Nervous and equally excited driving to a job interview, Mickey Deegan took a right turn that put her on Shell Road, the main entrance into McDonogh School.

What she saw next took her breath away: The road lined with magnificent trees, a giant red maple catching her eye, and the beautiful Allan Building straight ahead.

On that day — July 30, 1988 — a warm feeling came over Deegan as she sought a teaching position that came with a chance to coach sports. The next day, the follow-up phone call came with good news.

“Something resonated when I drove up that hill,” Deegan said. “I thought, ‘This feels good. This feels like home.’ And, indeed, it has been my home for nearly half my life.”

With 37 years soon to be in the books — she taught English and coached field hockey, girls basketball and softball before spending the past 24 as athletic director — Deegan is set to retire in June.

She turns 71 in August.

“I’d say probably two years ago, I started getting a little tired. You arrive at 8 in the morning, sometimes 7:30 and get home at 7:30 at night. I started thinking, I don’t know if I want to keep doing these 12, sometimes 14-hour days,” she said.

Deegan has an ideal plan for retirement. She looks forward to spending more time with family and friends, traveling, reading books uninterrupted and finally getting her golf swing down pat.

And then there’s the treasure chest full of incredible memories Deegan can look back on from her days overseeing the area’s most successful high school athletic program.

In her time as athletic director — the first five years on her own and the last 19 side by side with Matt MacMullan — the program featured 29 boys and girls varsity teams and over 75 in all. In the 24 years, the Eagles have produced a staggering 138 varsity championships competing in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association and Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland A conferences.

Roaming sideline to sideline and court to court, Deegan, affectionately nicknamed ‘Silver Eagle,’ has steadfastly supported each and every team with a firm and reassuring presence that carries comforting weight.

“Mick is McDonogh athletics,” boys lacrosse coach Andy Hilgartner said. “What I love about her is she’s so competitive, but she wants it done the right way. She wants it done with integrity and class and refuses to accept anything less than that. She’s so supportive of the coaches, cares so much for the players, and it doesn’t matter the sport. Anybody who has been here just has so much respect for her. We’re going to miss her.”

A nature lover, Deegan said the beauty of the campus has always been one of her favorite things about McDonogh, second only to all the people she has come across.

From Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, just outside of Philadelphia, she has brought a direct approach with a witty sense of humor and eagerness to learn about everyone around her. Daily check-ins with coaches have long been a constant, whether a quick conversation, email or text. She wraps up the night with “Around the nest” reports.

“I think if your coaches feel like you know them, you appreciate them, you know what’s going on in their life — how are their kids? That’s important. So it’s the day to day little conversations you have where you acknowledge them and they know you appreciate them,” she said.

Back in 2022, the girls soccer team was coming off its fourth straight IAAM A Conference championship, but the Eagles were short on experience with no seniors. During an early training session, coach Harry Canellakis grew so frustrated with the group that he had to walk away.

His immediate thought was to call Deegan, whom he describes as “the moral compass” of the athletic department.

“I talked her through the situation, and she said a few things about how I was working with a young group and they just needed an arm around their shoulders instead of someone yelling at them. It was the right advice at the right time,” he said. “I’ve always appreciated Mickey being a really grounding force, always helping me recalibrate what my priorities should be and putting things into proper perspective.”

Deegan has received several awards that recognize her commitment and excellence throughout her career. In April, at the Maryland State Athletic Directors Conference in Ocean City, she was named the AD of the Year for District 10 for the fourth time, as well as the AD of the Year for the entire state for a second time.

While she’s proud to be acknowledged by her peers, her biggest reward comes from the growth she has been able to see from all the student-athletes who have come through McDonogh.

“My favorite part is seeing all the boys and girls growing up to be men and women and they are still connected to this place and want to give back to the kids because they had a good experience here. That makes me really happy and proud to see so many of our [alumni] stay involved,” Deegan said.

Taylor Cummings is an ideal case in point. A three-sport star who focused on lacrosse, the 2012 grad jumpstarted a historic 198-game winning streak that included nine straight IAAM A titles. After a stellar four-year college career at Maryland, where she was a three-time Tewaaraton Award winner as the country’s top player, she returned to coach the Eagles for five seasons.

Deegan’s influence on her careers — as a player and coach — proved invaluable.

“It was really cool seeing her on both sides of the spectrum and she remained so consistent across the board whether I was a student or a coach,” Cummings said. “She’s always done things the right way, always about the people and the experience and always did her best to make sure that everybody from the top on down had a great experience at McDonogh.”

Deegan’s father, an insurance agent who built his own company, taught her the importance of hard work.

“He said you should come home tired and put your head on the pillow and get a good night’s sleep because you know you’ve done the best you can,” she said.

In June, Deegan will leave McDonogh satisfied she followed her dad’s lead.

“I know I’ve done the best I could in my time here, helped a lot of kids and coaches to become successful because I believed in their ability,” she said. “I think people will work hard for you if they know you care for them, love them and respect them. That’s one thing that I take away.”

Have a news tip? Contact Glenn Graham at ggraham@baltsun.com, 410-332-6636 and x.com/GlennGrahamSun.