Vaughn Williams, senior associate athletics director at Boston College, has been named the director of athletics at Bentley.
He will begin his new role in mid-September.
Williams, a University of Massachusetts graduate who brings 27 years of extensive athletic administration leadership with him, becomes only the third athletics director in the university’s history and follows Robert DeFelice, who has led Bentley athletics since 1991. DeFelice will remain at Bentley as baseball coach.
“Today begins a new era for Bentley University athletics,” said Bentley VP for student affairs J. Andrew Shepardson in a statement. “Bentley’s vision for athletics is to boldly pursue excellence in competition while building pride and tradition for our entire community, and Vaughn Williams is the leader to help us achieve that vision. I am excited to partner with Vaughn in the continued development of our student-athletes as leaders inside and outside the classroom.”
At Bentley, Williams will oversee a program that recently completed a new strategic plan, based on input from across the university, which sets out the mission, vision and values for Bentley Athletics for the next five years.
“I want to thank Vice President Shepardson for entrusting me with the opportunity to lead Bentley athletics into the future,” said Williams. “This is a tremendous opportunity in an unprecedented time to build on the university’s commitment to providing student-athletes with an experience that leads them to life-long success. I’m looking forward to serving Bentley student-athletes and helping them to be a force in everything they do, on and off the playing fields.”
Williams was at BC since 2017, following six years as the director of athletics at Kennesaw State. It was his second tour of duty with the Eagles, where he was the assistant athletic director for operations and facilities from 1998 to 2004.
In 2017, Williams was recognized by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) Football Championship Subdivision Under Armour Athletics Director of the Year award. He has served on the NCAA Division I Council, the NCAA Legislative Committee, the NCAA Football Rules Committee and the NIT Men’s Basketball Selection Committee, and is currently a member of the Hockey East Executive Committee.
Prior to Kennesaw State, Williams was an associate athletics director at Connecticut (2004-11), associate athletics director for business affairs/operations at Toledo (1996-98) and the director of finance at Utah (1994-96).
Williams received his Bachelor of Science degree in sports management in 1992 from UMass, where he played football, and his Master of Arts from BC’s Woods College of Advancing Studies in 2002.
