Ian McCaw has been named as the new athletic director by the University of Massachusetts. McCaw leaves Hockey East rival Northeastern University, where he held the same position for five years.
McCaw was also recently named chairman of the NCAA Men’s Division I Ice Hockey Committee, which he has served on for the last three years. At the committee’s annual meeting this year, he was involved with changes to the selection criteria and the selection of additional regional sites for the expanded Division I tournament.
“UMass Amherst is delighted to welcome Ian McCaw as athletic director,” said UMass chancellor John V. Lombardi. “His exceptional record of success and the high regard in which he is held by so many in the profession of intercollegiate athletics speak to the many qualities that recommended him to us.
“UMass Amherst has an exceptional record in intercollegiate athletics, and like many first-rank programs, it faces the challenge of building the support structure to guarantee the continuation and expansion of that success. We believe Ian McCaw has the experience and skills needed at this moment to meet that challenge.”
McCaw, who earned his master’s degree in sports management from UMass in 1987, replaces Bob Marcum, who resigned as UMass AD on June 14 to take early retirement and subsequently accepted the position of interim AD at Marshall University. Marcum had been the AD at UMass since 1993.
“I am very appreciative of the opportunity that chancellor Lombardi and the search committee have afforded me in selecting me as the athletic director at the University of Massachusetts,” said McCaw. “As an alumnus of the institution, this athletic directorship holds very special significance to me and truly represents the pinnacle of personal and professional opportunity that I aspire towards.”
McCaw has been Director of Intercollegiate Athletics and Campus Recreation at Northeastern since 1997. While at NU, McCaw developed and implemented a five-year strategic plan for athletics concerning issues related to enhanced program competitiveness, equity, diversity, compliance, sportsmanship, external support, the student-athlete experience, facility improvements and long-term financial stability.
Prior to Northeastern, McCaw served at Tulane University as senior associate athletics director for development and associate athletics director for external affairs. In 1996, he was named co-interim director of athletics at Tulane.
McCaw also served at the University of Maine from 1986 to 1992 as sports information director and assistant athletic director for external affairs. He received his bachelor’s degree in sports administration at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, in 1985.
Northeastern announced that a nationwide search for McCaw’s replacement will begin immediately.
