The resignation of R. Patrick Corbin from his position as executive director at the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association during Thursday’s executive council meeting was unexpected.

Now in the coming weeks a search committee will be formed to begin a nationwide search for his replacement. Why waste time, money or manpower on an extensive search when the right person for the job resides in the Granite State already?

Right here in Greater Nashua no less.

While one man prepares to retire in July, the council should be begging another one to come out of administrative retirement.

With 34 years of athletic directing – at four different schools from small public to private – and a stint as a high school assistant principal under his belt, the answer is pretty clear.

Bill Dod should be the NHIAA’s next executive director.

If he doesn’t apply on his own Executive Council President Scott Fitzgerald should go out of his way, driving to Dod’s house to personally ask the Granite State coaching/administrative icon to come to Concord.

There are certainly other viable candidates for the position out there. And Dod, who enters the spring of 2014 with a career baseball coaching record of 491-388 may not want to walk away from the diamond just yet – he does currently lead the active coaching ranks with 41 years of varsity coaching experience.

Either way, his name should be at the top of any search committee’s list. His resume is just too impressive to ignore.

Dod is a 1963 graduate of Sanborn Seminary in Kingston, where he played football, cross country, basketball and baseball. He is a 1968 Springfield College graduate, which led to a Master’s Degree in Education Administration from Rivier College.

In 1968, Dod began his coaching career in cross country, freshmen basketball and outdoor track at Bishop Guertin High School.

He returned to Kingston for his first athletic directing gig, a three-year stint at Sanborn Regional High School. In those three years he was also coaching the baseball team to a 49-18 record with appearances in the Class M finals and semifinals, as well as coaching the varsity football, varsity soccer and junior varsity basketball teams.

Dod returned to BG for a 16-year tenure of coaching football, freshmen basketball and baseball. For 12 years he was AD of the Cardinals’ athletics program. For 13 of those 16 years he coached the BG baseball team to the Class L tournament in 11 seasons – semifinal appearances in 1980, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1987 and 1988; winning the state title in 1982 and 1987; and earning runner-up honors in 1984 for an overall record of 203-158.

After leaving BG, he spent the next four years as the assistant principal at Milford Area Senior High School, where he added two more years of athletic director responsibilities to his resume.

Since the opening of Souhegan High School in 1992, Dod is embarking on 22 seasons as the Sabers’ varsity baseball coach. Over the past 21 years the Souhegan varsity baseball team has posted a record of 229-167 and qualified for the Class I / Division II tournament 18 times, with semifinal appearances in 1997 and 2006, while winning the Class I title in 2003 and earning runner-up status in 2004.

Dod also stepped in to coach the varsity girls basketball team for one winter (1997-1998) and directed a 17-6 season during which the Sabers reached the Class I semifinals.

Oh, by the way, he served another long stint as athletic director, overseeing Souhegan’s sports programs for 17 years until he retired in 2009.

Some say it’s a principal’s job for the taking. Perhaps a few years as an assistant principal isn’t good enough? In most cases that might be true. Not in this case.

The NHIAA needs a leader to carry the “kids first” torch from Corbin. It needs a leader that understands the difficulties of dealing with parents, coaches and school administrators in this modern age of entitlement. It needs a leader that understands the importance of the media and how to best market and publicize everything – from simple day-to-day game results to larger issues of football division re-alignment.

That is all certainly right up the alley of the five-time Class I Athletic Director of the Year, 2001 New Hampshire Athletic Directors Achievement Award winner, 1987 Oscar Meyer Coach of the Year honoree, two-time New Hampshire Coaches Association of Baseball Coach of the Year, New Hampshire Coaches and NHIAA Hall of Fame member.

The NHIAA executive director position was made for Dod. It should be his for the taking if he wants it. Case closed, search over.

George Scione can be reached at 594-6520 or gscione@nashuatelegraph.com. Also, follow Scione on Twitter (@Telegraph_BigG).