CLEVELAND, Ohio – Bob Scalise, The John D. Nichols' 53 Family Director of Athletics, has been named as one of the winners of the Under Armour Athletic Director of the Year Award, as announced by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA).
The award spans seven divisions of college athletics (NCAA FBS, FCS, Division I-AAA, II, III, NAIA/Other Four-Year Institutions and Junior College/Community Colleges). Winners will be recognized prior to the featured session during NACDA's 55th Annual Convention at the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas on Tuesday, June 9.
The Athletic Director of the Year Award highlights the efforts of athletic directors at all levels for their commitment and positive contributions to student-athletes, campuses and their surrounding communities.
Scalise, who will be retiring at the conclusion of this academic year after serving as athletic director for 19 years, has led Harvard to tremendous success on and off the field of play. The Crimson has won 148 Ivy League titles and 25 national team championships, while leading the nation for four-straight seasons with the highest NCAA Graduation Success Rate (GSR).
The seventh person to hold the Harvard Athletic Director position, Scalise leads an organization made up of 42 varsity sports, a myriad of club and intramural programs, more than 1,200 intercollegiate athletes and a broad array of wellness and recreation programs and facilities.
Under Scalise, Harvard has hosted several high-level NCAA tournaments, including the 2006 women's basketball Final Four at TD Bank Garden, four men's lacrosse championships at Gillette Stadium and the 2010 fencing championships at Gordon Indoor Track.
Born in New York City, Scalise has extensive ties to Ivy League athletics. A 1971 Brown alumnus, Scalise was selected three times to the All-Ivy League lacrosse team and twice named All-America and All-New England. He led the nation in scoring as a junior, then co-captained the squad in 1971 when he set an NCAA record by scoring 11 times against Connecticut, while helping the Bears advance to the inaugural NCAA men's lacrosse tournament. Scalise was inducted into the Brown Hall of Fame in 1991.
Scalise entered the coaching ranks at Brown in the fall of 1971 as an assistant for the men's soccer and lacrosse teams. He was just 24 when he was named head coach of Harvard's men's lacrosse team in 1974. He led the Crimson to the 1980 Ivy League championship, the program's first league title in nearly two decades and an accompanying NCAA tournament bid. He coached 25 All-America selections and completed his tenure in 1987 with a 98-79 overall record. Scalise was also the first coach of Harvard's women's soccer program, which began varsity play in 1977. He led that team to three Ivy League crowns and two NCAA tournament berths. In 1985, Scalise became the nation's first women's collegiate soccer coach to amass 100 victories and finished with a 113-38-11 overall record.
Scalise left coaching in 1987 to enroll in the Harvard Business School, where in 1989 he was awarded a Master of Business Administration. Later that year, he became director of MBA placement services, managing processes and products at the Business School. He held that post until 1992, when he accepted a position at Bain & Company to become director of recruiting, career development and alumni relations.
Scalise returned to Harvard Business School in 1995 as its executive director of MBA program administration. He then assumed the role of Senior Executive Officer where he oversaw an annual operating budget of $200 million before being named director of athletics.
A leader in intercollegiate athletics, Scalise serves as a member of the inaugural NCAA Division I Council. He is the chair of the NCAA Student-Athlete Experience Committee and works as a member of the NCAA lacrosse rules committee.
Scalise joins Villanova's Mark Jackson, Dayton's Neil Sullvan and Bethune-Cookman's Lynn Thompson as the Football Championship Subdivision winners this year.
Under Armour is now in its 12th year of sponsoring the award and over 276 different athletics directors have been honored with the award during that time.
“The Athletics Director of the Year Award acknowledges the leadership and positive influence top athletics directors have had at their respective institutions across all levels,” said Brian Cummings, Under Armour's vice president of North America sports marketing. “Under Armour is proud to partner with NACDA to honor those individuals who set the standard in guiding their student-athletes through the on-going journey to be better.”
All NACDA-member directors of athletics in the United States, Canada and Mexico who met the criteria were eligible for the award. Among the criteria were service as an AD for a minimum of five consecutive 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. Additionally, each AD's institution must have passed a compliance check through its appropriate governing body (i.e., NCAA, NAIA, etc.), in which the institution could not have been on probation or cited for a lack of institutional control during the tenure of the current athletics director.
Nominators were NACDA-member directors of athletics, institutional presidents and conference commissioners, as well as other respected intercollegiate athletics administrators. Special Divisional Selection Committees composed of current and former directors of athletics, current and former commissioners and other key athletics administrators voted on nominees for the award. A complete listing of Selection Committee members can be found on NACDA's website at www.nacda.com.
