Dr. Marybeth Lamb wins Athletic Director of the Year Award
Bridgewater State’s Athletic Director Dr. Marybeth Lamb was one of the recipients of the 2021-2022 National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) Cushman & Wakefield Athletics Director of the Year Award. She was one of 28 college sports directors through all college sports levels that NACDA selects for the award, and she is one of four women in NCAA Division III, this is Dr. Lamb’s first time winning this award in her career.
Dr. Lamb received a nomination for the award with multiple letters of recommendation from MASCAC Conference commissioner Angela Baumann, various BSU faculty, and the NACDA’s selection committee.
Dr. Lamb said that she was “honored and humbled” to have the award, as she told The Comment that she is not big on self-promotion. She said that the award “reflects on the BSU Athletic Department.”
She became Bridgewater State’s Athletic Director in 2012 after being the director at both Regis College and Newbury College from 1993 to 2012. Before then, she was the head athletic trainer at Simmons College out of Boston from 1985 to 1992. She earned both a bachelor’s and master’s degrees in physical education at SUNY- Brockport. After receiving her higher education, she worked at all private colleges and wanted to work at a public university. Dr. Lamb secured the BSU job when previous Athletic Director John Harper retired after 21 years. When Dr. Lamb was at Newbury and Regis College, both teams would face Bridgewater State College/University, “I was impressed by the student-athletes at Bridgewater.” She also wanted to be at BSU because “I wanted to be around great students.” She always looks forward to competing against Simmons and Regis, as she enjoys it whenever BSU beats her former schools. She also enjoys seeing the directors of both colleges at the national NCAA Division III Convention every year.
While Dr. Lamb has been the BSU Athletic Director, Women’s Equestrian went from a club sport to a varsity sport in 2018. Also, the BSU Club Athletic program has expanded with the additions of Women’s Hockey, Gymnastics, Golf, and Men’s Rugby. Equestrian was added, due to the funding with the Title IX audit within the BSU Athletic program in 2017. BSU Athletics had the funding to promote a BSU Women’s sport from club to varsity, and Equestrian was the easiest to transfer without increasing costs on the general student body.
BSU Athletic facilities have also been renovated during Dr. Lamb’s tenure. The renovations included the Mary Jo Moriarty Poll, Ed J. Swenson Track & Field, Dr. Adrian Tinsley Center, and the Alumni Baseball and softball fields. She also led the construction of the Bear Paw Pavillion facility for the football and track & field teams which opened in 2021. One renovation that Dr. Lamb is helping with is the re-painting of Kelly Gymnasium, which would be the first time since 1983 that Kelly has been re-painted. She will also see if the Rosen Tennis courts need to be renovated.
Dr. Lamb will also look to improve the Student-Athletic experience on campus, look at Student-Athlete mental health, win more championships, and improve the national presence of the BSU Athletic program. Nineteen teams have advanced to the NCAA Division III Tournament while Dr. Lamb has been BSU’s Athletic Director, the most recent being the 2021 BSU Softball team.
Dr. Lamb will be recognized at the NACDA & Affiliates Convention at the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas on Tuesday, June 28th at 4 p.m.
