When Bill Gehling graduated from Tufts in 1974 as a child study major, he never imagined that he'd one day find himself as the University's Director of Athletics.
"I played men's soccer at Tufts, and sports have definitely been an integral part of my life, [but] as a child study major, there isn't exactly one subject that you expect to go into - it's more of early childhood education, or more of a broad scope," Gehling said.
But Gehling, who went to high school in New York, enjoyed his years as a Tufts undergraduate so much that he returned for his masters in education. "After my undergraduate years, I came directly back to get my master's, where I decided to focus on mathematics," Gehling said.
From there, Gehling's career path took an unexpected turn. "While getting my masters, I participated in an interactive program called 'A School Within' and worked with special needs students at Somerville High School," Gehling said. In his free time, Gehling was an amateur musician and also began coaching on a volunteer basis.
"At first, I felt that coaching was a temporary thing," Gehling said. "[But] after a while, I realized how special an opportunity it is to be a coach."
While coaching may have been new to Gehling, spending a great deal of time at Tufts wasn't new for him - or his family. His parents graduated from Tufts in 1943, and his sister and brother are also Jumbos.
In 1979, Title IX was becoming a prominent issue in athletics at Tufts. With it came the formation of many women's sports teams, including soccer, lightweight crew, volleyball and fencing.
"Title IX is a piece of federal legislation that was enacted in the early 1970s," Gehling said. "It basically said that you can't discriminate in college athletics. It really began to have an impact in the late '70s with respect to college athletics. It required colleges to create equitable programs for women and men."
Tufts' Director of Athletics at the time approached Gehling on the street to see if he was interested in heading up the women's soccer program.
"It was purely coincidental: he asked, and I figured, why not give it a shot?" Gehling said. Gehling became integrally involved in developing the women's athletics programs and realized that maybe coaching wasn't such a temporary thing.
"Being able to have an impact on an athlete's life, whether you win or lose, was important to me," Gehling said.
In 1989, Gehling became the associate director of athletics at Tufts. As such, he worked closely with then-Director of Athletics Rocky Carzo, mapping out the department's budget and scheduling. In 1989, Gehling succeeded Carzo.
Now, as Tufts' fifth athletics director, Gehling has the chance to impact athletes' lives every day. "There really is no typical day for a director of athletics," he said. "It truly changes every day. You'd have to come sit in on four of five days to really get a feel of what goes on."
"I'm constantly on the phone, at meetings, supervising various aspects of the department, long term planning, speaking with alumni, parents, and student athletes," he said. "It's a really fun job."
In 1987, Gehling was given a poem by one of his student athletes, called "To the Field." Looking back over the past 25 years, Gehling says receiving the poem was one of his defining moments.
"This poem summarizes how I feel about Tufts Athletics," Gehling said. "How well we do on the field is important, but what is most important to us is how the athletes feel when they walk out the door."
Gehling feels his success can be evaluated by the mentality of the athletes and his ability to make an impact on their lives. Over the years, Gehling continued to participate in the Department of Athletics, and the assistant director position became available.
"I love the challenges of being in the upper levels of the department, but I miss the coaching," Gehling said. As director of athletics, he encourages Tufts students to participate in athletics while attending school.
"Right now, about twenty percent of Tufts students are involved in sports," he said. "I encourage them and everyone at Tufts to find something they are passionate about."
Gehling has found what he is passionate about, and he doesn't plan on changing that for quite some time.
"The wonderful thing about this job is that it doesn't feel like work at all," Gehling said.
