Robert L. Scalise was named Harvard’s seventh Nichols Family Director of Athletics today. Scalise, who will begin in the job on Aug. 1, currently serves as associate dean for administration and senior executive office at Harvard Business School (HBS).

The announcement was the culmination of a six-month nationwide search to replace William J. Cleary ‘56, who announced last December that he would retire at the end of June after 11 years in the position.

The announcement was made at a noontime press conference at the Murr Center attended by a number of top University and College administrators, including President Lawrence H. Summers--who officially made the appointment--Dean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles and Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis ‘68. Many from the athletic department, including Cleary and dozens of coaches, also attended the announcement.

“I’m honored to be chosen,” Scalise said during today’s press conference. “As a former Ivy League player and coach this is a dream come true.”

Scalise is no stranger to Harvard athletics. He previously served as the coach to both the men’s lacrosse and women’s soccer teams.

“This is a homecoming for our new director,” Knowles said in introducing Scalise at the press conference.

From 1974 to 1987, when Scalise coached the team, men’s lacrosse amassed a combined 98-79 record. He led Harvard to its first NCAA tournament appearance--and an Ivy League championship--in 1980.

He served as the first coach of Harvard’s women’s soccer team, heading up the team from 1977 to 1986. He agreed to help start a women’s soccer program at Harvard in 1976 after being approached by several interested players.

In his ten years as head coach, his women’s soccer teams had a combined record of 113-38-11 and won three Ivy League championships. Scalise was the nation’s first collegiate women’s soccer coach to record 100 victories--a mark he reached in 1985.

While a search committee, headed by Harvard Alumni Association Executive Director Jack P. Reardon ’60, conducted interviews and screened candidates, Summers had the ultimate responsibility of making the appointment.

Over the six-month search, the search committee interviewed 15 candidates for the position, according to a prepared statement from Reardon.

In today’s announcement, Summers praised Scalise’s efforts to begin the women’s soccer programs and said that it showed his commitment to broadening the range of students who participate in the College’s athletic program--a commitment that Summers said he was looking for in a new athletic director.

Summers said that he also had sought an athletic director who would be a skilled manager of the department--a quality that Scalise had demonstrated as a dean at HBS.

“I’m thrilled that Bob Scalise agreed to assume the leadership of Harvard’s athletic program,” Summers said.

Scalise, who earned a masters degree from HBS in 1989, has worked in his current position, where he had oversight of the school’s $200 million budget, since 1996.