The Division II Athletics Administrators Association (D2 ADA) has selected Dr. Sue Willey (University of Indianapolis) and Matt Bassett (Le Moyne Faculty) as the 2023 Life time Accomplishment Award recipients. The Lifetime Achievement Award is given to athletics directors who have exemplified superior accomplishment throughout their job at the Division II amount.
“Just one of the biggest blessings of serving as a D2 ADA Officer is taking part on the D2 ADA Life span Achievement Award range committee and obtaining the unique privilege of notifying the recipients of this prestigious award. The spouse and children of Matt Bassett and the whole Le Moyne group had been elated to listen to that Matt would be regarded posthumously provided his the latest passing though Sue Willey was further than honored, humbled, and exceptionally appreciative of this exclusive recognition from her peers,” said D2 ADA President and Lenoir-Rhyne University Vice President for Athletics, Kim Pate. “Each of the recipients for this year’s award are deserving of this special recognition for their unmatched contributions of support, management, and the effects they experienced on innumerable scholar-athletes, coaches, and the broader Division II membership.”
Matt Bassett

A indigenous of Clifton Park, New York, Matt Bassett graduated from Excelsior Higher education in 1986 with a bachelor’s diploma in sociology. He gained a master’s degree in bodily training from Syracuse College in 1989 and a master’s degree in increased schooling administration from the University at Albany in 1991. He also graduated from the Athletics Management Institute in January 2006.
Bassett commenced his qualified occupation in athletics as a men’s basketball coach. He was a member of the Syracuse College personnel that advanced to the 1987 Ultimate Four, served as the head coach at Green Mountain College for four a long time, and was an assistant mentor and assistant director of athletics for student solutions for seven a long time at Quinnipiac University. He then joined Binghamton University in 1997 as the associate director of intercollegiate athletics and was elevated to senior associate director in 1999.
Amongst Bassett’s most acknowledged accomplishments was the improvement of a deeply intentional, and shared mission-based mostly athletics culture program, “Inside of the ‘L’ – a distinctly Jesuit technique to intercollegiate athletics at Le Moyne College.” The ‘Inside the L’ plan has been given the two nationwide and intercontinental acclaim culminating in an invitation from the Vatican in Oct of 2016 the place Bassett represented Le Moyne at the first-at any time World wide Meeting of Activity and Faith – “Activity at the Support of Humanity.” Bassett was the only NCAA athletics director to be invited to the worldwide summit, which involved 150 leaders from around the entire world to think about the function of sport in the formation of religion. For his ongoing efforts to progress Jesuit values and mission-centered programming, Bassett was recognized in 2012 with Le Moyne’s Ignatian Mission Award.
All through his tenure, Bassett has provided leadership at the higher education, conference, and nationwide concentrations. He served as the second vice president and treasurer for the Division II Athletics Administrators Association and served on the Board of Administrators from 2013 till his retirement in 2019. He served as chair of the NCAA Division II Diploma Completion Committee from 2014-18 and acted as a mentor in the D2 ADA Mentoring Plan. He served the Northeast 10 Convention (NE10) on the Government Officers Committee between 2011 and 2017 and held the position of chair from 2012-16. Bassett held other positions in just the NE10 Convention governance structure, together with membership on the Finance Committee, the Hall of Fame Committee, and as chair of the Promoting and Branding Committee.
During Bassett’s tenure foremost the department, the Dolphins gained four nationwide championships and 15 NE10 Meeting Championships in eight various sporting activities. Concerning 2016 and 2019, the Dolphins experienced a lot more university student-athletes, and extra teams, make their way into NCAA championships than through any other a few-year time period in the College’s heritage.
All through his time on the Heights, he also spearheaded a facility expansion and modernization initiative that resulted in the improvement of a $3.2 million turf complex, new workforce rooms for all women’s sports activities, an athletics toughness and conditioning facility, an administrative suite, a recently-designed condition-of-the-art softball complicated, and a renovation of the Le Moyne Situations Centre, the house of the Dolphins’ two basketball plans and volleyball program.
Dr. Sue Willey

