The NCAA News - Record

December 16, 1996

• Calendar
• LSU tennis coach Simmons resigns
• General
• Etc.
• Notables
• Deaths

Calendar

LSU tennis coach Simmons resigns

In 25 years at the collegiate level -- 14 at LSU -- Simmons has compiled a record of 475-190 for a winning percentage of .714.

Simmons started his career in 1972 at Southwestern Louisiana, where he led the Ragin' Cajuns to a 214-92-2 mark in 11 seasons.

He took over the head coaching job at LSU in 1983 and has led the Tigers to the NCAA Division I tournament 12 times, including a second-place finish in 1988. In 14 years at LSU, Simmons has a record of 261-98.

Simmons is the most victorious coach in LSU history and trails only former Georgia coach Dan Magill in number of victories by Southeastern Conference coaches.

General

Ellis Arnold, vice-president for development and college relations and general counsel at Hendrix, named president at Lambuth ... Alabama-Birmingham announced the resignation of J. Claude Bennett as president... Paul Stanton, dean of the College of Medicine at East Tennessee State, selected as president there ... Thomas Tritton, vice-provost at Vermont, appointed president at Haverford. COACHES

Baseball assistant--Tony Mattia hired as assistant coach at Heidelberg for the 1997 spring season. Mattia graduated from Arizona State, where he was an all-Pacific-10 player in 1987 in baseball. He was drafted by the California Angels.

Football--Ron Vanderlinden, defensive coordinator at Northwestern since 1992, hired as head coach at Maryland. Vanderlinden joined the Northwestern staff after coaching the Colorado defensive line for nine years.

Football assistants--Jim Chaney and Randy Melvin appointed assistant coaches at Purdue. Chaney has been a full-time assistant at Wyoming for the past two years, serving as offensive line coach and recruiting coordinator in 1996. Melvin coached Wyoming defensive tackles for the past two years and was defensive line coach at his alma mater, Eastern Illinois, before that.

Men's soccer--Westfield State named Paul Whalley as head men's soccer coach. A 1975 Westfield State graduate, Whalley has been a United States Soccer Federation A-licensed coach and a member of the Massachusetts state coaching staff since 1982. He was assistant director for the Massachusetts Olympic player development program this year. He was assistant coach at Springfield for two years.

Women's softball--James Molloy hired as head coach at Saint Louis. Molloy, currently vice-president of Systems Information Group, was head coach of the men's team at Notre Dame (California) and also coached in Germany while serving in the U.S. Army.

Men's and women's track and field--Craig Penney selected as men's and women's track and field coach at Dickinson, replacing Tracy Santanello, who resigned after two years to accept a similar position in Wisconsin. Penney has been head track and cross country coach for the past three years at Hanover, and coached at Methodist before that. ASSOCIATION

Jon Hanson re-elected to a four-year term as chair of the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame. Hanson is a 1960 graduate of Colgate and currently is chair of Hampshire Management Company in Hackensack, New Jersey.

Etc.

The Independent Athletic Conference announced it has ceased all activities, effective December 6.

CORRECTION

Team results for the Division I Women's Cross Country Championship were incomplete in the December 2 issue of The NCAA News. Placing 17th through 22nd were: 17. William and Mary, 416; 18. Iowa State, 422; 19. Texas-San Antonio, 439; 20. Nebraska, 449; 21. Missouri, 478; 22. Eastern Michigan, 525.

Notables

Nebraska linebacker Jared Tomich named the 11th member of the College Football Association Good Works Team. Tomich has a learning disability and speaks openly about it to children and adults, visiting youths who have learning disabilities in the hope of inspiring them to overcome adversity.

Winners of the AT&T Long Distance Awards for college football games played through the weekend of November 16 (week No. 12) are: longest run from scrimmage, 83 yards, Tim Alexander, Oregon State vs. Northern Illinois; longest pass play, 85 yards, Billy Blanton to Nathaniel Jacquet, San Diego State vs. UNLV; longest punt average (minimum two punts), 58 yards on two punts, Nick Gallery, Iowa vs. Wisconsin; longest punt return, 86 yards, Terry Fair, Tennessee vs. Arkansas; longest kickoff return (tie), 100 yards, Chris McAlister, Arizona vs. UCLA, and John Avery, Mississippi vs. LSU; longest field goal, 50 yards, Jeremy Alexander, Oklahoma vs. Texas A&M.

