The NCAA News - The NCAA Record

September 30, 1996

• Calendar
• Robinson named North Carolina State AD
• General
• Etc.
• Notables
• Deaths

Calendar

Robinson named North Carolina State AD

Robinson has been acting AD at North Carolina State since July, when Todd Turner, athletics director for six years, became AD at Vanderbilt.

From 1990 until April, Robinson led the men's basketball squad at North Carolina State. He was head coach and athletics director at East Tennessee State for five seasons before joining the Wolfpack. He compiled a 291-330 overall record in 22 years as a collegiate head coach.

Robinson resigned as Wolfpack basketball coach to become associate athletics director.

Robinson's first collegiate head coaching job was at Citadel, where he directed the school's teams for 11 years, winning a record 132 games. He twice was named South Carolina coach of the year.

GENERAL

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

Tennessee-Chattanooga announced the retirement of Frederick Obear as chancellor effective next summer. Obear, a former member of the NCAA Presidents Commission and a current member of the NCAA Committee on Athletics Certification, will take a six-month leave of absence and then return to Tennessee-Chattanooga as a part-time teacher and administrator ... Philip Austin named president at Connecticut. He succeeds Harry Hartley, who is retiring after six years. Austin has been chancellor at Alabama for the past seven years ... Robert Glennen, president at Emporia State, announced his retirement, effective in June 1997. He will remain on the faculty as professor of education ... Bruce Meriwether, former chief executive officer of Mercantile Bank of Dubuque (Iowa), named interim president at Dubuque ... Pat Taylor, provost at Oklahoma Baptist, selected as president at Southwest Baptist ... John Van De Wetering, president at Brockport State, announced his retirement, effective July 1, 1997 ... Clinton Pettus, provost and vice-president for academic affairs at Cheyney, selected for the school's presidency.

DIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS

Tom Hickman, interim athletics director at Winthrop since July, appointed athletics director there. Hickman was associate AD at Winthrop for seven years ... Stephen Erber named AD at Muhlenberg.

ASSOCIATE DIRECTORS OF ATHLETICS

Betsy Mosher named senior associate athletics director at Arizona State ... Virnette House hired at Bradley, where she also will be senior woman administrator.

ASSISTANT DIRECTORS OF ATHLETICS

Peg Hefferan appointed assistant athletics director at Seton Hall ... Tim Burton hired as assistant AD for marketing and promotions at Massachusetts-Lowell.

SENIOR WOMAN ADMINISTRATORS

Trish Van Oosbree given additional duties as senior woman administrator at Whittier. She has been head women's basketball coach for three years ... Virnette House appointed at Bradley, where she also is associate athletics director.

COACHES

BASEBALL--Charlie Hickey promoted to head coach at Providence. Hickey has been the top assistant for the past five seasons ... Reggie Jackson named at Hofstra.

BASEBALL ASSISTANT-- Dennis Dynko appointed at Brockport State.

MEN'S BASKETBALL ASSISTANTS--Doug Kraft, a graduate assistant last year, named assistant coach at East Stroudsburg. Kraft replaces Jeff Wilson, who resigned after 10 years to become assistant coach at Lehigh ... Adam Nelson and David Wallace hired at Curry. Nelson, a 1996 Boston College graduate, was student manager of the baseball team at his alma mater for the past two years. Wallace was a three-year starter and two-time captain of the Boston U. team from 1991 to 1995 ... American hired Eugene Burroughs, who recently completed his playing career at Richmond, where he was cocaptain his senior year ... John Johnson named at Florida Southern. Johnson was a high-school coach.

David Cason appointed at Eastern Illinois, replacing Kevin Mouton, who accepted a similar position at New Hampshire ... Gib Arnold and Wyking Jones hired at Loyola Marymount. Arnold was an assistant coach last season at Utah Valley State College. Jones returns to his alma mater as a part-time assistant after playing one season of professional basketball in France ... Brockport State hired Rob deGrandpre ... Martin McGillan selected as assistant coach at Coastal Carolina ... Jonathan Tsipis named volunteer assistant coach at Cornell ... David Balza hired at Ashland.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL--Matt Garrett, previously an assistant at Illinois Wesleyan, named at Blackburn. Garrett replaces Jim Sexton, who has been head coach for the past 15 years. Garrett was assistant women's basketball and softball coach at Illinois Wesleyan during the past two years.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL ASSISTANTS--Emerson-Massachusetts College of Art named Theresa Salinetti as assistant coach. Salinetti, who was cocaptain of the Wheaton (Massachusetts) women's soccer and basketball teams from 1990 to 1992, has been a unit manager for Mellon Trust/The Boston Company ... Treka McMillian and Crystal Flint promoted at Minnesota. McMillian, who has been second assistant coach and restricted-earnings coach, was named first assistant in her fourth year at Minnesota. Flint, who played for Minnesota from 1990 to 1994, played with the Minnesota Stars of the Women's Basketball Association and was radio color analyst for the Minnesota women's team in 1994-95. She will be second assistant coach after serving as restricted-earnings coach last season ... Edna Rodriguez hired at San Diego State ... Dean Mendes selected as assistant coach at Worcester State.

