So he did what he thought was best for Salem State, the program and himself: Shea announced his retirement, effective at season’s end, thus closing a brilliant 30-year coaching career.

“Clearly, the timing is right for me to step back,’’ said Shea, who coached the Lady Vikings to the 1985-86 NCAA Division 3 national championship. “The growing demands within my position as director of athletics have had an impact on my ability to recruit.’’

His 24-year-old assistant, former Viking Michelle (Gosselin) Cunningham, described by Shea as a “real bright mind’’ and “one who is already doing a lot more than your average assistant coach,’’ will take over next fall.

Shea, 60, has been architect of one of the most successful US women’s programs ever. During his tenure, Salem State has dominated the State Collegiate Athletic Conference with 38 championships — 22 regular-season and 16 post-seasons. His teams earned a record 24 NCAA Division 3 Tournament invitations, including 14 in a row from 1993 to 2006, and 23 times they have won 20 or more games. He has 649 wins — third in Division 3 behind Michael Strong (Scranton, 735) and Yvonne Kauffman (Elizabethtown, 659).

Asked why he announced retirement now, rather the end of the season, Shea had a logical explanation. “I wanted to be fair to anyone we were recruiting to Salem State,’’ he said. “It would be so unfair to those recruits to get them here and then have me not coach them. It’s a life decision they’re making . . .

“Winning a national championship and appearing in four Final Fours is something we can all be proud of,’’ he said. “These milestones are especially satisfying when you consider that most of our teams were predominantly made up of Massachusetts athletes. When we won the NCAA title, we did so with two starting guards (Evie Oquendo, Beth Kapnis) from Salem. And our first player off the bench (Holly Brennan) that year was also from Salem.’’

When Cunningham takes over next fall, at 25, she will be one of the youngest US head coaches. After a stellar career at Rice Memorial in Burlington, Vt., she landed at Salem and earned all-MASCAC honors as a sophomore and senior, graduating in 2008. She previously worked as an assistant at Anna Maria. Her husband is Salem State golfer Matt Cunningham and the couple live in Peabody.

“It was thrilling to come here as an assistant, and now to step into the head coaching position is a dream come true,’’ she said.

Campus corner T.J. Hajjar is returning to Merrimack as head volleyball coach. Hajjar was assistant from 2008 through 2010, but left to be head coach at Lesley. When Joey Pacis resigned as coach, Hajjar jumped to return. “I never wanted to leave Merrimack in the first place, but I had to take a head coaching opportunity when I had the chance. We won a conference title at Lesley and went to the NCAA Tournament for the first time ever, so to leave is very hard.’’ Pacis is Merrimack’s winningest (117) coach.

University of Massachusetts Dartmouth freshman Dekontee Chea of Chelmsford is Little East Conference cross-country Rookie of the Year. Chea was the Corsairs’ top runner in all of her six races and fourth in Little East/New England Alliance Championships. . . . UMass-Lowell junior catcher Cam Kneeland of Rowley is a Collegiate Baseball preseason Northeast All-American.

Around and about New England Revolution U-16 players Kevin Herrera of Lynn and Christian Sady of North Andover attended the recent US Soccer Training Center at Gillette Stadium.

Send ideas or information to JohnPVel@aol.com.