New Hampshire Sunday News
NH College Notebook
June 25, 2006

NOT EVEN BEING part of a basketball program that advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament was enough to keep Phil Rowe away from home.

Rowe returned to his native New Hampshire this month after stepping down as an assistant coach at George Washington University.

He is out of the coaching business for now and has moved into the business of helping coaches as the assistant vice president of student affairs for athletics at Daniel Webster College in Nashua.

The switch represents a homecoming on top of homecoming for Rowe. Not only is he moving back to New Hampshire, but he is also returning to the college where he served as athletics director from 1993-96.

Rowe lived on his own for the past year, staying in Washington, D.C., while his youngest daughter finished her senior year at Exeter High and another daughter began her freshman year in college.

Both daughters will be going to school in New Hampshire (Keene State, Southern New Hampshire) and Rowe and his wife Sue were not willing to leave and move away from the area.

"I want to be able to be near my family and it became increasingly more difficult," Rowe said. "It would not have happened if I stayed."

The former head coach at UNH and Keene State hooked on at GWU last June -- Rowe and head coach Karl Hobbs were assistants under Bob Brown at Boston University -- joining the team as it put together a memorable season, going 27-3 and reaching the second round of the NCAA tournament. But Rowe said that was not enough to offset the isolation he felt.

"For the first part of the year it was not as bad because of the excitement," Rowe said. "But as the year passed, it became more difficult, even when we were going to the NCAAs. It was me and four walls."

Rowe said he has stayed in touch with the people at Daniel Webster over the years, especially Susan Elsass, the vice president of student affairs. He said they knew of his desire to return home and offered him the chance to help reshape the athletics department.

"I think they knew me and my family, and I guess they took a shot," Rowe said. "It was intriguing."

Rowe said his job would be to help coaches in the recruiting process, work with fundraising and be a presence on campus and in the community. The department has 10 sports and only two full-time coaches.

"It's doing something creative," Rowe said. "Whatever we can do to enhance the program."

Rowe is not sure if or when he'll get back into coaching, but he does know the year he spent at George Washington will not be forgotten.