Russ Reilly to step down after 29 years 57 NESCAC/NCAA titles for the man who moulded Panther athletics

Author: James Kerrigan

After 29 years at Middlebury College, Russ Reilly is ready for some R & R, but chances are you will still catch him in the bleachers or on the sidelines cheering for his Panthers. Reilly will step down as the College's athletic director, effective June 30, 2006.

Eleven years after graduating from Bates in 1966, Reilly joined the Middlebury athletic staff as the assistant men's basketball coach, assistant men's soccer coach and the spring golf coach. Despite growing up with football and basketball, he did not shy away from an opportunity to teach soccer. Reilly devoted an entire summer to reading books about soccer and asking other coaches for advice. Just one year later, his hard work and positive attitude paid off and he was named head men's basketball coach.

According to Missy Foote, the women's lacrosse head coach, Reilly developed the nickname "Cowboy Lou" because he wore a cowboy hat while announcing football games. Over the next 28 years, he wore many hats and received numerous awards and recognitions.

In February 1987, Reilly received a merit award from the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) for 20 or more years of coaching. In 1988, he was selected by his peers as the NABC Northeast District and UPI New England Division III Coach of the Year, while directing the Panthers to the Most Improved Team Award. In 1979, Reilly took over the reins of the women's soccer program at Middlebury.

In 1997 he was named the director of athletics at Middlebury College. John M. McCardell Jr, president emeritus, was influential in the decision to hire Reilly. "He gave us a continuity of leadership philosophy with his predecessor [Tom Lawson]. Lawson developed a successful program with a good staff who understood the College. We were convinced he wouldn't deviate from that. To his credit, he has maintained it." Downplaying his own achievements, Reilly notes that Lawson established a solid department that demanded no major changes.

On Reilly's first day as Middlebury's Athletic Director (AD) in 1997, he came into his office with an important document: a "to-do list." Roughly a dozen tasks were to be completed by the time he left the office. After day one, he crossed off not 10, not 11, not 12 items, but zero items. Yet after nine year's as Athletic Director, Reilly has checked a lot off his long-term list, including the addition and improvements of several athletic facilities, 35 NESCAC conference championships and 22 National Championships

Ideally, Reilly would have liked to be both a coach and an AD, but that is a difficult task: "As the athletic director you have to be focused on everybody. You don't just focus on the teams that are winning national championships. It's also important to focus on those teams that are struggling to get to .500 because those athletes are putting in the same kind effort and deserve the same attention and care," he said. Nobody understands what it means to be a coach better than Reilly. Stepping down from that position was the hardest thing he ever had to do while at the College.

A lot has changed during his tenure as athletic director. As a conference, the NESCAC has become more organized. It has transformed from a loose group of schools with a manual that was about three pages long to a developed and structured conference.

According to McCardell, Reilly has "remained committed to Title IX." In the early 1970s, Middlebury offered 12 men's sports and six women's. Thirty years later, Middlebury now offers 14 men's sports and 16 women's sports. Perhaps aboveall, Reilly has been instrumental in the improvement and addition of many athletic facilities. It's no coincidence his favorite movie is "Field of Dreams." Under the direction of Reilly, Middlebury added the Kenyon Ice Hockey Arena, the Kohn all-weather field, a softball diamond, and renovated and expanded the fitness center, Pepin Gymnasium, the Duke Nelson Recreational Center and "the Bubble," which houses an indoor track and five new international squash courts. Reilly has accomplished a lot, and left his mark on thousands of student-athletes.

Student-athlete: It's a term that gets thrown around a lot. Largely because of Russ, the 'student-athlete' scale is more balanced here at Middlebury. McCardell noted, "Russ always uses the term student-athlete. His conscious use of that term is a reminder of how [the College] views athletics." Middlebury views athletics as an extension of the classroom: an education of the mind and body. Reilly believes that coaches ought to have the same goal as their academic colleagues: to teach and shape their students. A coach is merely a teacher in a different arena. As McCardell says, "Coaches are educators. Their roles are vitally important. Russ communicates and lives that." Other institutions may graduate fantastic athletes or qualified scholars, but Russ Reilly preaches balance. He wants the men and women who compete between the lines to be exceptional in the academic field as well.

Reilly treasured relationships above all. Memories of wins, losses and statistics wane, but relationships live on.

As a coach, he was committed to his team and his players. He deeply values relationships and the "Midd Family." "Everyone has a passion for this place," Reilly says, "because of the relationships they had." Reilly has a genuine concern for others, and as John Humphrey '88, notes, "Other than a few referees in upstate New York, I would be surprised if you could find one enemy of Russ Reilly."

Humphrey, a former basketball captain and hardnosed player for Coach Reilly, remembers a time when Russ knew what was best. After a mediocre start to the game, Reilly took Humphrey out and let him sit for a good seven minutes. Humphrey recalls, "When he finally put me back in, I was in full rage. Our play picked up considerably and I had a pretty strong game from that point on. I was still frothing after a comfortable win and said nothing to Russ after the game. While sitting in the whirlpool he came up to me with a wide grin on his face and asked if I knew why he took me out. I said I had no idea. Apparently he had observed that I lacked my usual intensity and figured he would shake me up. Then he said he was glad it worked and glad to see me still upset and left saying, "You always play better when you're really pissed off."

So, what is next? Reilly, despite frequent 16-hour days at the College, is a family man. Humphrey could not agree more: "The best way to receive the teachings of Russ Reilly was to observe his behavior on a daily basis. He opened his home and his loving family environment to all of us players and to me on Thanksgiving. The best way for Russ to teach was to invite you into his house and watch him be a father and a husband."

There is a future for Reilly post-retirement. "I look forward to being able to reconnect with the lives of my three daughters and their families. In our profession, you spend a lot of time bringing other people's children up and sometimes neglect your own. I'm looking forward to being a fan again and not having to worry about whether we have Public Safety in the right places. This is what we now consider home." He'll probably sneak in some golf too.

His number of games coach as basketball coach (433 - a NESCAC record) and as a women's soccer coach (80), add up to 513. Add that to his 299 total losses (including 260 as basketball coach - also a NESCAC record), and you have a sum of 812. Divide that by the number of seasons (28) and we arrive at 29 years of service that Russ Reilly dedicated to making Middlebury College a better place.

McCardell says, "People know Middlebury because they know Russ Reilly." They know him because he is successful and passionate, because he understands what athletics are all about and most of all they know him because he cares. Humphrey can remember Reilly walking into the training room on a daily basis, bellowing,
"It's a great day to be a Middlebury Panther." It sure is, Russ.