating from Duke University, where he played both football and baseball. Aided by a talented corps of coaches and athletic administrators, Gonet has — over four and a half decades — built the strong athletic program for which Ravenscroft is known today. He led the department energetically and modeled the hard work and high expectations for coaches of both boys’ and girls’ sports. During his tenure, Gonet also served as head coach for Ravenscroft’s football, girls basketball, and baseball programs, guiding the football team to five North Carolina Independent School Association (NCISAA) state titles and the girls basketball team to two state titles.

Gonet also served the broader athletics community in leadership and board roles. In 2004, he became a Certified Master Athletic Administrator. He served as the head coach for the Shrine Bowl of North Carolina in 2006 and 2008 and as an assistant coach in 2005 and 2010. Ned has received many honors, including the Contribution to Amateur Football Award presented by the Triangle Chapter of North Carolina of the National Football Foundation and the College Hall of Fame. He was named Wake County Coach of the Year in 1994 and received the Chuck Carter Athletic Directors Achievement Award in 2015.

Among his many accomplishments, Gonet has also been inducted into three Halls of Fame: the Ravenscroft Sports Hall of Fame (2008); the George Whitfield Hall of Fame, for his contributions to North Carolina high school athletics (2017); and the inaugural class of Oakton High School’s Hall of Fame (2019).

"Throughout Ned’s career, he modeled consistency, loyalty and care for student-athletes at Ravenscroft," former Head of School Doreen Kelly (who served 21 years with Gonet) said. "While winning was always the goal, Ned believed that there was a right way to do things and show up with class and a willingness to compete. Generations of players have come back to share how much Ned changed their lives and that their success today began with Ned’s belief in the gift of high expectations. Ned is among the finest examples of institutional loyalty in devoting his entire career to one place."

While a national search for Ravenscroft’s next Athletics Director will begin soon Willard went on to announce that Gonet will continue serve Ravenscroft beginning in the fall of 2026 as a member of our Advancement team in the role of Legacy Stewardship Officer.

"We are grateful for Ned’s exceptional loyalty and consistent commitment to preparing student-athletes to compete and to maximize their full potential," Willard added. "We look forward to celebrating Ned’s retirement at the end of the 2025–26 school year."