Nichols College Athletics

Charlyn Robert served her 17th and final year as the Director of Athletics at Nichols College in 2014-15. The 2008 Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Jostens Female Administrator of the Year, Robert took over the helm of the Nichols athletics department on November 9, 1998.
 
Under Robert’s leadership, Nichols won 11 Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) titles, a pair of ECAC Northeast Hockey titles, and hosted the 2011 NCAA DIII Field Hockey championship. The 2011-12 men’s tennis squad became the first program in school history to advance to the second round in the NCAA tournament following a 5-0 win over Marywood. Over the last two years, five programs – field hockey, men’s basketball, men’s golf, women’s tennis, and men’s soccer – advanced to the CCC Championship.
 
In 2014-15, the men’s basketball program experienced a record-breaking season as it won a program-record 23 games and advanced to the CCC Championship for the first time in history. On the ice, meanwhile, the top-seeded Bison won their second ECAC Northeast championship in six seasons and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. The academic year was capped off with a third-straight conference crown and NCAA tournament trip from the men’s tennis squad.
 
In 2010, the men’s soccer and women’s tennis teams won CCC titles for the first time in program history, and the men’s golf team added its third conference crown (2001, 2007). During Robert’s tenure, the men’s tennis team has been crowned CCC champion five times (2000, 2001, 2012, 2013, 2014) while the women’s soccer (2002) and field hockey (2009) programs have also claimed conference titles.
 
During the 2007-08 season, Nichols won the Worcester College Cup for the first time in the 10-year history of the trophy, awarded annually to the most successful varsity athletics program among eight colleges in Worcester County by the Worcester Telegram & Gazette. Since then, the Bison have posted a combined overall win percentage hovering around the .500 mark each year.
 
Robert helped oversee the construction of a new athletic center in 2000 and a new multi-purpose stadium, Michael J. Vendetti Field, in 2005. An advocate for women’s sports, Robert has added women’s lacrosse and women’s ice hockey as varsity sports. Nichols began sponsoring men’s and women’s cross country and men’s and women’s track & field as varsity programs last year.

A former member of the NCAA Division III Management Council, Robert also chaired the Membership and Student Legislative Relief Committees. She has served on NCAA sport committees and concluded her terms in field hockey and women’s lacrosse as the chair. Robert presently serves as the Chairperson for the Colleges of Worcester Consortium Directors of Athletics and is on the Advisory Board for the Woman’s LeadHERship Symposium for the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. She has been a member of the ECAC Field Hockey and Officiating Negotiating Committees and serves the CCC as the women’s basketball and SWA liaison.

The head field hockey coach at Union College (N.Y.) from 1983-96, Robert was named the New York Collegiate Female Coach of the Year in 1988. In addition, she coached at the Empire State Games from 1977-89. Robert guided the field hockey team at Nichols from 1996-2002, posting 62 victories during that span – the third highest total in school history.

A graduate of the State University of New York at Cortland with a Bachelor of Science degree in physical education, Robert went on to earn her Master of Science degree in sport management administration from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. She was a four-year player and captain in field hockey and lacrosse for the Red Dragons.