The winners of the AT&T Long Distance Awards for games played through the weekend of November 23 (week No. 13) are: longest run from scrimmage, 90 yards, Joel Thomas, Idaho at Boise State; longest pass play, 90 yards, Rick Trefzger to Brian Alford, Purdue vs. Indiana; longest punt average (minimum two punts), 53.5 yards on two punts, Jason Bloom, New Mexico vs. UTEP; longest punt return, 74 yards, Chad Smith, New Mexico vs. UTEP; longest kickoff return, 100 yards, Cedric Johnson, UTEP vs. New Mexico; and longest field goal, 51 yards, Tim Montz, Mississippi vs. Georgia.

Finalists for the Outland Award, given annually by the Football Writers Association of America to the best interior lineman in college football, are Ohio State's Orlando Pace, Arizona State's Juan Roque and Texas' Dan Neil.

Florida quarterback Danny Wuerffel was named the winner of the 1996 Walter Camp Football Foundation's Player of the Year Award. The recipient is selected by Division I-A coaches and sports information directors and honors the year's outstanding college player. Wuerffel, who holds 35 passing records, threw for 30 touchdowns during Florida's first 10 games this year. Wuerffel will be honored at a dinner February 15.

Members of the College Football Association's 1996 Scholar-Athlete Team are: Offense -- Notre Dame offensive lineman Jeremy Akers, Virginia offensive back Tiki Barber, Texas receiver Pat Fitzgerald, Air Force offensive lineman Carlton Hendrix, Kansas State offensive lineman Jason Johnsn, Iowa State offensive lineman Tim Kohn, Brigham Young receiver Chad Lewis, Kansas State receiver Kevin Lockett, Tennessee quarterback Peyton Manning, Virginia offensive lineman Jeremy Raley, Texas Christian placekicker Michael Reeder and Florida quarterback Danny Wuerffel. Defense -- Baylor punter Ty Atteberry, Florida State linebacker Daryl Bush, Miami (Florida) linebacker Antonio Coley, Tulsa defensive back Levi Gillen, Nebraska linebacker Jon Hesse, Colorado defensive lineman Ryan Olson, Kentucky linebacker Mike Schellenberger, Virginia Tech linebacker Brandon Semones, Hawaii defensive back Chris Shinnick, Mississippi defensive lineman Brian Kyle Wicker, Nebraska defensive lineman Grant Wistrom and Florida defensive back Lawrence Wright.

Recent American Volleyball Coaches Association Division I women's volleyball players of the week are Lauren Maselli, senior middle blocker at Rhode Island, for the week of November 18 and Ohio State junior outside hitter Vanessa Wouters for the week of November 25.< S. David Berst, NCAA group executive director for enforcement and eligibility appeals, received an honorary doctorate of humane letters from MacMurray. Berst, a 1968 MacMurray graduate, earned letters in three sports -- basketball, baseball and golf. After graduation, he remained at MacMurray as assistant director of admissions and head baseball coach.

The American Football Coaches Association announced recipients of GTE regional coach-of-the-year awards: Division I-A winners are Bob Sutton, Army; Steve Spurrier, Florida; John Cooper, Ohio State; Joe Tiller, Wyoming; and Bruce Snyder, Arizona State. Division I-AA winners are Ray Tellier, Columbia; Bobby Johnson, Furman; Houston Nutt, Murray State; Terry Allen, Northern Iowa; and Steve Axman, Northern Arizona. Division II winners are Malen Luke, Clarion; Hal Mumme, Valdosta State; Pat Behrns, Nebraska-Omaha; Mel Tjeerdsma, Northwest Missouri State; and Rob Smith, Western Washington. Division III winners are Jack Siedlecki, Amherst; Steve Gilbert, Ursinus; Steve Mohr, Trinity (Texas); Larry Kehres, Mount Union; and Steve Johnson, Bethel (Minnesota).

Finalists for the 11th annual Harlon Hill Trophy are senior tailback Jarrett Anderson, Truman State; senior quarterback Lance Funderburk, Valdosta State; and junior quarterback Damian Poalucci, East Stroudsburg.

Stanford's Vin Lananna named Division I coach of the year by the United States Cross Country Coaches Association. Lananna guided Stanford to NCAA Division I cross country championships in both men's and women's competition, marking only the second time that a university has won both titles in the same year.

Ohio State's Orlando Pace is the first repeat winner of the Lombardi Award. Pace became the first sophomore to win the award last year and was the overwhelming favorite for this year's award.

Deaths

--Compiled by Sally Huggins