ANDOVER – Jeremy Gibson was hired 12 years ago at Merrimack College as part of a masterplan to grow the enrollment. His place was to move the school’s athletics program to Division 1 and raise the school’s Q-rating.
Arriving at the North Andover school with 17 years’ experience at Harvard University, as its Associate Athletic Director, Gibson not only did that, but a little more.
Earlier this week he accepted the job to take over the Lehigh University athletics department.
“The timing right for me,” said Gibson, an Andover native, who moved to the Philadelphia area while in middle school later to return to the area when he started at Harvard.
“Our oldest son Brian is a junior at Connecticut College. (Youngest son) Teddy is off to school as a freshman at Villanova,” said Gibson. (Wife Julee and I) are officially empty nesters. It was time.”
Lehigh is part of the Patriot League, which is a noted academic-based conference, ranked as the 46th best among national universities by U.S. National News & Report.
His time at Harvard and the Ivy League probably helped his cause.
But while it is impressive to spend nearly 30 years at two institutions, even more impressive was his work at Merrimack, following Merrimack College President Christopher Hopey’s plan to eventually move athletics to Div. 1.
The first issue was getting the mandated invite from Div. 1 conference and other was the NCAA’s prerequisite four-year transition period – no NCAA tournaments.
“We had to sell our school and our story, including goals,” said Gibson. “And we were lucky the Northeast Conference (NEC) was willing suitor.”
The rest was history.
In just six years after being accepted by the Northeast Conference, Merrimack not only made the difficult jump from Div. 2 – see the NCAA’s difficult transition process – but did it with unparalleled success.
In the middle of those six years, Merrimack stunned a lot people by its penchant for winning.
Merrimack hosted consecutive football championship games. The men’s and women’s soccer programs won regular season titles. And, best of all, the men’s basketball program not only won the NEC regular season title, but won the league tournament, despite knowing it wouldn’t get the NCAA tourney berth.
ESPN televised that game and Merrimack, because of its story of winning and “staying home,” became a national story.
Add in the fact that the same winter, Merrimack men’s hockey played for in the Hockey East Tournament championship game at the T.D. Garden, but qualified in the NCAA’s 16-team Div. 1 tournament.
“From a professional standpoint, the success those two years (2021-22 and 2022-23) were special,” said Gibson. “It was pretty clear to me that what we accomplished was not a fluke. The real testament, though, goes to the school and administration, for embracing the level of athletics to have sustained a level of unprecedented success.”
Merrimack men’s basketball coach Joey Gallo, whose team played in consecutive NEC title games shown live on ESPN, losing to Wagner University last March, said Gibson’s role in the excitement in the athletics office and student body is directly related to his work.
“From my perspective, Jeremy always acted more like a teammate than a boss,” said Gallo. “If you look at our coaches in a lot of our sports, he really focused on talented coaches whom are good people. I’m going to miss him.”
President Hopey said he always believed Merrimack moving to and succeeding at the Div. 1 level was tantamount in his plan to grow the school, which enrolls 5,900 students, nearly three times the amount when he took over in 2010.
“Jeremy came to Merrimack with great experience at Harvard and had a great sense of what we wanted to become both academically and athletically,” said Pres. Hopey.
“He got it. He made some great coaching hires who understood our mission. He didn’t go a good job, he did a great job,” Pres. Hopey. “We have a hockey game here (last) Sunday against Dartmouth that was sold out. And, remember, the students are home and not on campus. Our teams are drawing from the community, too. That’s impressive.”
Gibson said the Lehigh opportunity opened up when his friend, and long-time athletic director Joe Sterrett announced he’d be resigning after 52 years on the campus as an athlete, coach and athletic director.
Lehigh is a member of the Patriot League, noted as one of the top academic college sports conferences in the country.
“Lehigh is a cross section of my of two experiences – 17 years at Harvard and 12 at Merrimack,” said Gibson. “It has a strong tradition and values. And athletics’ experience is special, too. It’s a great opportunity to help advance a storied institution. I am very, very excited.”
Coincidentally, Gibson and his wife will only be an hour’s drive – Bethlehem, Pa. to Villanova, Pa. – from their son, Teddy.
Gibson will officially start his new job at Lehigh in early February.
“It’s crazy how things have turned out,” said Gibson, a Bowdoin College graduate. “The area is sort of a second home to me, near where I lived after moving from Andover when I was younger. But Andover and Merrimack will always hold a special place in my heart. We have had so many great experiences that we will always cherish.”
You can email Bill Burt at bburt@eagletribune.com.