Bruce McCutcheon Will Take New Leadership Role to Advance Lafayette Athletics

Bruce McCutcheon

Bruce McCutcheon, director of athletics, will take on a new leadership role in advancing the College’s 23-sport NCAA Division I intercollegiate program. Following the upcoming academic year, McCutcheon will step down from his current post to become the College’s director of athletic development, effective July 1, 2012.

“I am very proud of the progress of our athletics program over the last decade, particularly the far-reaching upgrades to our facilities and increases in the number and quality of the coaching staff and other personnel. I am also proud of the significant improvements in our student-athletes’ academic performance and of our new leadership-development program for student-athletes, the Athletics Leadership Academy,” McCutcheon says. “Because the greatest single challenge now facing Lafayette athletics is financial strength, I am joining the College’s development team as lead athletics fundraiser to focus on increasing that strength very significantly. I am excited about the opportunity and look forward to the challenge.”

Prior to being named director of athletics in 2001, McCutcheon served 11 years in the athletics department, responsible for the general administration of the department and for NCAA compliance.

“I am grateful to Bruce for his many contributions to our athletics program and to the College as a whole. He will bring experience and expertise that will serve him well in the important new role of lead fundraiser for athletics, and his exemplary integrity and dedication to the College’s mission will continue to benefit Lafayette immensely,” said James F. Krivoski, executive assistant to the president and administrative secretary to the board of trustees, in a message to the campus community.

Krivoski oversees intercollegiate athletics at Lafayette. He said the College will undertake a national search for McCutcheon’s successor as director of athletics during the coming year.

Upon becoming director of athletics on Sept. 20, 2001, McCutcheon quickly began to change the culture of athletics at Lafayette and gained the support of the College’s administration and the Maroon Club on several major initiatives in the areas of facilities and personnel. Early in his tenure, he spearheaded the creation of a master plan for athletic facilities that led to significant upgrades, including a $23 million renovation of Fisher Stadium, construction of Kamine Stadium for baseball and a new stadium for softball, renovation of Mike Bourger ’44 Field at Oaks Stadium for soccer, and renovation of the Maroon Club Strength Center. The track and field program was relocated to Metzgar Fields Athletic Complex, where a new track opened in 2009 and hosted the Patriot League Championships in 2011. Kamine Varsity House at Metzgar Fields, which serves 11 teams, received a dramatic renovation. Most recently, Morel Field House was opened with indoor batting facilities for baseball and softball, and the men’s and women’s basketball locker rooms in Kirby Sports Center were expanded and modernized.

McCutcheon also created full-time coaching positions in several sports, including volleyball, men’s and women’s soccer, and baseball, and full-time positions in strength and conditioning, athletic training, athletic equipment services.

Lafayette has won nine Patriot League championships under his direction, three in football, two in men’s soccer, and one each in baseball, field hockey, golf, and women’s lacrosse.

The academic achievements of Lafayette’s student-athletes have never been more impressive. In the NCAA’s most recent report on graduation-success rates at the nation’s Division I schools, released in October, Lafayette ranks No. 3, with a rate of 97 percent. Lafayette has placed among the leaders in the last several NCAA reports, consistently posting a graduation-success rate above 90 percent. The national average is in the 70-percent range. Fourteen of Lafayette’s programs boasted a graduation-success rate of 100 percent, and all programs registered well above the national average for their sport.

Lafayette is best in the Patriot League with 16 of the College’s teams receiving Public Recognition Awards this year from the NCAA for exceptional work in the classroom under the association’s Division I Academic Performance Program.

“These numbers and individual accomplishments confirm our commitment to providing the highest quality experience for our student-athletes,” McCutcheon says. “Tremendous demands are placed on these young people both academically and athletically. We are extremely pleased that the latest data reflects the academic success of the men and women representing Lafayette.”

McCutcheon holds master’s and doctoral degrees in sports management from Ohio State University. He did his undergraduate work at the College of William and Mary, where he majored in physical education and competed in two varsity sports, football and track.

McCutcheon serves on the executive committee of the Division I Football Championship Subdivision Athletics Directors Association (FCS ADA) and the executive committee of the Patriot League’s Committee on Athletic Administration. He recently completed terms on the NCAA Division I FCS Football Championship Committee and the NCAA Division I Football Issues Committee. He served a four-year term on the NCAA Academics/Eligibility/Compliance Cabinet and was chair of the ECAC Division I Robbins Scholar-Athlete Committee. He is a member of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics and the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame.

Prior to coming to Lafayette, McCutcheon was assistant director of athletics at Temple University for one year. That followed a five-year tenure as an assistant athletic director at Southern Illinois University.

McCutcheon and his wife, Pat, are the parents of three children. Ian, a 2009 Lafayette graduate, is a third-year law student at Ohio State. Meghan is a senior at Radford University, and Gavin will begin his college career at Roanoke College this fall.