New position awarded: John Fish ’82 helps Bowdoin create a head football coach for the Fish family

The announcement comes on the eve of the Bowdoin football program’s 1,000th game on Saturday, September 16 at Hamilton College and marks the third head coach stop for Bowdoin, joining Morse Family Baseball head coach and Sidney J. Watson ice hockey head coach.

John Fish was an offensive lineman and two-time Colby Bates Bowdoin (CBB) champion for the Bowdoin football team from 1978 to 1980. John Fish ’82 founded and leads Suffolk Construction Company, one of the most successful privately owned public construction companies in the country. Fish majored in political science at Bowdoin University and was elected to the Bowdoin College Board of Trustees in 2017.

“I am grateful for John’s continued support of Bowdoin and our football program by creating a talented football coach for the Fish family,” said Ashmead White, Director of Athletics Tim Ryan ’98. “John is a well-documented transformational leader, and naming our head coaching position in honor of his family would be a An inspiration to generations of Bowdoin soccer players and coaches.”

“My family and I are thrilled to be able to support Bowdoin football in this way,” Fish said. “The college’s long tradition of excellence in athletics and academics is something I experienced as a student and have come to appreciate even more as an alumnus.”

Fish’s prior service to the College includes serving as an Alumni Club volunteer, speaker at the Bowdoin Breakfast, and as a member of the Reunion Committee for the Class of 1982. Fish previously served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Boston College, is a former Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, and is a founding member and former Chairman of the Partnership Competitive Massachusetts, and former Chairman and current member of the Executive Committee of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, and Director of the Real Estate Roundtable in Washington, D.C. He is the founder and president of Scholar Athletes, a program launched in the Boston public school system that leverages the proven relationship between participation in school athletics and strong academic performance. In addition, Fish has received honorary doctorates from Wentworth Institute of Technology, Curry College, and Regis College. He and his wife, Cynthia, have three daughters, Christina ’10, Jennifer, and Carolyn.

“At Suffolk, we have recruited numerous NESCAC alumni, including student-athletes for whom lessons about teamwork, effort, and ambitious goals were a large part of their college experience. I also understand the value of endowments in Bowdoin’s financial model, and I hope our gift will provide significant support to Coach P.J. Hammer Not only that, but it also encourages others to consider gifts for college head coaching positions. Go Bears!