End of an Era

By Patrick Bohn, February 6, 2025

Susan Bassett ’79 announces planned retirement as Director of Athletics.

Bassett worked tirelessly to use athletics to put Ithaca College in the national spotlight, as evidenced by the 2023 Cortaca Jug, held at Yankee Stadium.

(Photo by Steve Hockstein)

After a dozen years leading the Ithaca College Athletics Department, Associate Vice President and Director of Intercollegiate Athletics and Campus Recreation Susan Bassett ’79 announced that she plans to retire following the 2024-25 academic year.

Bassett spent a total of 45 years in intercollegiate athletics in both coaching and administration. She returned to South Hill in 2013, eight years after her induction into the Ithaca College Athletic Hall of Fame as a coach and administrator. She joined Ithaca College after serving as Director of Athletics at both Carnegie Mellon University and William Smith College.

“Finishing my career where it all began, Ithaca College, is a gift beyond any words I could summon,” she said.

‘The road taken’ brought me to Ithaca College in 1975 where theory, practice and performance provided an operating framework for my future career. Looking back, I feel gratitude for every day, for the many opportunities offered and for the wide range of people I have coached, mentored, and collaborated with. My life has been enriched through meaningful connections made with so many wonderful people.”

Director of Athletics Susan Bassett '79

“Susan Bassett is a pioneer and an absolute treasure in the world of college athletics,” said Ithaca College President La Jerne Terry Cornish. “She is an inspiring role model to countless student-athletes, many of whom she coached to championship seasons, and she has been recognized nationally by her peers for elevating entire athletic programs at three different institutions. Here at Ithaca College, Susan was an inspiration to the entire campus from the very beginning of her collegiate career as an undergraduate student.”

Throughout her time at IC, Bassett has served as a transformative force for Bomber athletics and the college as a whole.

Her most recent accomplishments include the addition of women’s wrestling as a new varsity sport, as well as spearheading fundraising efforts for facility additions and improvements. The installation of a new outdoor track and field facility will begin in April 2025, and the creation of Bertino Field at Butterfield Stadium, highlighted by a brand-new synthetic playing surface and lights, was completed in 2023. These facilities will not only boost athletic recruiting efforts but allow for campus and community use.

Bassett spearheaded fundraising efforts that brought significant upgrades to IC athletic facilities, including a synthetic playing surface and lights at Butterfield Stadium, which was celebrated at a ribbon cutting with Monica Bertino Wooden '81 and President Cornish.

(Photo courtesy of Ithaca College athletic communications)

She has worked tirelessly throughout her career to put Ithaca College on the national stage. In 2019, Ithaca played the 61st Cortaca Jug football game at MetLife Stadium before an NCAA Division III-record crowd of 45,161 fans. In 2022, the Cortaca Jug returned to New York City, this time at Yankee Stadium with 40,232 fans in attendance.

During the 2017-18 academic year, Ithaca College accepted an invitation to join the Liberty League after spending more than 20 years as a founding member of the Empire 8 Conference. The transition to the Liberty League positioned Ithaca alongside both peer academic institutions and longtime athletic rivals such as Union College, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, and the University of Rochester.

During Bassett's tenure, more than 300 student-athletes earned all-American honors, and 13 won individual national championships. (Photo courtesy of Ithaca College athletic communications)

Bassett also established the department’s Leadership Academy, created new full-time positions for strength and conditioning coaches, developed the Peak Performance Strategy and cultivated an environment to promote mental health awareness and proper nutrition for student-athletes.

In her first year, she oversaw the implementation of the school’s first-ever comprehensive athletic identity, inspiring program cohesion with the motto, “27 sports, one team.”

The Bomber faithful has seen Ithaca excel in the field of competition on her watch, as one of the best NCAA Division III programs in the country. The Bombers have captured dozens of conference titles and crowned over 300 All-Americans. A total of 13 student-athletes have won more than two dozen individual national championships during her tenure.

“What a journey it has been. With credit to Robert Frost, ‘the road taken’ brought me to Ithaca College in 1975 where theory, practice and performance provided an operating framework for my future career,” said Bassett. “Looking back, I feel gratitude for every day, for the many opportunities offered and for the wide range of people I have coached, mentored, and collaborated with. My life has been enriched through meaningful connections made with so many wonderful people.”

She began her career as head swimming and diving coach and assistant lacrosse and field hockey coach at William Smith and was later named the head men's and women's swimming coach at Union College. In 2021, she was selected by the College Swimming Coaches Association of America as one of the 100 Greatest College Swimming & Diving Coaches of the past 100 years.

A national search will take place over the spring semester with the anticipation of appointing a new athletics director by July 1.