After 21 years with the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College Athletic Department, Director of Athletics Suzanne Coffey has announced her resignation to become athletic director at Amherst College in Amherst, Mass.

“This was a difficult decision,” Coffey said. “It will not be easy leaving many talented and excellent colleagues and friends. But I do find this move energizing at this point in my career, and I am eager to start at Amherst.”

Coffey has been on leave since March to implement the 2006 World Scholar-Athlete Games with the Institute for International Sport in Providence, R.I.  She will begin her duties at Amherst on Aug. 1.

ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Associate Director of Athletics Dana Mulholland will serve as interim athletic director while a national search is conducted for Coffey’s replacement.

ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ President Elaine Tuttle Hansen lauded Coffey for her accomplishments. “Suzanne has worked so very ably for three different ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ presidents, and I know my predecessors join me expressing our gratitude for her longstanding dedication to this College and its student-athletes,” said Hansen. “We are sorry to lose her leadership, but wish her all the best at Amherst.”

ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Vice President for Academic Administration Jill N. Reich said Coffey built an outstanding athletic department that advances students as athletes and scholars. “Suzanne has developed a coaching staff with the talent to build ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½’ standing in the Directors’ Cup and our place in NESCAC. At the same time our coaches work with faculty to support our students’ intellectual pursuits and civic engagement. Her thoughtful leadership and collegial management leave a strong department ready to take on the challenge of her departure. Our colleagues at Amherst will appreciate her consistently high standards of professionalism and creative problem-solving.”

Reich noted that during the last 10 years of Coffey’s tenure, ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ has consistently finished in the top 20 percent of all Division III sports programs, as measured by national Director’s Cup standings. ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ is a member of the New England Small College Athletic Conference, along with Amherst, Bowdoin, Colby, Connecticut, Hamilton, Middlebury, Trinity, Tufts, Williams and Wesleyan. NESCAC members are reliably found in the U.S. News & World Report‘s list of the top 25 best American liberal arts colleges and in the Directors’ Cup top 25 percent of Division III athletic programs.

Coffey was appointed director of athletics and chair of the department of physical education at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ in 1991. During this time, Coffey rose to several positions of national leadership in collegiate athletics for which she received numerous awards and honors. Currently a member of the NCAA’s association-wide Diversity Leadership Task Force, Coffey held the top Division III post as chair of the Management Council in 2004-05. In 2003-04, she was vice chair of the council and a member of key working groups that formulated NCAA reforms designed to align practices at member institutions more closely with Division III philosophy. She has also served on the association-wide Executive Committee, as well as the Championships and Budget committees.

She is active in enhancing educational development opportunities for student-athletes at the regional and national level, and since March has served as interim vice president of the Institute for International Sport, in Kingston, R.I., where she is commissioner of the 2006 World Scholar-Athlete Games. In 2005, the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics selected Coffey as its Northeast Region Athletics Director of the Year.

Prior to her arrival at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ in 1985 as an assistant professor of education, associate director of athletics and coach of women’s lacrosse, Coffey was a member of the coaching staffs at Bowdoin College and the University of New Hampshire.

ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College Director of Athletics Suzanne Coffey has been selected as Division III athletic director of the year for the northeastern United States.

Her selection as the 2004-05 Division III Northeast Region NACDA Athletic Director of the Year was announced recently by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics’ (NACDA), 1,600 member directors of athletics. The criteria for selection included service as an AD for a minimum of five academic years; demonstration of commitment to higher education and student-athletes; continuous teamwork, loyalty and excellence; and the ability to inspire individuals or groups to high levels of accomplishments.

“It is a high honor for Suzanne Coffey to be singled out among many distinguished peers,” said ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ President Elaine Tuttle Hansen. “This is well-deserved recognition of her excellent work with our student-athletes and an exceptional coaching staff.”

Coffey said the honor reflects on the quality of her coaching staff. “I believe we at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ are fortunate to have the best coaching staff in the Northeast,” she said. “2004-05 was our strongest competitive year on record. Beyond the teams’ successes, our coaches garnered a record number of Coach of the Year honors. Our accomplishments are the measurable expression excellent coaching, multi-talented student athletes, and the College’s commitment to winning.”

NACDA is divided into four geographic regions – northeast, southeast, central and west; its membership is separated into six categories – Division I-A; Division I-AA/I-AAA combined; Division II, Division III; NAIA; and Junior/Community Colleges. One winner was selected in each of the six categories, along with a cross-divisional international winner for a total of 25 honorees. In the Northeast region there are 110 Division III institutions who are members of NACDA. Winners were recognized at NACDA’s 40th Anniversary Convention in Orlando, Florida on June 16.

Coffey was appointed the director of athletics and chair of the department of physical education at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College in 1991. She has also been consistently involved in the NCAA Division III governance structure; she recently served as the chair of the NCAA’s Management Council. Coffey was also a member of the NCAA’s Executive Committee, was appointed to the Joint Subcommittee of the President/Management Councils on the Future of Division III and has just completed concurrent terms on the Division III Budget, Strategic Planning and Championships committees and the Management Council’s Subcommittee on Playing and Practice Seasons.

