Scott Devine, director of athletics and recreation, will retire at the end of the 2020 school year. President of St. Mary’s College of Maryland Tuajuanda C. Jordan made the announcement.
“I am incredibly grateful for the vision and hard work Scott has put into the St. Mary’s College athletics department,” said Jordan. “For 20 years, Scott has poured his heart and soul into the College, overseeing the evolution of the athletics department operation, increasing programs and assembling a menu of truly outstanding D-III facilities. He has secured an invitation for the College to join the North Eastern Athletic Conference before his departure, effectively ensuring the future of Seahawk Athletics for many years to come.”
“It has been one of the great pleasures and professional experiences of my life to have served as director of athletics and recreation at St. Mary’s College of Maryland for two decades,” said Devine. “What stands out as I reflect on my career in college athletics are the amazing student athletes, coaches, staff members, and professional colleagues within the NCAA that I have been able to work with and form relationships with. I feel so fortunate for the overall experience of addressing challenges and celebrating successes through teamwork and collegiality, and not many people get to have a career like that.”
Devine was hired at St. Mary’s College on July 1, 2000, as the director of athletics and recreation. He has spent an incredible 35 years of service in college athletics administration, with five years at NCAA D-I UMass Amherst and 10 years at NCAA D-I Tulane University, before spending the last 20 years at NCAA D-III St. Mary’s College.
In his early years, he authored two strategic plans for the College’s athletics and recreation in 2001 and 2006, helped implement a new athletic logo and word mark, a comprehensive athletic website, the first full menu of publications, and launched the Seahawks Association, a formal athletic fundraising group. Recently, he negotiated and executed the first-ever exclusive supplier/apparel agreement with BSN and Under Armour.
During his tenure at St. Mary’s College, he has overseen the staffing evolution and modernization of the athletic department, restructuring the department and increasing full-time positions from 10 in 2000 to 24 in 2019, including ensuring that all head coaching positions are full-time. He also established the first full-time athletics and recreation center director in 2005 and the first full-time associate athletic director position in fall 2017.
Thanks to Devine, St. Mary’s College can now boast to having some of the best NCAA D-III small school athletic facilities in the mid-Atlantic region. Devine has overseen the complete rebuilding of the St. Mary’s College athletics and recreation facility menu, which includes the Hawk’s Nest Baseball Park (2000), the Somerset Seahawk Tennis Complex (2001), the Michael P. O’Brien Athletics and Recreation Center renovation (2005-06), the Mattapany practice fields featuring two Bermuda surfaces (2005), and the Jamie L. Roberts Stadium (2018-19). He successfully implemented a “student-run” model of operating the Michael P. O’Brien Athletics and Recreation Center, which currently generates over $150,000 a year in contracted outside user group events.
With the addition of men’s and women’s cross country and men’s and women’s rowing, he has overseen the addition of four new varsity sports, from 15 in 2000 to 19 today, serving more than 95 student athletes. Seahawk athletic teams have led the Capital Athletic Conference in academic performance nine out of the last 12 years. His latest accomplishment is leading the membership application process to secure an invitation to join the North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) beginning in the fall of 2021.
He currently is the most senior athletic director in the Capital Athletic Conference with 19 years of league service, serving as CAC treasurer for two of those years. He was elected as one of two college athletic directors in the state of Maryland to serve as an adviser to the executive committee of the Maryland High School Athletic Directors from 2015-16. For St. Mary’s College, he served as a member of the Admissions Advisory Committee from 2014 – 2017, and as a member of the Behavior Intervention Team, a group of six professionals who oversee student conduct and student safety, from 2011-2017. He nominated the College to a chapter of ODK, the national leadership honor society, and helped secure induction in November 2015.
Passionate about family, he has been married to the former Karen Germano for the last 35 years and together they have two children, Kelli Laracy and Kaitlin Devine, and five grandchildren: Gregory, Mary, Phillip, Timothy, and Andrew Laracy.
Michael Wick, provost and vice president of academic affairs, will lead the effort to identify the new athletic director through a national search in spring 2020.
St. Mary’s College of Maryland, the National Public Honors College, is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education through 2024-2025. St. Mary’s College is ranked one of the best public liberal arts schools in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Approximately 1,600 students attend the college, nestled on the St. Mary’s River in Southern Maryland.
