FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Curtin won same
distinction in 2012 and 2014

WINTHROP, Mass. – Saint Joseph’s College of Maine Athletic Director Brian Curtin has been named the 2016 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Executive of the Year, the league office announced on Tuesday morning. Curtin earns the honor following a vote by his fellow athletic directors across the conference.

The leader of the Saint Joseph’s athletics department since May 2006, Curtin currently serves as the chair of the GNAC Executive Committee, working closely with GNAC CommissionerJoe Walsh.

During the 2015-16 academic year, Curtin also worked closely with Saint Joseph’s President Dr. James Dlugos – the chair of the GNAC Presidents’ Council – to review and restructure the conference’s bylaws. Under Curtin’s guidance, a working group was formed to evaluate certain conference procedures and configuration. 

In the classroom at Saint Joseph’s, the Monks increased their number of GNAC Academic All-Conference honorees (89) for the fourth consecutive year. On the field of play, nine of SJC’s 10 record-bearing teams advanced to the GNAC Tournament, with the Monks women’s basketball program capturing its second conference championship in three years. The department’s baseball and field hockey programs made GNAC title game appearances last year, while its staff also hosted the 2015 GNAC Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Championships in Standish, Maine.

Curtin has had extensive involvement on campus with the SJC Institutional Advancement Office in fundraising for the school’s turf field project. He was also instrumental in creating a Graduate Assistant (GA) position for the Monks’ athletic training staff, working with SJC Vice President & Chief Learning Officer Michael Pardales. The athletic department’s corporate sponsorships increased during the 2015-16 year as well.

Saint Joseph’s also added the department’s first-ever full-time head coach for men’s and women’s cross country and track & field, and Curtin worked collaboratively to create two combined on-campus/head coach positions.

Before coming to SJC, Curtin was the men's basketball coach and an athletic administrator at Manhattanville College in Purchase, N.Y. for nine years. He then became an assistant coach at Dartmouth College, where his duties included player development, scouting and recruiting. Following his stint at Dartmouth, Curtin joined the basketball staff at American University where he worked as an assistant for two years.

Curtin earned his B.A. in Journalism from Saint Michael's College and his M.A. in Education and Human Development from George Washington University, where he graduated with Magna Cum Laude honors. While at Saint Michael's, he set several records in cross country that still stand and was inducted into the Saint Michael's Athletic Hall of Fame in 2000.

Founded in 1995, the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) is an NCAA Division III association made up of 12 member institutions and over 3,000 student-athletes across the New England region. Each year, the GNAC sponsors and administers 17 championships, while balancing academic integrity, athletic opportunities and community involvement. 

– #TheGNAC –