In 1999, she was named a Sports Ethics Fellow with the Institute for International Sport and received the Institute’s Frank W. Keaney Award in 2002. She was also honored as the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletic Administrators Division III National Administrator of the Year in 2001-02. Prior to her arrival at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ in 1985 as an assistant professor of education, associate director of athletics and coach of women’s lacrosse, Coffey was a member of the coaching staffs at Bowdoin College and the University of New Hampshire. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of New Hampshire, a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Southern Maine’s Edmund Muskie School of Public Service. Coffey is a doctoral candidate at the University of Southern Maine.

In its highest rating ever, the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College athletics program has been ranked 19th out of 420 in the NCAA Division III winter rankings.

The National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics introduced the Sports Academy Directors’ Cup (formerly called the Sears Directors’ Cup) in 1995-96 as a measure of the overall athletic success of colleges and universities in the three NCAA divisions as well as in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. Besides awarding a trophy cup to the top school, the organization ranks the top 100 schools in each of the NCAA’s three divisions.

“This places us squarely among the top 5 percent of all Division III athletics programs,” said ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Director of Athletics Suzanne Coffey. “Our successes have come in both team and individual sports.”

ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ is one of four schools in the top 20 that are all members of NESCAC (the New England Small College Athletic Conference). “We compete in the strongest conference in Division III, and our ranking is evidence of our ability to win at both the NESCAC and national levels,” Coffey said. She noted that one year ago, ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ was ranked 34th among the 420 NCAA Division III athletics programs.

The three other NESCAC teams are Williams (ranked first), Middlebury (fifth) and Amherst (11th). The only other Maine teams in the top 50 are Colby (24th) and Bowdoin (36th). The rankings are conducted three times a year: after fall, winter and spring sports seasons.

These winter standings include the sports of fencing, skiing, women’s and men’s basketball, ice hockey, swimming, track and field, and men’s wrestling.

The Sports Academy Directors’ Cup was developed as a joint effort between the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics and USA Today. The United States Sports Academy, based in Daphne, Ala., is the program sponsor. Points are awarded based on each institution’s finish in up to 18 sports — nine women’s and nine men’s.

The ranking was announced at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ April 10 before 546 ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ student-athletes at the college’s annual All-Sports Awards Banquet. Varsity athletes constitute almost one-third of the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ student body.

The new ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Scholar-Athlete Society “makes clear our commitment to the scholar-athlete ideal,” said ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ alumnus and trustee Dan Doyle ’72, who is founder and executive director of the Institute for International Sport, in Kingston, R.I. “ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ is an example of a college that effectively combines academic rigor with a highly respected athletic program.”

The society will include seniors nominated by their coaches who have compiled a 3.5 grade point average or have received a special nomination from faculty and staff for distinguished academic achievement in their junior and senior years. To be eligible for induction, student-athletes must participate in a varsity sport for at least three years. The society is designed to honor about 25 student-athletes each year of the roughly 175 varsity athletes that graduate.

“The ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Scholar-Athlete Society honors dedication to excellence in scholarship and sportsmanship,” said ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ President Elaine Tuttle Hansen. “It celebrates the ways in which athletics fits into the overall collegiate experience.”

Suzanne Coffey, ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ athletic director and past chair of the , said that ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ student-athletes “will know from their first days on campus that induction into the Scholar-Athlete Society is a goal whose achievement is modeled by generations of outstanding students. By dedicating themselves intensively to both academic and athletic pursuits, students at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ set a standard for each other and for our wider academic and athletic communities. The academy is wrestling with the proper role for intercollegiate athletics programs within institutional missions. In creating the Scholar-Athlete Society, ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ is presenting to our students (and to the academy) a clear statement about the expectation for excellence in the classroom and achievement on the playing field.â€�

“Athletics certainly should not dominate,” Coffey said, “but it absolutely is part of the mission of our academic institutions. It should be considered in the same context as classroom learning, service-learning and study abroad.” Doyle added: “We know the special bonds that form in the classrooms, residence halls and playing fields at this time in young lives. We hope our society provides a model that other colleges might find useful.” A gift from Doyle to the College will support the program, annual awards dinner and newsletter.

Coffey stressed that the society is “more than a one-time event. We are creating a network, a continuous loop of expectation. Society members will in turn inspire undergraduates to want to be part of this now and as they climb professionally in life.”

As well as honoring undergraduates as they graduate, alumni who distinguish themselves as scholars and athletes and subsequently in their careers will also be inducted at annual ceremonies. Also honored will be one or more faculty members or former ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ coaches who have fostered the scholar-athlete ideal.

