AMHERST — Was Juno the final straw?
This week’s winter storm didn’t hit Western Massachusetts with much gusto, perhaps just enough of a chilly gust to propel John F. McCutcheon across the country to a more temperate climate.
The University of Massachusetts announced Thursday that its athletic director of 11 years is leaving to take the same position at the University of California Santa Barbara. (There has never been a measurable snowfall in Santa Barbara, although the sun-splashed city on the Southern California coast experienced a dusting in 1939.)
“When the chancellor called me last night and made the offer, I said, ‘This really isn’t fair, when it’s going to be minus-6 here,’ ” a smiling McCutcheon told reporters at halftime of the UMass men’s basketball game against Dayton at the Mullins Center.
But McCutcheon, just the sixth permanent AD in UMass-Amherst’s history, took a more serious tone when he spoke about his role of being “a steady hand on the tiller during some really challenging times.” Budget cuts threatened several sports programs early in his tenure, and once the athletic department had navigated through those choppy waters, McCutcheon’s focus became moored in the physical plant.
Indeed, the legacy of McCutcheon might be etched in bricks and mortar.
Just within the past year, three athletic facilities opened, including a football performance center and press box/skybox at McGuirk Alumni Stadium, enhancements created in tandem with the football program’s step up to the Bowl Subdivision. A training facility for the men’s and women’s basketball teams is scheduled to open in the spring.
“John McCutcheon has led the university through an era of outstanding growth and success for more than a decade,” UMass chancellor Kumble R. Subbaswamy said in a statement issued by the athletic department. He was referring to more than just construction projects. “Under John’s leadership, our athletics program meets the highest standards of academic integrity. He has played a vital role in elevating the stature of our flagship campus.”
McCutcheon, who came to UMass in 2004 from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, will leave his position Feb. 20. The university announced it will name an interim AD while a search committee finds a permanent replacement.