General | 3/19/2024 9:00:00 AM
NEW YORK (March 19, 2024) ---
Noreen Morris, commissioner of the Northeast Conference, and
Joseph S. “Joe” Clinton, director of athletics and head men’s basketball coach at Dominican University, each will be honored in April with Distinguished Service Awards from the Met Basketball Writers Association.
The DSA presentations will be made at the 91st MBWA All-Met Haggerty Awards Dinner scheduled Thursday, April 18, at the Sleepy Hollow Hotel & Conference Center in Tarrytown, NY.
The fourth full-time commissioner in NEC history, Morris currently is in her 15th year as commissioner of the Northeast Conference, which is headquartered in Bridgewater, NJ.
Clinton just concluded his 33rd season as head men’s basketball coach of the Chargers and has been director of athletics since 1989 at Dominican, which is located in Orangeburg, NY.
Both DSA recipients are being honored by the MBWA for their meritorious service to college athletics.
During her tenure, Morris has worked extensively with the NEC Council of Presidents and athletic administrators to implement the conference’s Strategic Plans adopted in 2012 and 2019, which include initiatives to enhance the NEC’s overall brand, enhance the student-athlete experience, as well as strengthen the marquee sport of basketball.
Since joining the NEC, Morris has been actively involved at the national level. She currently serves as the chair of the NCAA Gender Equity Taskforce. Most recently she served on the NCAA Division I Council and as chair of the Division I Strategic Planning & Vision Committee. Among other previous assignments, she served as a member of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Officiating Board of Managers.
Her background in intercollegiate athletics includes senior positions at Northwestern University, Conference USA and the University of Connecticut. She has been honored previously by the ECAC and the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletic Administrators.
Morris, who lives in Somerset, NJ, graduated from Cornell University in 1987 with a Bachelor’s degree in Consumer Economics, and was a two-year co-captain and four-year letterwinner in soccer for the Big Red. She earned a Master’s degree in Sport Administration from the University of Massachusetts in 1991.
Clinton has served previously on numerous NCAA committees, including as East Region chair of the Division II men’s basketball committee, and chair of the East Region and national chair for Division II baseball. Since arriving at Domincan, he has overseen an athletics program that has grown from five sports to 19 and made the transition from the NAIA to the NCAA. He was recognized by the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference as its Administrator of the Year in 1996.
As basketball coach, Clinton has built a 526-428 (.551 W-L pct) career record, including a 340-214 (.614 W-L pct) mark in the CACC. A four-time recipient as conference coach of the year and three times named the MBWA All-Met Division II coaching honoree (1996, 2013, 2020), he has taken the Chargers to both the NAIA and NCAA national tournaments. Clinton’s teams have captured four CACC titles and produced seven 20-win seasons.
Clinton was a 1,000 points-plus scorer in basketball at Union College, where he earned a BA in English in 1983. He was a star point guard at Albertus Magnus High School, and has been inducted into the Albertus Magnus Hall of Fame, the Union College Athletics Hall of Fame and the Rockland County (NY) Sports Hall of Fame. Clinton and his wife, Marybeth, have five children and reside in Pearl River, NY.
Click here for a list of the MBWA’s previous DSA honorees: Distinguished Service Awards (year-by-year).
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