Salem State University women's basketball coach Tim Shea isn't the sentimental type.
He's always been a no-nonsense guy. He even describes his coaching style as "businesslike."
Yet when word got out recently that he would step down as the Vikings head coach following the end of this season, capping an incomparable 30-year run, the reaction was swift and rather sentimental in some cases. And it took the 60-year-old Shea completely by surprise.
"The e-mails started coming in from some of my former players," said Shea, "and it kind of made me sit back and say 'Wow.' You didn't think you had that kind of effect on all those players.
"I heard from some former players who, you know, had butted heads with me at some point. I kept saying, 'I can't believe they're reacting the way they are.' In that sense, I was taken aback."
Shea won't be leaving school property and walking off into the sunset at the end of the season, though. He's staying aboard as the university's athletic director, a job he plans on retaining for another two or three years. It's just that he's passing the coaching baton to one of his young assistants, Michelle (Gosselin) Cunningham, who played for Shea's last Division 3 NCAA tourney qualifying team in 2007-08.
Shea impacted a lot of young women's lives in his three decades as the school's coach. He also had enormous success between the lines.
His legacy? He recruited with the best of them, coached with the best of them and won a lot more than the vast majority of them.
He's the only coach in history to have steered a New England team to a national championship in the Division 3 women's ranks. That was the 1985-86 team, which posted a 29-1 record. Heading into this season, Shea was the third all-time winningest coach in Division 3 NCAA annals with a record of 646-157, good for a .787 winning percentage.
Highlighting his consistency, Shea's Salem State teams made the NCAA tourney 24 times in a 26-year stretch, including 14 times in a row from 1993-2006. His teams won 20 or more games on 23 occasions. And Shea's Vikings absolutely owned the MASCAC (Mass. State College Athletic Conference), winning the regular season and /or conference tournament title a combined 38 times.
"The national championship stands out because we did it with local kids," said Shea. "Evie Oquendo, Beth Kapnis and Holly Brennan were from Salem, Janet Miller came from Swampscott and Elaine Burns was from North Reading. The fact that we were able to take local kids and compete at the national level was pretty unbelievable.
"Still, I think the number that kind of hits me is 24. To have 24 (NCAA tourney) bids in 26 years tells you a lot about the kind of players we were able to get. We had so many great players over the years and it made things easier for me."
This current campaign has been anything but easy. Salem State is 3-12, which is highly uncharacteristic for a Shea team (the Vikings went 18-8 last season), but it's convinced him that he's made the right decision to leave at the end of the season. He feels he's spread himself too thin as an athletic director/head coach, and he also sees a bright coaching prospect in Cunningham, who came aboard this season after working as an assistant at Anna Maria College last winter and has made a strong impression at SSU.
"We're announcing it now because I don't want to be sitting in front of our top recruits and giving them the impression that I'm going to be there next year," said Shea. "The athletic director's duties have been interfering with my coaching duties, and it's just not fair to the players we're in the process of recruiting.
"Secondly, we have a young lady (in Cunningham) who's ready to be a head coach, as young as she is. Michelle is not a yes person; she offers her opinion and speaks to the players without any prodding. She knows her stuff and fits right into what we want to keep doing here."
Prior to turning Salem State into one of the top women's basketball programs in the country, Shea established himself as an outstanding young coach at Salem High, where he guided the Witches to a 70-3 record from 1979-81. His 1980 Salem High team captured the Division 1 state championship with a 27-0 record.
"I remember coming over to Salem State and I think I was one of two applicants (for the head coaching job)," recalled Shea. "It wasn't exactly a hot position, and I took a $1,500 pay cut when I quit teaching in Salem and became an administrator (at Salem State) in 1985. But it was a great opportunity and I had the support of (Salem State presidents) James Amsler, Nancy Harrington and Patricia Maguire Meservey over the years."
Meservey issued a statement yesterday after it was publicly announced that Shea would be giving up the head coaching reins.
"With the wonderful accomplishments of an NCAA championship and numerous MASCAC (titles), I am most appreciative of (Shea's) commitment to emphasize the student in student-athlete and his mentoring of hundreds of talented women over the past three decades as our head coach," said Meservey.
Although he's been completely immersed in coaching for close to 35 years, Shea doesn't think he'll miss it next year. He's still going to be joined at the hip with Salem State.
It's more than enough.
"I hit the wall as a coach," said Shea, who played at Salem High and Assumption College before getting into teaching and coaching. "It's time. I actually feel good about it. I don't think I'll be second guessing myself at all. I've been getting a kick out of all the atheltic director's responsibilities. I'm going to lend my support to all the programs and help them grow."
THE TIM SHEA FILE
Number of seasons at Salem State: 30
Overall record: 649-169
Historical ranking: Third winningest all-time record among Division 3 women's coaches
Division 3 NCAA tourney appearances: 24
National championship: 1985-86 season with a 29-1 record
Singular accomplishment: The only coach to ever direct a New England women's team to the Division 3 national championship.
MASCAC Conference titles (regular season and conference tourney): 38
Final Four appearances: 4
20-win seasons: 23
Number of All-Americans on Shea's watch: 9
Previous coaching record at Salem High: 70-3, including 27-0 with a Division 1 state title in 1980
