"Everything I like about Williams is here, and a few things I didn't have at Williams are here," Sheehy said in an interview following the press conference.
Sheehy will replace Acting Athletic Director Bob Ceplikas '78, who took the position after Josie Harper stepped down in January 2009. . Ceplikas will return to his former role as deputy athletic director, Kim said.
To find Harper's permanent replacement, the College's search committee enlisted the help of Parker Executive Search
During his 10-year tenure as athletic director at Williams, the school won 12 straight Director's Cups for excellence in Division III sports, according to a Dartmouth press release. Before his stint as athletic director, Sheehy was the head coach of the Williams men's basketball team for 17 years and maintained a .757 win percentage, according to the press release.
Student-Athlete Relationships
Sheehy's main goal is to maintain high athletic and academic standards for student-athletes at the College, he said. Sheehy said he expects his job at the College to be more challenging than his current position at Williams, although he said Dartmouth appealed to him because of its strong alumni body, facilities and "bright and articulate students."
During his first year, Sheehy said he plans to forge close relationships with students. Sheehy said he knows "virtually every student-athlete at Williams," adding that he hopes to do the same at Dartmouth.
"Every captain will sit in my office and I'll talk to him or her about goals for the year, what they want to see happen, how the year's going," Sheehy said. "I do a lot of management by walking around really that's the fun part. Cutting the budget isn't fun, going to meetings with student-athletes is great fun."
Sheehy's experience as a basketball coach and collegiate basketball player at Williams also contributes to the passion that he will bring to Dartmouth, Smith said.
"[Sheehy] has made it clear that he intends to spend a lot of time interacting with student-athletes, coaches, and staff in the next few months, which seems like exactly the right approach," Ceplikas said.
Several coaches and student-athletes interviewed by The Dartmouth expressed excitement to have the opportunity to work with someone as energetic and approachable as Sheehy is.
"In the spring, we talked about how they were looking for a new AD and what that might mean for our perspectives about winning," women's soccer co-captain Sarah Bromley '11 said. "This new athletic director is what we had looked for someone who is used to winning and has it as a habit, which is something that Dartmouth sports has lost in recent history. We were looking for someone to restore winning as a habit."
Bromley said that while she has not had much interaction with the athletic director in the past, she hopes to have an opportunity to meet with Sheehy and see some aspects of the Dartmouth athletics program improve.
"I would hope for more emphasis on all sports instead of just the big moneymakers like football and basketball," Bromley said.
Since Williams and Dartmouth share similar small sizes and strong emphases on academics, Big Green football head coach Buddy Teevens said he expects Sheehy's philosophy to be consistent with Dartmouth's values.
One key criterion for the new athletic director was an ability to blend academics and athletics, according to search committee member and women's golfer Marietta Smith '12. Smith said Sheehy fulfilled this requirement through his work at Williams by focusing on academics before athletics.
Sheehy will also be able to offer a fresh perspective and vision to Dartmouth athletics because of his unique background as an administrator, coach and collegiate athlete, Teevens added.
Teevens also expressed excitement for Sheehy's dedication to close relationships with students, particularly during the athlete recruitment process.
"He appears to be a hands-on individual," Teevens said. "He mentioned his fondness of attending practice and watching people train. It seems like the coaching side of him is very much in place and his willingness to assist in the recruiting process is interesting to hear."
Since Williams, like Dartmouth, does not offer athletic scholarships, Sheehy is already familiar with potential obstacles in the recruitment of athletes to the College, Belbruno said.
"He speaks to every visiting recruited athlete [at Williams] which is pretty unique," BelBruno said. "It added to our feeling that [Sheehy] was a good candidate for the position because he had to deal with the same situation that the coaches and the AD deal with at Dartmouth."
Working with the Administration
As new athletic director, Sheehy will report directly to President Kim, restoring a historical relationship that is consistent with other Ivy League institutions, Kim said in the press conference.
"Just sitting down with [Sheehy], you get the sense of the energy, the excitement, the extraordinary vision [he has] for how to integrate athletics and academics in a way that will benefit every single student on campus," Kim said.
Sheehy said he will also maintain a close working relationship with Acting Dean of the College Sylvia Spears on student issues, and David Spalding, chief of staff in the President's Office.
"I think, if you want to do the things that President Kim wants to do in terms of setting the bar for excellence, then the new athletic director needs to have a direct line to the president," Sheehy said in the interview. "I'm confident that that direct line exists. The most important thing to me is, when I want it or need it, I will have direct access to President Kim."
Balancing the Budget
While the search for Harper's replacement was slated to begin in January, Spears and Kim opted to forestall the search due to the recent budget cuts and in hopes of building a stronger applicant pool. BelBruno cited that a reason that the search process was delayed was to make sure that the budget situation would be clear for the new athletic director.
During the final three years of his tenure as athletic director at Williams, Sheehy was able to cut 25 percent of the athletic department's budget.
If further cuts need to be made to the College's athletic budget, Sheehy said that he will heavily include coaches in the process so that he can make the best decisions regarding the budget.
"What we did [at Williams] is we made a list of the major things in each little area we just would not cut, so we set some criteria," Sheehy said. "Then we went to a list of things that if we took them out, wouldn't be as important. We also used our coaches extensively in the process. So I may have a list of things that I think are important, but the coaches may have a whole other list of priorities."
Although Sheehy said he plans to "hit the ground running" once he arrives at the College, he said his first year will be a learning process as he assesses the operational strengths and weaknesses of the College's athletic program.
"Running a Division 1 program obviously has some differences than running a Division 3 program," Sheehy said. "There are budget issues and constraints of course as always, but I think we have a bigger budget here."
While Sheehy was successful in reducing Williams' budget by 25 percent, Bromley said that she is concerned that additional budget cuts would diminish funds that allow teams to travel longer distances in order to face stronger competition.
Additionally, Sheehy said he will work to improve fundraising efforts at Dartmouth to further support the athletic department.
Sheehy's Background
Under Sheehy's direction, Williams was named the Jostens Institution of the Year four times, which is an award given annually to the institution that best exemplifies the highest standards of athletic and academic performance in the Eastern College Athletic Conference.
Chemistry professor Joseph BelBruno, head the search committee, lauded Sheehy's success while at Williams, emphasizing Sheehy's strong relationships with coaches.
"One of the things that was most impressive was his evaluation of coaches it was thorough," BelBruno said. "The coaches knew what the expectations were. It was different from what we listened to from other candidates other candidates talked about what they could do, but Harry had done it."
President Kim acknowledged the success of Williams athletics department under Sheehy's reign and expressed his hope that he will continue to find success at Dartmouth.
"I think that if you were to sit down and try to write on a sheet of paper all of the qualities you want in the next Dartmouth athletic director, you would be hard pressed to come up with a list of accomplishments that are as long or distinguished as those of [Sheehy]," Kim said.
Sheehy also played varsity basketball as an undergraduate at Williams, and was named an All-American twice. After graduation, he chose to play basketball for Athletes in Action, a basketball league with religious ties, according to the release.
Sheehy was nominated to the committee by an external source when the search began, he said in the interview. Although the search process began two months ago, Sheehy said he was only first contacted by Dartmouth approximately two weeks ago, and signed his letter of intent on Saturday morning.
