Al Bean was been named Commissioner of the Little East Conference (LEC) July 9, 2024 and officially assumed his new duties September 2, 2024.
Bean is no stranger to the LEC, having served LEC-founding member University of Southern Maine and the Conference in a variety of capacities over nearly five decades. He was appointed the director of athletics at Southern Maine in 1993 after previously serving as an assistant coach, sports information director and assistant athletic director at his alma mater. Bean was appointed the third commissioner of the LEC, serving in that capacity on a part-time basis from 1995-2000 when the Conference hired its first full-time commissioner, Dr. William A. Moore, after serving as the LEC’s first publicist from 1986-90.
Bean has been instrumental in the league’s growth from a six-institution, basketball-only conference to a multi-sport conference that will offer 23 championships and be inclusive of nine primary member institutions and 22 affiliate programs with the addition of men’s and women’s ice hockey in 2025-26. Bean guided the conference through its largest sports sponsorship expansion during his first term as LEC Commissioner as the Little East increased its sports sponsorship to 17 athletic programs with the addition of women’s volleyball (1995), baseball (1997), field hockey (1998), men's and women's indoor and outdoor track & field (1998-99), women's swimming & diving (2000).
Bean has served on numerous national committees, including a four-year term on the NCAA Division III Management Council, one of the organization’s highest-ranking governing bodies. His committee assignments also include the Division III Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), Administrative Review Committee, the Association-wide Committee on Playing and Practice Seasons, Sports Wagering Task Force, National Youth Sports Program, and has chaired multiple sport committees. Bean has been a featured panelist or moderator nearly 30 times, recently serving as a speaker at the 2023 NCAA Convention’s “Striving for Athletics Equity in Title IX’s 50th Year: Strategies and Tools for Campuses,” and has been a member of the NACDA Executive Committee. He is also active within his local community, supporting the Maine Children’s Cancer Program and the Jesse B-C Fund.
During his time leading the athletic department at his alma mater, Bean initiated an external review of USM’s facilities and programs that resulted in the construction of a new field house, ice arena and soccer field, and led the way for more recent facility upgrades that included the completion of the USM Softball Stadium, Ed Flaherty Field, and Hannaford Field. He was instrumental in the formation of the USM Athletic Association, a support group that now includes over 500 members, and the creation of the Husky Hall of Fame.
Among the many memorable athletic highlights at USM are the baseball team’s 1997 National Championship and five NCAA Division III World Series Appearances, hosting the 1998 NCAA Division III Women’s Basketball Final Four and the program’s five NCAA Final Four appearances, and individual national championships by track & field stars Jamie Ruginski (2014, 2015 indoor; 2014, 2015 outdoor), Peyton Dostie (2016 indoor), Sophia Slovenski (2021 outdoor) and Ben Drummey (2022, 2023), and the wrestling’s program’s first national champion Dan Del Gallo (2017). This past year saw Slovenski honored as the 2022-2023 Division III Commissioners Association Student-Athlete of the Year and a Top-10 Finalist for NCAA Woman of the Year at the 2024 NCAA Convention, the first in Little East and USM history.
Bean received his undergraduate and graduate degrees from Southern Maine, earning his bachelor’s in education and history in 1977 and his master’s in education in 1992. He was inducted into USM’s Husky Hall of Fame in 1989 in recognition of his record-setting pitching career, and was among the 11-member inaugural LEC Hall of Fame class in 2012 in recognition of his service as an administrator at Southern Maine. His accolades also include induction into the Maine Baseball Hall of Fame, and being named the 2013 National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) Division III Under Armour Athletic Director of the Year. Bean most recently earned the National Association of Division III Athletic Administrators (NADIIIAA) Richard A. Rasmussen Lifetime Achievement Award in 2021.