After serving as Fairfield’s esteemed director of athletics for the past 23 years, the conclusion of Gene Doris’ career with the Stags has been announced.
Paul Schlickmann was named as the new director of athletics by the University’s new president, Mark R. Nemec, PhD on Aug. 28. Schlickmann was a 4-year letter winner on the basketball team at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn. and spent the previous seven years as the director of athletics at Central Connecticut State University. He has also previously held senior level positions at Stony Brook University and Yale University.
“While Gene’s transition has long been part of a succession plan he introduced three years ago, we will be sad to see him go,” said former Interim President Lynn Babington in a press release from news@Fairfield. “We are most grateful for all of the work that he has done to enhance the reputation and performance of our Division I Athletic programs.”
In his time as the director of athletics, the Stags have won 45 conference championships, 58 regular season conference championships and made 35 National Collegiate Athletic Association berths. Additionally, Doris has led the Stags to win four overall Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Commissioner’s Cups, seven MAAC Commissioner’s Cups for Women’s Athletics and three MAAC Commissioner’s Cups for Men’s Athletics.
His work in establishing the Fairfield Stags as a national brand has led to Fairfield hosting NCAA postseason games for women’s basketball and men’s ice hockey. Before his departure, Doris has planned for the NCAA Men’s Ice Hockey Regional Championship to be held in 2018 at the Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport, Conn. Similarly, Rentschler Field in Hartford, Conn. is set to host the NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Championships from 2019 until 2022.
Doris has also helped lead Fairfield’s student-athletes toward success in the academic sphere. In his time as director of athletics, the Stags have consistently held an NCAA Graduation Success Rate of over 90 percent with several teams garnering NCAA Public Recognition Awards on an annual basis.
Doris has received several awards for his hard work and dedication toward Fairfield athletics, such as the Constituent Supporter of the Year Award in 2004, the 2010 Division I Northeast Athletic Director of the Year Award and the 2013 Fairfield University Distinguished Faculty/Administrator Award. In addition, Doris was inducted into the Eastern College Athletic Conference Hall of Fame in 2016.
Before he began his career at Fairfield in 1994, Doris served as the athletic director at Marist College for five years. During this time, the number of intercollegiate athletic teams grew from 14 to 20. Prior to his time at Marist, Doris held the positions of associate athletics director and assistant basketball coach at Fordham University.
Leave a Reply