MEN'S AND WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY ASSISTANTS--Lehigh appointed four assistant cross country and track and field coaches: Monica Joyce, distance runners coach; Walt Wandall, jumps and sprints; Jeanne Ciullo, graduate assistant; and Al Yodakis, student assistant ... Sean Galipeau hired at Bates, where he was cocaptain and the No. 2 runner on the team last season.

FIELD HOCKEY--Susan Eichner named head field hockey coach and assistant women's lacrosse coach at Columbia-Barnard. Eichner oversaw the creation of the field hockey and lacrosse teams as club programs last season. The field hockey team has moved to varsity status this year.

FIELD HOCKEY ASSISTANT--Celine Cunningham hired as assistant field hockey coach at Columbia-Barnard. She also is head women's lacrosse coach.

FOOTBALL ASSISTANTS--Bill Lacey and Greg Youngblood hired at Bates. Lacey becomes offensive line coach after serving as tight ends coach at Wagner last season. Youngblood, a 1994 Bates graduate, will coach wide receivers.

MEN'S AND WOMEN'S GOLF--Jonathan Burnett hired at Francis Marion, his alma mater. Burnett, who graduated in May, was captain of the school's golf team last season ... Florida Southern appointed Mary Anne Mericle as head women's coach. Mericle, who has competed professionally and been a golf instructor, takes over the program from Lois Webb, who led the program in its inaugural season. Webb will continue as an assistant coach.

MEN'S AND WOMEN'S LACROSSE--John Brubaker named men's coach at Manhattan. Brubaker was head assistant coach at Cabrini last season ... Celine Cunningham hired as Columbia-Barnard's first women's varsity lacrosse coach. Lacrosse was added as a club sport last season and elevated to varsity status for 1997. Cunningham was assistant lacrosse and field hockey coach at Georgetown after a standout playing career at Maryland. She most recently was fitness coordinator for Philip Morris. Cunningham also will be assistant field hockey coach.

WOMEN'S LACROSSE ASSISTANT--Kerri Whitaker hired at Syracuse.

MEN'S AND WOMEN'S ROWING--Michael Zimmer named head women's crew coach at Columbia-Barnard. Zimmer had coached men's lightweight crew at Columbia since 1990. Zimmer succeeds Mary Beth Blanding, who headed the women's team for the past five years ... Shaw Tilton named head crew coach at Bates. Tilton has coached rowing at MIT, Simmons and Clark (Massachusetts).

MEN'S AND WOMEN'S ROWING ASSISTANTS--Drexel appointed Susan Hermann and Christopher Tolsdorf as assistant men's and women's crew coaches, respectively. Hermann was head coach of the girls' rowing team at Episcopal Academy. Tolsdorf has been head coach of the Virginia Rowing Association at Virginia since 1994.

WOMEN'S SOCCER--Ray Nause returned to Russell Sage. Nause was an assistant coach during the first three seasons of the program at Russell Sage and most recently was head men's coach at Southern Vermont.

MEN'S AND WOMEN'S SOCCER ASSISTANTS--Brian Young hired as assistant men's coach at Bates. Young has played during the past two seasons for the Cape Cod Crusaders of the United System of Independent Soccer Leagues, a farm team for Major League Soccer's New England Revolution ... Ronan Wiseman appointed at Merchant Marine. Wiseman was named athlete of the year while a student at Adelphi. He has played professionally for the last few years in New York and abroad ... Sue Gjerset appointed assistant women's coach at Iowa ... Worcester State named Al Pettway assistant men's coach ... Darrell Skeeter given additional duties as assistant women's soccer coach at Russell Sage. He also is an assistant basketball coach at the school.

WOMEN'S SOFTBALL--Susan Hannon hired at Manhattan. Hannon spent the past three years as an assistant at Siena, where she was most valuable player for the women's squad for four seasons as a player.

MEN'S AND WOMEN'S SWIMMING AND DIVING--Jerry Frentsos named head men's and women's swimming coach at Xavier (Ohio). Frentsos has 22 years of experience as an athlete and coach. He recently completed a dietetics internship at University Hospital ... Tricia Smalley appointed diving coach at Brockport State.

MEN'S AND WOMEN'S SWIMMING ASSISTANTS--Ken Ralph hired as assistant coach at Air Force, replacing Kristin Stoudt as the top civilian coach on the staff. Ralph spent the past two years as head men's and women's coach at Kutztown ... Zhawn Stevens, former Kansas swimming standout, hired at his alma mater. Stevens was an assistant coach at Texas Christian while earning his master's degree in sports psychology.

