Lynne Robinson emailed Anna Nagro earlier this school year, asking the softball coach to stop by her office. The Mount St. Mary’s director of athletics rarely resorted to such formalities – her door was always open to coaches and players – so Nagro’s mind raced. Was she in trouble?
Far from it.
Robinson was seeing coaches one by one to personally tell them she planned to retire in August, capping a 42-year career at the Catholic university in Emmitsburg during which she touched countless lives throughout the athletic department.
“Different former student-athletes and alumni have been reaching out to me,” Robinson said in a recent interview. “It’s been really great. And with each one of them, special memories for me.”
The Mount is in Robinson’s blood. Her father was Jim Phelan, the school’s illustrious basketball coach who patrolled the sidelines from 1954 to 2003 and won 830 games. She was a three-sport athlete there in the 1970s and coached the women’s track and cross country teams (1980-88) before being promoted to assistant athletic director.
Robinson, a parishioner of St. Joseph in Emmitsburg, succeeded Harold “Chappy” Menninger as AD in 2007. The university has added eight varsity sports programs since then, and most recently, Robinson guided the university’s transition from the Northeast Conference to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC).
“Her dad is obviously such a legend at the Mount, but I feel like in her own way she’s just as much of a legend,” Nagro said.
The MAAC move represented a step up in competition, but Nagro and the softball team thrived. A 13-game winning streak late in the season propelled the Mountaineers to a 32-19 record, the best in program history.
But wins and losses weren’t Robinson’s chief mission, nor was generating revenue.
“Her lasting impression is 100 percent going to be how she treated people and how she made people feel,” Nagro said. “That’s the ultimate rule, right, especially at a Catholic school: Treat others the way that you want to be treated.”
A passionate, fiery coach, Nagro was hired in her 20s and recalled that during her first season – the very first weekend of conference play – she was thrown out of a game. She had to meet with Robinson that Monday to explain what happened, and found her to be more than supportive. Over time, Robinson became more mentor than boss.
“I grew up at the Mount,” Nagro said, “so I feel like with her leadership she would challenge me to be better in situations like that. Never criticized me for it, never put you down for it, but if anything showed me that there were other ways to do things.”
Robinson had climbed the ranks in the athletic department, serving in roles that included compliance and recruiting coordinator, senior women’s administrator and associate AD. She helped establish the Student-Athlete Advisory Council, which provided students with leadership development opportunities and a voice in improvements around the department.
Only 15 percent of Division I athletic directors in 2022 were women, according to the NCAA’s demographics report. The percentage was far smaller when Robinson ascended to the role in 2007. She can still remember her first Northeast Conference ADs meeting and feeling thankful she was not the only woman in the room.
“Having colleagues and friends in similar roles, it’s invaluable to have,” Robinson said. “To gain their perspectives, to talk about topics and things that go on on their campus, we can relate.”
Robinson’s career path has impressed her contemporaries, such as Loyola University Maryland director of athletics Donna Woodruff.
“Congratulations to my colleague just down the road who dedicated her entire career to supporting the student-athlete experience and growing the athletics offerings at Mount St. Mary’s,” Woodruff said in a statement to the Catholic Review. “To be both successful and impactful as a student-athlete, coach and administrator at one institution is beyond impressive. I wish Lynne all the joy she deserves as she enters retirement and I thank her immensely for all she has given to our profession.”
Robinson isn’t going to disappear. She’ll still live in Emmitsburg and attend Mount’s games. And her legacy there will last for generations of athletes to come.
“I hope that they remember that I cared about the student-athletes as individuals, … that when they look back on their career at the Mount, that we made a difference,” she said. “That the Mount made a difference, that I made a difference and that they thrived during their experience here at the university.”
Read More Sports
Copyright © 2023 Catholic Review Media
