The NCAA Record

February 24, 1997

Calendar

Soccer alum hired to lead women's team

A former captain of the Dartmouth women's soccer team, Kelly Blasius-Knudsen, has been welcomed back to her alma mater as head women's soccer coach.

Blasius-Knudsen, who previously was an assistant coach at Dartmouth from 1992 through 1994, replaces Neil Orr, who led the Green Wave to a 12-4 record last season as interim coach.

Blasius-Knudsen spent the past two years as head coach at Vermont, where she led the Catamounts to an America East regular-season championship with a 7-0-0 mark. For her efforts, Blasius-Knudsen was named coach of the year by America East and by the New England Women's Intercollegiate Soccer Association.

A 1991 Dartmouth graduate, Blasius-Knudsen was a four-year letterwinner in women's soccer and was captain of the squad her senior season while earning first-team all-Ivy Group honors. After graduation, she spent a year teaching at Stuart Country Day School in Princeton, New Jersey.

GENERAL

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Sister Francis Raftery, Provincial Superior of the Western Province of the Sisters of Charity of St. Elizabeth, appointed president at St. Elizabeth, effective July 1.

FACULTY ATHLETICS REPRESENTATIVE

Dan Graves named faculty athletics representative at Lincoln Memorial. Graves is dean of students.

DIRECTORS OF ATHLETICS

Jeff Altier named athletics director at Stetson after serving as interim AD since May 1996. A Stetson alumnus, Altier joined the Hatter program in August 1987 as assistant baseball coach. He also has been director of athletics promotions and ticket manager, and associate AD ... E. W. Dennison hired as AD at Murray State. Dennison, co-owner of Dennison-Hunt Sporting Goods stores for 23 years, is a Murray State alumnus, and a member of the Racer Athletic Association board of directors and president-elect of the Murray State Athletic Boosters.

ASSOCIATE DIRECTORS OF ATHLETICS

Mike Thomas promoted from assistant to associate athletics director for facilities and operations at Wake Forest ... Diane Stark promoted to associate AD at Northeast Louisiana.

ASSISTANT DIRECTORS OF ATHLETICS

Jason Bauman hired as assistant athletics director for facilities and operations, succeeding Mike Thomas, who was promoted to associate AD. Bauman has been assistant facilities director at Kentucky ... Northeast Louisiana appointed Walt Phythian assistant AD for internal operations.

COACHES

Baseball--Dallas appointed James Vilade to head its recently resurrected baseball program, which will begin varsity competition in the 1997-98 academic year. Vilade was captain of the baseball team while an undergraduate at Baylor. He played two years in the Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League and was head coach for the Spring Valley Athletic Association.

Men's basketball--Interim head coach Steve Lavin promoted to head coach at UCLA. Lavin was an assistant for five seasons before being appointed interim coach in November. His contract will run through June 2001 ... Northeastern State announced the retirement of head coach Ken Hayes, effective July 1.

Women's basketball--Dee Romine, head coach at Stetson, given a 21/2-year contract extension. Romine is in her fourth year as head coach. Her new contract will run through the 1999 season ... Michigan announced that interim head coach Sue Guevara has been named head coach.

Women's basketball assistants--Krista Gerlich named assistant coach at Texas-San Antonio ... Bryan Burgess hired at Samford as administrative assistant coach. Burgess was a graduate assistant coach at Berry.

Field hockey--Marisa Didio, an assistant coach for the 1988 and 1996 U.S. Olympic field hockey teams, named head coach at Yale. Didio was head coach at Northwestern from 1990 through 1994 and at New Hampshire before that.

Football--Greg Johnson appointed head coach at Prairie View A&M. Johnson was head coach at Langston for the past six years and previously was an assistant for five seasons at Langston ... Rich Kacmarynski hired at Central (Iowa), where he was a star running back as an undergraduate and then an assistant football coach. He also has been serving as volunteer strength coach ... Gary Reho, Sacred Heart's football coach since the program's inception in 1990, relinquished his coaching duties to become operations manager of the new health and recreation center at the school. Reho compiled a 19-38 record over six seasons ... Bob Babich selected at North Dakota State. Babich was linebackers coach at Pittsburgh for the past three seasons.

