Athletic Director Bruce Delventhal to Retire in January

July 29, 2015

Following a decade of service to SUNY Plattsburgh as the Cardinals’ director of athletics, Bruce Delventhal has announced his decision to retire on Jan.1, 2016.

“It has been an honor to be the athletic director at SUNY Plattsburgh for the past 10 years,” Delventhal said. “I have been fortunate to work with a terrific coaching staff and wonderful student-athletes who have represented their teams, the college and the community in the very best possible manner. It is impossible to properly express my thanks and admiration for the efforts of our students and their coaches. My pride in SUNY Plattsburgh intercollegiate athletics is beyond words.”

Delventhal has guided the SUNY Plattsburgh athletics department into one of the premier NCAA Division III programs in the nation. Under his leadership, the Cardinals have enjoyed unparalleled success at the conference, regional and national levels. Of particular note is the Cardinals’ women’s ice hockey program, which has won a total of four national championships (2007, 2008, 2014, 2015) – a mark no other NCAA Division III women’s hockey program has reached.

In total, 46 teams have appeared in various NCAA championships since Delventhal came to Plattsburgh. Additionally, SUNY Plattsburgh student-athletes have earned scores of All-American, All-Region and All-Conference honors through the course of Delventhal’s SUNY Plattsburgh career.

“One of the great pleasures of my job at the college over the last 10 years has been working with Bruce,” said SUNY Plattsburgh President Dr. John Ettling. “He has led a superb coaching staff in a manner to make any college president proud. Under Bruce's guidance our athletic programs have been clean, well run, successful in competition, and always mindful of their fundamental purpose: to mold character and guide young men and women toward the achievement of their academic goals.”

In addition to the on-field accolades of SUNY Plattsburgh’s student-athletes during Delventhal’s time as director, the grade-point average of the student-athletes has been higher than that of the general student population.

“I have greatly enjoyed working with Bruce as a colleague since his arrival on campus,” said SUNY Plattsburgh’s Vice President for Student Affairs Bryan Hartman. “He is a great advocate for our athletic program. During his tenure, athletics saw many positive changes through several facility upgrades and increased sponsorships. His unwavering support for athletes and coaches has manifested itself through many team and individual successes both on and off the field/court. Bruce sets the tone for the entire department in terms of serving the local community.”

A national search for Delventhal’s replacement will begin early in the upcoming fall semester, Hartman said.

Delventhal was responsible for creating the Friends of Plattsburgh State Athletics – the fundraising sector of the department – and oversaw numerous facility renovations which included a $2.1 million facelift for the Ronald B. Stafford Ice Arena in 2008 and the installment of three LED video panels, which replaced the scoreboard and provided in-house video capabilities at the same facility, before the 2012-13 season.

His involvement in collegiate athletics goes well beyond SUNY Plattsburgh. He is currently the secretary/treasurer for the American Hockey Coaches Association (AHCA) – a position he has held since 1988. Delventhal also serves as a member of the NCAA Men’s Ice Hockey Rules Committee and from 2009-13 sat on the NCAA Men’s Ice Hockey Championship Committee. In January 2015, Delventhal received the John “Snooks” Kelley Founders Award from the AHCA for having contributed to the overall growth and development of the sport of ice hockey in the United States.

A graduate of Hamilton College and a holder of a master’s degree from Princeton Seminary, Delventhal served as the head coach of two NCAA men’s ice hockey squads before becoming SUNY Plattsburgh’s director of athletics. He held head coaching appointments at Union (N.Y.), the Rochester Institute of Technology and was an assistant coach at Princeton. In 1984-85, he led RIT on a postseason run which culminated in a 5-1 triumph over Bemidji State for the program’s second national championship.

Upon the conclusion of his coaching career, and directly before he occupied the center seat of Cardinal athletics, Delventhal spent eight years working as the North America sales manager for the fishing tackle division of Yo-Zuri and Seaguar – a pair of Japanese companies.

“I want to thank all of our SUNY Plattsburgh fans and the local business community for their outstanding support and friendship,” Delventhal said. “The members of the college community at all levels have been a pleasure to work with and I will miss them. I am very confident that there is not an athletic director within SUNY who has received and enjoyed the amount of support and friendship that I have during my tenure. I do believe that once a Cardinal always a Cardinal.”