LATROBE, Pa. (April 25) – After leading the Saint Vincent College athletic department for more than four decades, Father Myron Kirsch, O.S.B., has announced his retirement as athletic director.

Father Myron has served as athletic director of his alma mater since 1983, overseeing the department during a period of unparalleled growth and prosperity while serving as a trusted leader, mentor and friend to hundreds of coaches and thousands of Saint Vincent College student-athletes.

Saint Vincent Archabbot Marin de Porres Bartel, O.S.B., commented on Father Myron's steadfastness and unwavering to his responsibilities over two generations of students.

"The Holy Rule of Saint Benedict admonishes us that 'idleness is the enemy of the soul… when they live by the labor of their hands, as our fathers and the apostles did, then they are really monks," said Archabbot Martin. "By this standard, Father Myron is a 'real monk' as evidenced by his faithful attentiveness to every detail of athletic administration during his long tenure."

"Father Myron is an avid athlete, sports strategist and enthusiast," said Saint Vincent College President Father Paul Taylor, O.S.B. "Most of all, he is a fierce advocate for each and every student-athlete at Saint Vincent College. We are all grateful and have all benefited from his good and faithful service."

Named athletic director in 1983 upon Saint Vincent College's transition from a male-only school to a coeducational institution, Father Myron presided over the successful introduction of female sports to the College's varsity offerings, with the additions of women's basketball and tennis in 1983 and softball and volleyball in 1985. 

Since then, the department has continued to grow, and currently sponsors 25 varsity sports and supports more than 600 student-athletes.

Along with the overall growth of the department, Father Myron has also presided over a number of major athletic facility upgrades, the biggest coming in 2003, with the substantial renovation and expansion of the then-Kennedy Hall into the Robert S. Carey Center. The ambitious project more than doubled the number of locker rooms, added state-of-the-art fitness and athletic training facilities, and included a complete renovation of the varsity gymnasium and the construction of more than a dozen offices for the coaching staff and athletic department personnel. More than 20 years after its construction, the Carey Center remains one of the premiere small college athletic facilities in the region.

In 2007, Father Myron oversaw the return of football to Saint Vincent as a varsity sport, and with that, the construction of Chuck Noll Field, a natural grass, 1,200-seat stadium that continues to serve in the fall as the home of Bearcat football and in the summer, the Pittsburgh Steelers, who have called Saint Vincent College their summer training camp home since 1967.

In addition to the Carey Center and Chuck Noll Field, Father Myron presided over the construction of the College's first artificial turf field in 2008, and its subsequent renovation and transformation into the current UPMC Field in 2017, as well as a substantial renovation to the baseball field in 1998 and the construction of a new softball field in 2003.

Twenty-three years after Saint Vincent's addition of women's sports, Father Myron guided the athletic department through another transformation, as Bearcat athletics made the move from the NAIA and the American Mideast Conference to NCAA Division III and the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) in 2006. Following a successful four-year period as a provisional NCAA Division III and PAC member, the College was officially accepted as a full member for the 2010-11 academic year.

Bearcat athletics achieved a wealth of success across the board at both the NAIA and NCAA Division III levels during Father Myron's tenure. At both levels, the men's and women's basketball teams have been perennial powers, as they combined to make 15 trips to the NAIA National Tournament before winning a combined seven PAC championships and making seven trips to nationals over the past 11 seasons, with the men's team capturing four straight PAC titles between 2011-15 and the women winning the league in 2019, 2021 and 2023.

The men's cross country team has captured eight PAC team titles over the past 12 years, while the softball team has won two PAC titles and picked up arguably the biggest win in school history with an upset of the nation's top-ranked team at the 2016 NCAA National Championship. Women's volleyball, baseball, and men's soccer each made NAIA postseason appearances, while men's and women's lacrosse, men's golf and women's tennis have won conference titles at the Division III level, and men's swimming and track and field have each produced multiple NCAA Division III All-Americans.    

Along with athletic director, Father Myron has held a number of roles across the Saint Vincent community throughout his tenure. He was a faculty member for more than 40 years, teaching accounting and business administration, while serving as dean of students from 1984-94 and a residence hall moderator from 1979-84. Prior to assuming the role of athletic director, he was assistant baseball coach from 1980-83.

A native of Nicktown, Pennsylvania, Father Myron graduated from Saint Vincent College in 1969 with a bachelor's degree in philosophy. He received a master of divinity degree from Saint Vincent Seminary in 1973, and a master of business administration degree from Loyola University in Chicago in 1977. He was ordained a priest in Saint Vincent Archabbey Basilica on May 12, 1973, and served as weekend assistant at St. John (Summerhill, Pa.) and Immaculate Conception (New Germany, Pa.) parishes from 1994-2021.  

Saint Vincent College chief operating officer and executive vice president Dr. Jeff Mallory will assume the role of athletic director until Father Myron's successor is chosen through a national search.