PRINCETON, N.J. (AP) - Mollie Marcoux has been hired as Princeton’s athletic director, leaving her job as a sports management executive and returning to the school where she starred in two sports.
She succeeds Gary Walters, who said last fall he would be retiring after 20 years. Marcoux is Princeton’s first female athletic director since the position was first held in 1941.
For the past 19 years, Marcoux worked at Chelsea Piers Management, which owns sports complexes in New York and Connecticut.
Marcoux on Tuesday called her appointment the “most special honor that has ever been given to me.” She graduated in 1991 from Princeton, where she was All-Ivy in soccer and ice hockey.
Princeton President Christopher Eisgruber is confident Marcoux will build on Princeton’s “traditions and values and provide strong leadership.”
Princeton football coach Bob Surace describes her as the “absolute best.” He adds: “Whatever she does she’s successful. We could not have gotten a more qualified person.”
“I have to say it is such a pleasure to be back on campus,” Marcoux said. “This is just the most special honor that has ever been given to me. Thank you for affording me this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
“Re-engaging with the Princeton community throughout this process has been both motivating and humbling.”
Marcoux was the Ivy League rookie of the year in 1988 and was first-team all-league four times. In 1999, she was selected to the Ivy League’s Silver Anniversary ice hockey team.
Upon graduation she was the school’s all-time leading scorer and still ranks first in most goals in a season (35).
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