After more than a decade as athletics director, Harry Sheehy, 68, will retire this month. Peter Roby ’79 will serve as interim athletics director starting Feb. 16.
Sheehy’s decision to retire, announced by College President Phil Hanlon in a Tuesday morning email to members of the Dartmouth athletics community, comes after months of controversy surrounding the elimination and eventual reinstatement of five varsity athletic teams. In a tense Zoom call last week, Sheehy told the reinstated athletes that he would not resign.
Under Sheehy’s leadership, Dartmouth athletics won 27 Ivy League titles and three national championships to go with 357 First Team All-Ivy selections and 42 Ivy League players of the year. Sheehy also spearheaded the Dartmouth Peak Performance initiative during his second year and facilitated the construction and improvements of several athletic facilities, including the new indoor practice facility.
“I have been honored to serve Dartmouth athletics and would like to thank our student-athletes and alumni, [the Dartmouth Athletics Advisory Board], Dartmouth’s senior leadership group, the department’s senior leadership team and all those who have supported our mission,” Sheehy stated in the College’s email announcement.
Dartmouth finished in the top three schools nationwide in student-athlete graduate success rate in each of Sheehy’s 10 years. In his email, Hanlon applauded Sheehy’s commitment to academic achievement.
"I very much appreciate the emphasis [Sheehy] has always placed on the academic achievement of our student-athletes and the principle that first and foremost they are students," Hanlon wrote.
Sheehy’s retirement concludes his 20-year career as an athletics director, after he served in the same role for 10 years at his alma mater Williams College. Prior to his appointment as athletics director, Sheehy enjoyed a 324-104 record as Williams’ head men’s basketball coach for 17 years, following an All-American playing career.
Roby, who previously served as athletics director for Division I Northeastern University for more than 10 years, will serve at Dartmouth through June 2022.
"I’m honored and humbled to be asked to serve the College and will do all I can to bring our athletics community together," Roby stated in the announcement.
A former Dartmouth men’s basketball captain, Roby spent six seasons as a head men’s basketball coach at Harvard University and has had assistant coaching tenures at Dartmouth, Stanford University and the United States Military Academy.
“Roby is a highly respected leader in intercollegiate athletics,” Hanlon wrote. “We look forward to welcoming him back to Dartmouth.”
A full story with more information will be published in the near future.
