McGrath-Powell, 53, who joined the UD staff prior to the 1982-83 season, will pursue other career opportunities. A search for her replacement will begin immediately.
A native of Connecticut, McGrath-Powell enjoyed outstanding success with her teams, not only on the course and track, but in the classroom. Her squads captured 10 conference team titles, she coached 80 conference individual and relay champions, and 13 of her athletes earned conference scholar-athlete of the year honors.
“We thank Sue for her 26 years of service to the University and its athletics program and wish her well in her future endeavors,” said Delaware Director of Athletics Edgar N. Johnson. “Her team members were always first-class individuals who competed hard on the track and were true student-athletes in every sense of the word. The University is proud of her accomplishments and the outstanding women that she helped mentor.”
McGrath-Powell posted an 81-29 dual meet record in cross country, a 129-50 mark in indoor track and field, and a 34-14 record for outdoor track and field during her career and was honored three times as conference coach of the year for cross country in 1991, 1994 and 1995.
During her tenure at Delaware, McGrath-Powell guided her cross country squads to three conference championships (1990-1991-1995) while her indoor and outdoor track and field teams captured four (1983-84-90-91) and three (1983-84-91) conference titles respectively. In addition, her teams finished second at the conference meet 10 times and third 12 other times.
Among her 80 conference individual and relay champions were two-time Academic All-American Alison Farrance, UD Athletics Hall of Fame members Candy Cashell, Jody Campbell, and Dionne Jones, and 13 conference scholar-athletes of the year. Cashell was an All-American high jumper in 1986, Campbell earned All-American honors as a distance runner in 1982, and Jones won a school-record 15 conference individual and relay titles as a sprinter in 1988-92.
This past season, McGrath-Powell led her cross country team to a fourth place team finish at the Colonial Athletic Association championships behind Christina Antonopoulos' eighth place showing and her outdoor track and field squad to a seventh place CAA championship team finish. Long jumper Asha Quant earned All-East honors and competed at the NCAA East Regionals at Florida State University. The 2008 indoor team established five school individual records this past winter while the outdoor squad set 10 new school standards.
McGrath-Powell earned her bachelor's degree from Southern Connecticut State College in 1976 and her master's degree from the University of Buffalo. She is currently a member of the NCAA Track and Field Rules Committee.
B.J. Ferguson, who recently completed her 28th season as head coach of the Blue Hen softball team, and Barbara Viera, a UD Athletics Hall of Fame member who coached the UD volleyball team for 27 seasons from 1973-1999, are the only head coaches of women's athletics teams who have served longer than McGrath-Powell at Delaware.
Her tenure was third longest among active UD head coaches, behind only men's lacrosse head coach Bob Shillinglaw (30 years), Ferguson, and men's cross country and track and field head coach Jim Fischer (26 years).
For more information on UD athletics, see [www.udel.edu/sportsinfo].