MEN'S AND WOMEN'S TENNIS--Hawaii-Hilo appointed Royden Chow as head men's coach and Craig Okuna as head women's coach ... Dave Engle named head women's coach at Wittenberg. After serving as an assistant men's basketball coach at Wittenberg from 1984 to 1986, Engle taught and coached at the high-school level ... Former Christopher Newport tennis star Rush Cole named head men's coach at the school. Cole currently is head professional at the Hampton Tennis Center ... Fairfield announced the resignation of Jim Giachino as women's coach.

MEN'S TRACK AND FIELD ASSISTANT--Noel Ruebel hired at Wake Forest as assistant coach for the men's team. Ruebel joins Wake Forest after serving as an assistant last season at Ohio State and at Purdue for 12 years before that.

MEN'S VOLLEYBALL ASSISTANT--Alan Knipe, former standout volleyball player at Long Beach State, named assistant coach at the school after serving one year as interim assistant coach.

WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL--Carol Riner and Julie Graham appointed cohead coaches at Worcester State ... Sandy Collins appointed at Russell Sage. Collins, a 1987 Russell Sage graduate, has 10 years of volleyball coaching experience, including spending the past season as an assistant at Union (New York).

WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL ASSISTANTS--Donna Moore hired at Russell Sage. She has been a high-school coach for the past four seasons ... American named Kim Kumfer assistant coach. Kumfer was an assistant for the past two years at San Francisco and at her alma mater, Penn State, before that. She also was a member of the Sacramento Stars of the National Volleyball Association in 1996.

STAFF

ACADEMIC SUPPORT SERVICES ASSISTANTS--Matt Geibel hired as associate director of academic support services at Seton Hall, which also announced the selection of Kim Marsh as assistant director of academic support services.

BUSINESS MANAGER--Dartmouth named Ken Snelling athletics business manager.

COMPLIANCE OFFICER--Jon Fagg resigned as compliance officer at Mars Hill to become director of compliance at the Big South Conference.

MARKETING AND PROMOTIONS COORDINATOR--Maine appointed Scott Lowenberg coordinator of athletics marketing and promotions. Lowenberg was assistant marketing and promotions director at South Alabama.

MEDIA RELATIONS DIRECTOR--Chris Burkhalter named athletics media relations director at Indiana State. Burkhalter was sports information director at Northern Arizona from 1993 to 1996 and most recently was manager of media services for the Arena Football League's Texas Terror and an assistant in the media services department of the NBA's Houston Rockets.

SPORTS INFORMATION DIRECTOR--Dennis Slusher, sports information director at Missouri Southern for the past 12 years, named assistant SID/promotions coordinator at Central Missouri State. He replaces Chris Shaeffer, who resigned to take a position in the Central Missouri State public relations office.

SPORTS INFORMATION ASSISTANTS--Missouri announced five new sports information assistants: Chad Moller and Kim Pemberton, assistant SIDs; Jeremy McNeive, adminstrative associate in the sports information office; and Todd Oswald and Brent Johnson, graduate assistants ... Andrew Green and Chad States named graduate assistants in the California (Pennsylvania) sports information department. Also, Glenn Lewis was hired as sports information intern ... Gordon Morton named sports information intern at Brown. He has worked as a computer statistician for football, volleyball and basketball at Brown, Providence and Rhode Island ... Jeff Patrick hired as assistant SID at Florida Atlantic.

STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING COACH--David Armstrong named strength and conditioning coach at Xavier (Ohio). Armstrong has 30 years of experience as a coach and teacher.

TICKET SALES DIRECTOR--Cleveland State hired Dave Young as ticket sales director.

CONFERENCES

Jon Fagg appointed director of compliance for the Big South Conference. Fagg joins the Big South after two years as compliance officer at Mars Hill.

ETC.

Oral Roberts announced it will join the Mid-Continent Conference beginning in 1997-98. For the past six years, Oral Roberts has competed as an independent after spending two years as an NAIA member.

The Mid-Continent Conference also announced that Troy State will leave the league after the 1996-97 season, rather than after the 1997-98 season as originally planned. Troy State officials asked to depart a year early to join the Trans America Athletic Conference.

CORRECTION

The university where Ben Braun coached before taking the head men's basketball position at California was reported incorrectly in the NCAA Record section of the September 23 issue of The NCAA News. Braun was head men's basketball coach at Eastern Michigan.

NOTABLES

Colorado State defensive back Myron Terry named to the College Football Association's "Good Works Team." Terry is a volunteer for Group Smart, a Colorado State outreach program that focuses on the Fort Collins community and area schools. He is a popular speaker who visits local schools to talk to youths about the importance of education and goal-setting. A total of 11 players -- one each week -- will be named to the the Good Works Team this season. Terry is the second player named.

DEATHS

Former Millsaps football and basketball player Jim Baxter died July 8. Baxter was inducted into the Mississippi Hall of Fame in 1970 and the Millsaps Sports Hall of Fame in 1994. He was a three-year letterwinner in both sports and was captain of the basketball team in 1926, his senior year. Baxter went on to teach and coach at the high-school level and served in the Mississippi Legislature from 1948 to 1960.

-- Compiled by Sally Huggins