Marcoux ’91 Chosen as Next Athletic Director

Mollie Marcoux ’91, a sports and recreation executive and former two-sport athlete at Princeton, was introduced as the University’s next athletic director in a press conference at Jadwin Gym April 15. Marcoux, who will take the helm as the Ford Family Director of Athletics in August, will be the first woman to lead the department, which includes 38 men’s and women’s varsity teams. President Eisgruber ’83 made the announcement, hailing Marcoux’s 19 years of experience at Chelsea Piers Management in New York and Connecticut; her time as a coach and administrator at the Lawrenceville School; and her contributions as a student-athlete at Princeton, where she excelled in ice hockey and soccer and graduated cum laude from the history department. “She is an ideal leader for our athletics program,” Eisgruber said. “She understands, because she has lived it, the commitment that Princeton makes to ensure that the term scholar-athlete bears equal weight on both sides of the hyphen.” Marcoux said she was grateful for the “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to return to campus and lead a department that shaped her undergraduate experience. “I truly and passionately loved playing soccer and hockey for Princeton and being a student here,” she said. “Having the opportunity, every day, to engage with Princeton’s talented student-athletes and help them reach their goals is something that I never imagined.” Marcoux takes over a department that has been the Ivy League’s most successful in the last two decades, winning more than 200 Ivy League championships and 48 team or individual national titles under outgoing director Gary Walters ’67. Walters announced his plans to step down in September 2013. A committee of administrators, faculty, coaches, student-athletes, and alumni selected Marcoux as Walters’ successor after a seven-month search. Read more about Marcoux in the May 14 issue of PAW.