Dean, Yale’s deputy director of athletics, retires
Ask Keith Allain to summarize Wayne Dean’s impact on Yale hockey and he’ll tell you no current college administrator does more for the game.
Dean, Yale’s deputy director of athletics, retired last week after a 34-year career. His tireless efforts behind the scenes garnered no headlines but helped Yale become one of the country’s most prominent hockey powerhouses.
“It would be impossible to overstate the value Wayne Dean added to the Yale hockey program,” said Allain, men’s coach since 2006. “He had a national vision for the program before it became nationally relevant. There is no chance we reach the NCAA tournament seven times and win the national title in 2013 without his contribution.”
In addition to his role at Yale, Dean represented the school by serving as a national administrator in some of college hockey’s
most prestigious positions.
He was a member of the NCAA men’s hockey championship committee for years, including a one-year stint as chairman in 200405. He’s also been co-director of the women’s Frozen Four, worked on the tournament organizing committee of the men’s Frozen Four and five times was co-director of the group that landed an NCAA men’s regional at Bridgeport’s Webster Bank Arena.
Next month he’ll complete a four-year term as chairman of the NCAA hockey rules committee.
He earned national respect for his efforts to improve and modernize the college game, which is in a never-ending battle to secure talented teen-aged players from international Major Junior or professional leagues.
At Yale, he went above and beyond the call of duty to ensure coaches and players were set up for success.
But Dean, 65, was just as comfortable getting his hands dirty at Ingalls Rink.
A few years back, when a television crew broadcasting that evening’s hockey game told him their red TV timeout indicator light was malfunctioning, Dean drove to Home Depot. He found all the necessary parts, including a large red bulb he’d found in the Christmas decoration clearance rack, then returned to the rink to assemble and wire a makeshift light himself.
Any problem large or small, from issues with the rink’s scoreboard to the video replay system to shattered panes of glass, Dean was usually on the scene to expedite the repair process.
His work ethic was second to none. And a friendly demeanor and welcoming personality made him universally beloved by seemingly all.
“A gentleman first and extremely passionate about his profession,” said Jamie Weir Baldwin, the director of athletic communications at Michigan State, via Twitter. “A good human through and through.”
Steve Bennett recalled the time his younger brother, Anthony Day, was selected for a random drug test after Yale’s loss to Boston University in the 2015 NCAA tournament, a game played in Manchester, New Hampshire.
“My brother’s urine was diluted and he couldn’t provide a sample,” Bennett said. “This went on for hours and the bus with the rest of the team left. Wayne stayed with my brother and drove him to the bus 100 miles down the road. Sure, someone had to stay with him. But his career had just ended. He couldn’t see his family. He was trapped in a closet in his sweat-soaked Under Armour trying to provide a sample to satisfy the NCAA. Dean was there for him. A small thing, maybe, but important to us.”
Dean also served as lead administrator for men’s and women’s golf, overseeing the Course at Yale and helping Yale land three NCAA golf regionals since 2004 with more secured in the next few years.
His work week never seemed to end, especially during hockey season, as he served as lead administrator for both the men’s and women’s programs at Yale in addition to his roles with ECAC Hockey, where he sat on the board of directors and was a past president, College Hockey Inc. and the NCAA.
There were ceaseless meetings and phone calls and daily trips from his campus office to Ingalls Rink to check on operations there.
On weekends, he’d arrive at the rink from his Westbrook home early in the afternoon to begin gameday preparations — which included pushing an old A&P shopping cart filled with video equipment from a ground level storage closet into a cramped elevator, up the steep concourse and into press boxes on each side of the arena.
Many nights he didn’t leave until well after midnight, waiting for the visiting team bus of the next night’s opponent to arrive at Ingalls and unload their equipment.
“Wayne had a true passion for college hockey,” said C.J. Marottolo, a longtime Yale assistant before taking over as head coach at Sacred Heart. “He was involved on so many levels always trying to make the game better. His guidance, levelheadedness and ability to make the game the most important piece of any decision always came to the forefront.”
Perhaps no one understood the importance of Dean’s presence and abilities more than Allain.
“He was the ultimate team player and the most respected hockey administrator in the country,” Allain said. “He’ll be missed by all of us who live and die Yale hockey.”