Football assistants--Former Massachusetts assistant coach Jerry Azzinaro has returned to the Minutemen sidelines as defensive coordinator, succeeding Ted Roof, who became defensive coordinator at Western Carolina. Azzinaro has been defensive line coach at Boston College for the past two seasons ... North Dakota State hired Mark Mauer as assistant head coach and receivers coach and Andy Rondeau as defensive secondary coach. Mauer previously coached at Ball State and Wisconsin. Rondeau was a graduate assistant coach at Pittsburgh for the past three seasons. Also, linebackers coach Casey Bradley was given additional duties as defensive coordinator at North Dakota State ... Steve Buckley named running backs coach at Southern Mississippi for the second time, replacing Mike Williams, who became head coach at Jacksonville State. Buckley, who has been a high-school coach for the past two years, was running backs coach at Southern Mississippi in 1990 after two seasons as a graduate assistant there. Also, Larry Kueck was hired as offensive coordinator at Southern Mississippi. He has been offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Marshall.

Widener appointed David Wood defensive coordinator after a one-year stint as running backs coach at Lehigh. Wood served on the Widener staff from 1990 through 1995, coaching running backs and linebackers ... Ted Unbehagen, offensive line coach at Texas Tech for the past 10 seasons, hired as offensive line coach at Houston ... Fresno State announced these football staff changes: Trent Miles, wide receivers and secondary coach at Hawaii for the past two seasons, hired as wide receivers coach; Dan Brown, linebackers coach at Boise State last season, named linebackers coach and recruiting coordinator; Dennis Wagner, head coach at Wayne State (Nebraska) for the past eight seasons, hired as offensive line coach; John Baxter, assistant coach at Tulane for the past three years, appointed special teams coach; and Kevin Coyle, defensive coordinator and secondary coach at Maryland for the past three years, selected as defensive coordinator ... Wake Forest appointed Mel Foels as linebackers coach and James Bell as defensive coordinator ... North Carolina State promoted defensive line coach Robbie Caldwell to assistant head coach ... Al Kincaid named quarterbacks coach at North Alabama.

Men's golf--Pat Goss, assistant men's coach at Northwestern, promoted to interim head men's coach, replacing Jeff Mory, who resigned. Mory, who was head coach for the past seven years, became head professional at Conway Farms Golf Club in Lake Forest, Illinois. Goss has been assistant coach for the past five seasons and assistant golf professional at Lake Shore Country Club.

Men's lacrosse assistants--Sean O'Rourke and Jon Ingram hired at Dartmouth. O'Rourke has been an assistant at Nazareth, where he was a member of the lacrosse team. Ingram was an assistant at Keene State for the past two years ... Jason Coffman, leading scorer in collegiate lacrosse history, hired at Cornell. His 451 points scored as a member of the Salisbury State lacrosse team is a record in all divisions.

Women's lacrosse--Bonnie Rosen hired as women's lacrosse coach at Connecticut.

Men's soccer--Gus Constantine appointed head men's coach at New York Tech. Constantine was head coach at New York University from 1987 to 1995 ... Fred Balbino, assistant men's coach for the past year at American International, promoted to head coach. Balbino played three seasons at Westfield State.

Women's soccer--San Diego announced the resignation of head coach Tony da Luz to become head coach at Wake Forest. Da Luz had led the San Diego program since its inception in 1992 ... John Vincent, a native of England who currently is completing requirements for a doctorate at Florida State, hired to head the new women's soccer program at Southern Mississippi. While earning a master's degree at Southern Mississippi, Vincent was head coach for the men's soccer club team and assistant coach for the women's club team.

Appalachian State selected Ben Popoola as head women's coach. Popoola was head coach at Lambuth last season and at Park before that. He played on the Nigerian national team from 1971 to 1975 before joining the Clemson squad in 1975 ... Ohio State appointed Lori Walker as head women's coach ... Samford hired Barry Spitzer as head women's coach. Spitzer was an assistant coach at Thomas (Georgia).

