Randolph-Macon Athletics Director Denis Kanach has spent the past four decades - roughly two-thirds of his life - in and around the arena of intercollegiate sports.
Now, he says, it is time to hand the ball to someone else.
Kanach, who has served as the Yellow Jackets' AD since 2004, said yesterday he intends to step down at the end of the academic year.
"Virtually everything I've done for the past 40 or so years, I've done with my career in mind," said Kanach, 62. "Now it's time to do something for me and my family. I want to be able to spend time with my wife and my [four adult] sons and my [six] grandchildren while I'm still healthy enough to do it. I'm very much looking forward to that."
Kanach said he began to reassess his priorities after he and his roommates from Manhattan College gathered for "a Big Chill reunion" last summer.
"Of all of us, I was the only one who wasn't retired. Everyone was looking at me like, 'What in the world is wrong with you?'"
Much was right about Randolph-Macon's athletics programs in Kanach's six years in Ashland. Under his guidance, the Yellow Jackets achieved consistent and at times significant success. Among the highlights:
•Appearances in the NCAA Division III Final Four by the women's (2005) and men's (2010) basketball teams;
•The selection of R-MC basketball player Megan Silva as the Division III female athlete of the year (2006);
•Nine ODAC championships in six sports.
The achievement of which he is most pleased, however, is one that occurred off the field. Kanach said Randolph-Macon has integrated athletics and academics "about as well as it can be done, in my opinion."He said he is proud of the team championships and individual accolades earned by R-MC's athletes. But he is no less proud that "when I walk into a faculty meeting - and yes, I attend faculty meetings - I can do it with a clear conscience. I don't have to avoid eye contact with anyone."
Women's basketball coach Carroll LaHaye served on the search committee that hired Kanach from Georgetown University in 2004. Kanach, she said, "has done some amazing things for this department in a few very short years."
LaHaye, called Kanach "a coach's AD. He's always there if you need him, but he lets you do your job the way you think it ought to be done."
When Kanach informed her of his decision to step down, LaHaye said, "My first reaction was purely and completely selfish. I said, 'Oh, no. You can't.'"
R-MC officials said the process of selecting a replacement will begin soon.
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