Williams Athletic Director Headed to Dartmouth
 Harry Sheehy's overseen a lot of the Ephs athletic successes over nearly three decades. |
Sheehy was announced as the next director of athletics and recreation at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H., on Tuesday afternoon, ending his successful 10-year tenure as the Williams College athletic director. A 1975 Williams graduate, he coached the men's basketball team for 17 years, from 1984 to 2000.
Sheehy will officially take the Dartmouth post in September.
"There is a wonderful challenge here," Sheehy said during a Web-streamed news conference at Floren Varsity House, on the campus of Dartmouth College. "Nobody wants a Ph.D. in losing. We're here to win, and we're here to win Ivy League championships."
Williams College won the Division III Directors' Cup, an award given to the school with the most overall athletic success, every year under Sheehy's stint. Williams has also received the ECAC Jostens Institutional Award, a prize given to the institution that best combines excellence in academics and sports, four times during Sheehy’s term.
Of the Ephs' 23 NCAA championships, 17 were captured while Sheehy was the athletic director. As the Ephs' head basketball coach, he compiled the fourth-best record in the history of Division III men's hoops. As a player, he was twice named All-American while playing for Williams. In 2002, he was inducted into the inaugural class of the New England Basketball Hall of Fame.
"I am delighted that Harry Sheehy is joining the Dartmouth community," Dartmouth College President Jim Yong Kim said. "He has enjoyed tremendous success as a coach and administrator at Williams, and has clearly demonstrated that an elite academic institution can achieve sustained athletic excellence across the board. Harry and I also share the belief that what students can learn from physical activity and sports goes hand-in-glove with what our faculty teach in the classroom."
In a Williams College press release, the school announced that Lisa Melendy will serve as the interim athletic director while the college conducts a national search. Melendy previously held the title of associate athletic director/senior women's administrator, and she's a former head coach of Williams women's soccer. Melendy served as the interim athletic director during the 2006-07 academic year, while Sheehy was on sabbatical at Vanderbilt University.
"Harry's contributions to Williams athletics — as player, coach, and director — are exceptional, as the record shows," Williams President Adam Falk said in a statement. "We thank him and wish him well as he pursues new challenges. While the successes of our teams during his tenure as athletic director have been gratifying, they've been the byproduct of attending to the development of the whole student-athlete.
"We're proud that Harry will carry to Dartmouth not only our athletic success at Williams but our underlying philosophy."
Sheehy said there were a lot of similarities between Williams and Dartmouth, but he admitted there will be several hurdles with his new position. Last year, Dartmouth ranked 128 out of 283 teams in the Division I Director’s Cup standings. In two of the most high-profile collegiate sports, the Big Green are coming off difficult seasons. The football team finished 2-8 (2-5 Ivy League) last fall while the men's basketball team was last in the league with a 1-13 record (5-23 overall) this past winter.
"The world has a ton of mediocrity, and we don't need anymore," Sheehy said, later adding: "Dartmouth is now a 'no-whining zone,' and we’re going to find ways to get it done. This is far too good of a place to not have the bar set at excellent."
The decision to leave Williams wasn't an easy one for Sheehy. He said his wife, Connie, steered him toward the move last week after the couple attended a speech given by President Kim.
"She said to me, 'If you have an opportunity to work for a man like President Kim, and you pass it up then shame on you,'" Sheehy said. Sheehy said Williams was a "wonderful place to work and to cut my teeth as a coach and athletic director."
He cited five reasons why the Dartmouth job attracted him: new challenge, rich tradition, excellent academics, good people and passionate alumni, which he said were all strengths possessed by Williams. During his introductory speech on Tuesday, he borrowed a quote from former Williams men's lacrosse coach Renzie Lamb, but Sheehy made a slight edit to fit his new role at Dartmouth.
"If you want to be happy for a couple hours, go see a movie," he said. "If you want to be happy for a couple months, then buy a new car. If you want to be happy for a couple years, get married. "If you want to be happy forever, then beat Harvard."
