Rivers Appoints Bob Pipe Next Director of Athletics

 

“Bob will bring his expertise in coaching to the role of mentoring coaches across all of our programs and will continue to promote excellence in our programs at every level,” Parsons said. “In addition, his connections within the community and outside of it to those he works with will promote the school as a place where Excellence with Humanity is very much alive and guiding our athletic program into a very bright future.”

 

Pipe succeeds Jim McNally, who served as Director of Athletics from 1996-2016 and brought Pipe on as a member of the coaching staff in 1998. A Natick native, Pipe played soccer at Babson College and then semi-professionally for the Boston Storm before moving on to his coaching career with stops at Babson and Northeastern University.

 

After posting a 5-11-1 record in his first year, Pipe led the boys’ soccer team to three NEPSAC Championships in four years, highlighted by the program’s first Independent School League Championship and NEPSAC Class A Championship in 2001. Pipe then took the helm of the girls’ basketball program for the 1999-2000 season and has since elevated that program to one of the strongest in New England, winning three NEPSAC Championships in four years from 2008-2012.

 

“For 19 years Bob Pipe has modeled Excellence with Humanity in everything he’s done here at Rivers,” Parsons said. “An outstanding coach, Bob has nurtured teams through the years that exemplify the best of Rivers – teams that are highly competitive, deeply connected to one another, and representative of Rivers’ high standards of sportsmanship. He has competed for and won New England championships, but he has also worked patiently through ‘building years’ with his teams, developing each player’s potential along the way, no matter the team’s record or short-term prospects. In every season, Bob puts his players’ needs first and approaches everything he does with the same calm, supportive and open manner he employs everywhere he goes on campus.”

 

His teams have amassed an impressive 470-245-38 record with two ISL Championships and seven NEPSAC Championships. He has coached 47 student-athletes that have gone to play college sports and three that have gone on to play professionally.

 

“I am incredibly grateful to be given the opportunity to lead the Rivers athletic program into its next stage,” Pipe said. “I am fortunate to have the support of an excellent Athletic Department, incredibly talented coaching staff, and dedicated student-athletes who are the ones responsible for making the Rivers athletic program what it is. We had a great inaugural season with girls’ volleyball this fall, and I’m excited about other possibilities ahead of us. I can’t wait to see where this road takes us.”