Women's softball--Cindy Smith named head softball and women's volleyball coach at Union (Kentucky). Smith has been assistant director of admissions and assistant volleyball coach at Lincoln Memorial.

Women's softball assistant--Shane Weaver promoted to assistant coach at Lincoln Memorial. Weaver, who has been a graduate assistant coach, also will be director of purchasing and accounts payable.

Men's and women's tennis--Linda Myers hired as women's coach at Otterbein.

Women's volleyball--Cindy Smith named head volleyball and softball coach at Union (Kentucky). Smith has been assistant director of admissions and assistant volleyball coach at Lincoln Memorial.

STAFF

Health/recreation center manager--Gary Reho, head football coach at Sacred Heart since the inception of the football program there in 1990, relinquished his coaching duties to become operations manager for the school's new health and recreation center.

Operations assistant--Terry Small named assistant director of athletics operations at Staten Island.

Sports information director--Allen Ansley, interim sports information director at Presbyterian since October, named full-time SID. Ansley joined the Presbyterian staff in 1994 as head women's volleyball coach and assistant SID. He resigned in May to work as a project manager involved with the Atlanta Olympics.

Athletic trainer--David Grossman named visiting athletic trainer at Aurora, succeeding Chris Laurent, who resigned to enter sports medicine in the private sector. Grossman was head trainer at Southeast Missouri State for the past two years and for five years at Arizona State before that.

ASSOCIATIONS

Laurie Garrison promoted to assistant executive director for communications at the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics. Garrison has been director of public relations and director of NACDA Foundation scholarships since her arrival at NACDA in 1992.

ETC.

CORRECTIONS

The school affiliation for Cathy A. Beene, who was selected as a certification peer reviewer, was listed incorrectly in the February 10 issue of The NCAA News. Beene is director of tennis at Georgia Southern.

A story about the Division III Men's and Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championships in the February 10 issue of the News erroneously named the school that Terry Anders represented as triple champion in the 1996 championships. Anders, who competed for Wisconsin-Stout, became the first NCAA championships competitor to sweep the 100-, 200- and 400-meter dashes.

NOTABLES

The U.S. Team Coaches Selection Committee of the Lacrosse Foundation has chosen the four coaches who will lead the U.S. men's team in the 1998 International Lacrosse Federation World Championship. The coaches are Bill Tierney, Princeton; Bill Beroza, Long Island/Hofstra Lacrosse Club; Jeff Long, Ithaca; and Paul Wehrum, Herkimer Community College. The U.S. Men's Team will be defending its world championship at Johns Hopkins in July 1998.

Connecticut head men's and women's track coach Angela Goodman selected as women's assistant manager for the U.S. national team at the 1997 USA vs. Republic of South Africa meet March 14 in Cape Town, South Africa. Goodman, in her second season at Connecticut, has guided her squad to a 9-1 record to date.

The winners of the AT&T Long Distance Awards for college basketball games played during the month of January are: three-point field goals per game -- men's Division I, 4.8, Troy Hudson, Southern Illinois; men's Division II, 5.8, Reece Gliko, Montana State-Billings; men's Division III, 5.8, Mark Bedell, Fisk; women's Division I, 4.0, Brenna Doty, Buffalo; and three-point field-goal percentage (minimum 1.5 per game and 40 percent) -- men's Division I, 62.5, Terrance Roberson, Fresno State; men's Division II, 80.0, Aaron Buckoski, Michigan Tech; men's Division III, 59.5, John Hebert, Colby; women's Division I, 55.2, Sarah Lenschow, Valparaiso. AT&T donates $500 monthly in each of the eight categories to the NCAA Degree-Completion Scholarship Program.

Eduardo Ferraz, senior setter for Ball State, named men's national player of the week by the American Volleyball Coaches Association. For the week, Ferraz totaled 171 assists, hit .473, and tallied 33 kills, 19 digs and 14 blocks.

DEATHS

Delaware Valley head football coach Chris Bockrath died February 6 in an automobile accident in Pennsylvania. He was 48. Bockrath was a 1970 graduate of Delaware Valley who took over the football team in 1996. In his only season, he compiled a 1-9 record.

-- Compiled by Sally Huggins