Erin Quinn '86 sounds off on sports

Author: Peter Baumann

In the two years since Erin Quinn '86 took over as Director of Athletics, Middlebury has enjoyed astounding success across the entire athletic program: two national championships, eight NESCAC titles, and back-to-back top five finishes in the Division III Directors Cup standings are proof that Quinn's department continues to cultivate the same high level of accomplishments as it did under his predecessors. However, even with his résumé growing in stature by the minute, Quinn chooses to define his success differently.

"As an athletic director you support and run a program that sets people up for success," he said. "Ultimately, how you define success needs to be based on the students, so you need to look a couple of steps removed from my department, to see how successful we have been in setting up coaches, students and employees for success."

A former Panther himself, Quinn has seen Middlebury athletics from every different angle. As the head men's lacrosse coach, he presided over a period of dominance that earned him multiple regional and national accolades. In the fifteen years he led the program, the Panthers won three national championships, and captured the NESCAC championship in each season that Lacrosse was a sanctioned sport. But despite his success, when approached to interview for the open Athletic Director position following the 2006 season, Quinn jumped at the chance.

"I was beginning to realize that as a coach you have a very set schedule," he recalls. "As a result I was unable to participate in a lot of things I would have liked to have been involved with." But while he enjoys being able to interact with more people outside the athletic building, Quinn admits there are still some parts of coaching he misses daily.

"I interact with students on a daily basis," he noted, "but there is no way to develop the same kind of deep, personal connection that you are able to as a coach."

It is said that the coach may leave the field, but the field never leaves the coach.So perhaps it is no surprise that as comfortable as Quinn looks in suit-pants and a perfectly knotted tie behind his desk, he is clearly in his element walking the fields on Saturday afternoons. When asked what about his job would be the most surprising to an outsider, he tilts his head back and reminisces about his first week on the job.

"Everything went smoothly all week," he said. "Then, as I was about to walk outside I got a call; there were no refs for our women's soccer game…it really is amazing how many different, small things can and will go wrong."

Quinn made it through that first week, and now he enters his third year presiding over a department running as smoothly as ever. From beautiful new facilities to wonderful coaching staffs that Quinn calls his "biggest success," Middlebury athletics is in a wonderful place.

Quinn is quick to point out that such accomplishments do not mean that he and his department can relax. In particular, Quinn has adopted a strong stance on spectator sportsmanship. While he notes that the situation has improved during his time in office, he believes that there is still work to be done.

To this end he is bringing in Dan Doyle, Executive Director of the Institute for International Sport to talk to coaches and captains, as well as hold an open lecture on Sept. 19.

"Overall, I think [Middlebury students] are pretty good," Quinn said. But he also noted that we need more student-to-student accountability. "I think we would be in a great situation if we can get some discussion and awareness," he said. "For me, a successful year would be if students are cheering positively and holding themselves accountable for negative actions."

Whether one defines success through performance on the field, sportsmanship or by the quality of the young men and women that emerge from the Middlebury athletic program, Erin Quinn has clearly succeeded in presiding over a successfull athletic department.