"Greatness has been on this field before. The question is not whether it will be here again it will be but whether the time is now," recently-hired Athletic Director Harry Sheehy told the Dartmouth football team before the start of the season the same team that has opened the season with a 2-0 record.
With the switch from Division I to Division III athletics, Sheehy said he noticed differences in allowable off-season activities for athletes, different Division regulations and the focus on winning, which he believes is stronger at Dartmouth and other Division I schools. Sheehy served as athletic director at Williams College, a Division III school, for 10 years before being hired by the Big Green.
"The focus is different, a student chooses D-I for a reason," he said.
Sheehy who refered to Dartmouth as Williams times two says the transition has been made easier due to the cultural similarities at the schools, despite the differences.
"While we are similar in many ways, it is different because it's a Division I school," Sheehy said. "It is harder to get your arms around everything."
In terms of his decision to leave Williams, Sheehy said he has not looked back. One of the things that attracted him was the tradition that Dartmouth has had in sports, he said.
Sheehy added that Dartmouth is not simply, a "Harvard in the woods," as some people refer to it, but rather a unique institution.
It has also been one of his stated goals to get to know every student athlete at Dartmouth. He added that he also hopes students will reach out and try to get to know him.
"It has not happened as much as I would like," Sheehy said. "I spent the first few weeks on the job going into offices and saying Who are you and what do you do?'"
Additionally, Sheehy stressed that he wants Dartmouth's student-athletes to conduct themselves in a respectable manner on and off the field.
"I would like to get calls from hotels saying how great and courteous the athletes were when they stayed there," he said, adding that he has already received such a call.
The entire student body is an important piece of the puzzle to Sheehy, as the athletic department has the potential to touch every student, he said.
He added that while winning may not be everything it is still very important, especially at an academic institution like Dartmouth. The chances of the athletes having a good experience participating in their sport are improved when they are winning.
"The amount of effort and the resources that we and the athletes put in makes it worth winning," he said. "But still winning is not the only measure of success."
Sheehy enters the College on the heels of budget cuts, which he acknowledged could influence changes in the department.
"Luckily for me, many of the changes with the budget were done last year before I came," he said. "But if there were something to be done, I would sit down with all the coaches and figure out the best way to make a change."
Sheehy said he understands that many different departments may also want to expand their budgets and the athletic department must work as efficiently as possible.
"I don't want more than our share," he said. "We have to evaluate what is most important to us because we cannot have everything on our wish list."
