The University received a $3 million gift from David Given ’75 to fund the Jeanette and Richard Given Men’s Ice Hockey Head Coaching Position last month. This is the largest coaching gift ever made to the University, wrote Director of Athletics and Recreation Jack Hayes in an email to The Herald.
“We are grateful to David Given for his leadership and generosity,” Hayes wrote. “His gift will significantly impact the men’s ice hockey program and assist us in our effort to reach the top of (Eastern College Athletic Conference) Hockey.”
Given hopes that the endowment will “continue to support the (coaching position) in the ways that it needs to be supported” and assist the University in renovating Meehan Auditorium, he said.
Prior to donating the money, Given said he spoke with the athletic department to see “what we can try to do to re-elevate the program.” They concluded that a “fair amount of capital needs to be raised to renovate Meehan,” which opened in 1961 and underwent its last major renovation in 2002, he said.
“Meehan has to be upgraded to continue to attract the kinds of student-athletes to have a high-performing program,” he added. Following conversation with the University, Given decided to endow the coaching position and “free up funds for future renovations to Meehan.”
Given played for the University’s hockey team from 1973 to 1975. In 1976, the year after he graduated, the team made the Frozen Four, the NCAA hockey semi-finals. Given hopes the endowment will allow the program to experience the level of success it achieved in the mid-’70s and positively impact the experiences of the University students who play hockey, he said.
“I had an unbelievable four-year experience to advance my capabilities in hockey while I was getting a ridiculously good education,” Given said. “That’s what I’m so grateful for and that’s why I did what I did.”
While they may not experience the impacts of the endowment first-hand, Max Gottlieb ’19 and Tommy Marchin ’19, co-captains of the men’s ice hockey team, said they are grateful for Given’s generosity.
“I can’t thank Mr. Given enough for getting the ball rolling in what I hope is an even larger commitment to our program from the school and donors alike,” Gottlieb said. “It’s a testament to some of the great experiences that Mr. Given has had here as a player and student that led him to make such a generous donation to the program.”
Given’s endowment arrives as part of the University’s BrownTogether Campaign, a $3 billion fundraising effort that began in 2015, The Herald previously reported.
