An interview with Dave Donovan '91

What sport(s) did you play at Brown?

I was on the men’s varsity soccer team.

Personally, what was your greatest sporting achievement (at Brown or later)?

Being honored as the only player in New Jersey history to be First Team All-State and Regional All-American three consecutive years and to be recognized as an All-American and NJ Player of the Year in my senior year at Columbia High School in Maplewood, NJ. I consider my greatest achievement after Brown--wife Sheila and my five children (Meghan 12, Will and Trey 10, Ryan 8, and Aidan 5).

How do you think the sports experience at Brown prepared you for the career you have today?

Curiously, being an athlete at Brown made me more interested in being a student. Brown successfully modeled students who were not only impressive athletes but athletes who were impressive students. In my case, it was Professor Mary Gluck’s European Intellectual History classes that turned me on to the history of ideas. I’m lucky to have been able to make a career out of teaching and coaching what I love.

Describe your career path since Brown and where you are now.

After graduating Brown in 1991, I accepted a position on the faculty of Delbarton School—an independent, college preparatory school for boys in northern New Jersey run by the monks of St. Mary’s Abbey. Two decades later, Delbarton remains my home and touchstone. I have the luxury of teaching and coaching very bright and talented student-athletes in an environment rich in spiritual tradition. Moreover, my work has allowed me to pursue more fully my academic studies—specifically, I earned my MA in Modern European Liberal Studies at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences as well as my M.Phil and Ph.D in Modern Culture and Literature at Drew University’s Caspersen School of Graduate Studies. Most of my work now is as the Dean of Admission and Director of Financial Aid at Delbarton, and I continue to be deeply involved in non-profit board work, most especially as the President of the Board of Trustees at The Willow School where my children attend.

Getting kids involved in sports at an early age is not really a recreational activity like it used to be. It's more of a business. Any advice for today's parents and their kids playing competitive sports? Any thoughts on "sports specialization" and what it means for kids and their parents?

Kids today feel pressured to specialize in a sport at an earlier age than when I grew up playing. There are of course many reasons for this. Unfortunately, more attention is paid to the college recruitment process and the magic 10,000 hour rule (the amount of time deemed necessary to be an expert in a given field of endeavor) than to the very real drawbacks associated with such massive investments of time and money in a single athletic pursuit--including player burnout, the proliferation of overuse injuries, and the health and opportunity costs associated with maintaining an unbalanced lifestyle. I think the Ivy League can lead the way here in the debate about balancing study and sports.

What is going on with your sports program at Brown today? What are the most notable differences from when you played there? Are you still connected with your team, teammates, coach, etc.?

I still follow Brown athletics closely and particularly enjoy following the men’s soccer program which continues to have tremendous success at the national level. This year they again qualified for the NCAA Division I tournament, losing in the Third Round but breaking into the National Top 25 again. The program is certainly in very capable hands under new coach Pat Laughlin. When you look at the legacy and statistics of the Brown athletic program generally--from the number of athletic teams fielded to the number of Academic All-Americans Brown produces annually—you can’t help but be proud and inspired by your alma mater. Go Bruins…