“It’s not about playing time but the commitment and dedication one puts into both academics and athletics; it’s the aggregate hours one spends on the practice fields and in the library that accentuates his or her unique talent and drive to succeed,” Doyle said. “I find one of the most admirable groups of young people in America to be Division III athletes who come to practice every day, work hard, support the team and yet are not rewarded with playing time. I have known many successful people who fall into that category. The Scholar-Athlete Society will include stars and substitutes who share a common commitment to superior effort in the classroom and on the playing fields.”

The inaugural induction ceremony will take place May 28, during ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Commencement weekend. The keynote speaker for ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½’ first induction ceremony will be Donald “Dee” Rowe, considered the “father” of the University of Connecticut basketball program. Rowe was head coach at UConn 1969-77 and still works as a special adviser. Doyle said that years ago, Rowe was his high school coach, and his great inspiration for the way athletics brings together for common purpose athletes of very different backgrounds. Doyle said that Rowe, who is “76 years young” is considered “the best speaker in our field.”

ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ is uncommon in that nearly two-thirds of its students participate in 30 varsity and 12 club sports. ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ is a charter member of the (NESCAC), and its teams compete with fellow members Amherst, Bowdoin, Colby, Connecticut College, Hamilton, Middlebury, Trinity, Tufts, Wesleyan and Williams, as well as with teams from other colleges and universities.

The Scholar-Athlete Society complements the Milton L. Lindholm Scholar Athlete Awards, which have been given annually since 1976 to the senior male and female athletes with the highest academic averages. The awards honor Milton L. Lindholm, Class of 1935, who served as ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ dean of admissions for 32 years.

ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College Director of Athletics Suzanne R. Coffey will be honored June 1 with the Institute of International Sport’s (IIS) 2002 Keaney Award at the University of Rhode Island. The Keaney Award, presented every other year by the IIS, is given to educators who personify the scholar-athlete ideal.

An associate professor of physical education, Coffey was appointed director of athletics and chair of the Department of Physical Education at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ in May 1991. A former coach at Bowdoin College and the University of New Hampshire, Coffey is committed to the enhancement of the principles of education through sport and the fostering of competitive excellence in all ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ athletics programs. A doctoral student at the University of Southern Maine, Coffey has been extremely active with the NCAA governance of Division III athletics, serving on the Joint Subcommittee of the President/Management Councils on the Future of Division III and the NCAA’s Management Council. At ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½, she chairs the College’s Commission on the Status of Women and the Faculty Committee on Admission and Financial Aid.

The Keaney Award is given in honor of legendary URI basketball coach and educator Frank W. Keaney. Keaney achieved national renown in the 1930s and ’40s as the coach of the Rhode Island State (now the University of Rhode Island) men’s basketball team. Keaney’s career spanned 47 years, the last 32 spent at Rhode Island. A chemistry professor and one-man athletic staff who coached football, baseball, basketball, track and cross country, Keaney became known as “The Menty” to his players and students. “He epitomized the scholar-athlete concept,” said his biographer William Woodward, a former URI professor. “A true Renaissance man, he was the embodiment of the high ideals which the Institute for International Sport advocates.”

The Kingston, R.I.-based Institute for International Sport was founded in 1986 by Daniel E. Doyle Jr. ’72. Administering several international programs that reach more than 180 countries on six continents, the institute uses sport and the cultural arts to promote goodwill among future world leaders.

The National Association of Collegiate Women’s Athletic Administrators (NACWAA) has recognized ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College Director of Athletics Suzanne Coffey as its 2001 NCAA Division III Administrator of the Year. Coffey will be honored at the Jostens Administrator of the Year banquet Oct. 15 in Wilmington, N.C.

Coffey has served as Director of Athletics at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ since 1991, after serving as interim director in 1990. She has been active on the national level of intercollegiate athletics, serving as Chair of the NCAA Division III Interpretations Committee and Legislative Committee. She has chaired the NCAA Lacrosse National Championships Committee, served on the Division III Management Council, and has served as an executive board member and as vice president of the Lacrosse Coaches Association.

Coffey received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy and Art from the University of New Hampshire and received her Masters in public policy from the Edmund Muskie School of Public Service at the University of Southern Maine. She came to ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ in 1986 as the Bobcats’ third head coach of women’s lacrosse. In 10 years coaching the Bobcats, Coffey compiled an 88-46 record, leading ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ to its only appearance in the NCAA Division III tournament in 1992.

Coffey has overseen the expansion of ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½’ athletic facilities with the opening of the James Wallach Tennis Center and the Campus Avenue AstroTurf field in 2000 and the Russell Street Track and Soccer Field in 2001.

“We are both pleased and proud that Suzanne has received this recognition,” said ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ President Donald W. Harward. “Her accomplishments and significant responsibilities are ample evidence of how deserving she is of this award.”

The other administrators recognized for the 2001 award are J. Elaine Hieber, Iowa State University, Marilyn McNeil, Monmouth University, M. Dianne Murphy, University of Denver, Pam Gill-Fisher, University of California-Davis, Norma Dycus, Sinclair Community College and Carol Iwaoka, Big Ten Conference.