A native of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Dr. Sue Willey attained a Bachelor of Science in Physical Education and learning from the College of Indianapolis (UIndy) in 1975. In 1977, Willey went on to receive her Grasp of Science in Bodily Training Teaching and Coaching from Indiana College (IU). In 1992 she gained her doctorate in Sporting activities Administration and Higher Schooling from IU. She was an associate professor of wellbeing and actual physical education and learning at UIndy and has taught in the Department of Kinesiology for nearly 3 many years, with a unique instructing desire in activity ethics.
A 1993 inductee into the UIndy Athletics Corridor of Fame, Dr. Willey earned an outstanding 19 letters and 11 MVP awards in her 4-year career. She was the “Female Athlete of the Year” from 1972-75. She started her coaching vocation at her alma mater soon after graduating cum laude from UIndy in 1975. The versatile Willey coached for 23 yrs at UIndy, directing 43 distinct teams in 5 sporting activities. She was the GLVC Softball Coach of the Year in 1989, and her softball teams gained nationwide tutorial honors in 1996 and 1997.
From 2002-06, Dr. Willey served on the highest NCAA Committee accessible to athletics directors, the NCAA Division II Management Council, and served as chair of the Council in 2004. Her Administration Council assignments bundled the DII Spending budget and Finance Committee, Scholar-Athlete Reinstatement Committee, Administration Council Identity Subcommittee, Championships Regionalization Undertaking Power, Venture Staff to Critique Difficulties Linked to Diversity, and the Championships Eligibility Task Staff. In addition, from 2016-20 she was a portion of the NCAA DII Championships Committee.
Dr. Willey was selected as the 2005 Division II Administrator of the Calendar year by Women Leaders in College or university Athletics, previously the Nationwide Association of Collegiate Women of all ages Athletics Administrators (NACWAA). She was also chosen as the 2004 Pathfinder Award winner, presented in recognition of her powerful motivation to present top quality athletics and leadership opportunities for ladies and women of all ages in the condition of Indiana. Dr. Willey served a 4-calendar year (2006-10) term on each the Ladies Leaders in University Sports activities Government Board and the DII Nominating Committee and served a four-12 months stint on the NCAA Division II Membership Committee. She is also a graduate of the Females Leaders in Faculty Athletics Institute for Athletic Executives. Dr. Willey was named 2009-10 and 2012-13 Underneath Armour Division II Athletics Director of the Yr (ADOY).
Dr. Willey has proudly solid a path for ladies in athletics from the moment she was hired in 1975. Observing firsthand how the roles of females have changed in the market all through her job, she has remained at the forefront of the struggle for equivalent option in sports activities. She broke obstacles when she turned the University’s initial feminine director of athletics and a single of the initially women to be a member of the President’s Cabinet. Dr. Willey proven UIndy as 1 of the leading general athletics systems in NCAA Division II. In her tenure, the Greyhounds grew to become common qualifiers for the NCAA postseason play and a steady menace for meeting, regional and nationwide championships.
The Life time Achievement Award is the most prestigious award offered by the D2 ADA. To be suitable for this award, a particular person have to be at the very least 60 a long time old, or have used a minimum of 25 years in collegiate athletics, with most of people many years as an athletics director. The honoree must be retired or no for a longer period serving as an energetic athletics director. The Life span Achievement Award recognizes athletics directors who, above the study course of his/her vocation, have manufactured an exemplary contribution to Division II athletics and the scholar-athlete working experience.
About D2 ADA: The D2 ADA is the very first group of its variety to offer academic and networking chances improvement of suitable operating expectations and ethics and institution of the general prestige and understanding of the profession of Division II athletics administrators. For far more info about the D2 ADA, make sure you stop by www.div2ada.com. The D2 ADA is administered by the Countrywide Association of Collegiate Administrators of Athletics (NACDA), which is in its 58th yr. For a lot more info on NACDA and the 18 professional associations that slide under its umbrella, be sure to go to www.nacda.com.

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