The NCAA Record

November 3, 1997

Calendar

Jurich to succeed Olsen as Louisville AD

Tom Jurich, director of athletics at Colorado State for the past four years, has been appointed athletics director at Louisville. He succeeds Bill Olsen, who announced in July he is retiring after 17 years.

Jurich received a five-year contract at Louisville.

Under his watch at Colorado State, the school claimed five Western Athletic Conference championships, 15 all-America honorees and 100 all-conference or academic all-conference selections.

Before arriving at Colorado State, Jurich was AD at Northern Arizona for eight years. He is a sponsoring member of the Black Coaches Association, chair of the WAC athletics directors and a member of the WAC Championship Committee.

He has been active in community affairs, launching Group Smart, a community outreach program, and has served on the boards of a variety of organizations including the Boys and Girls Clubs of Northern Colorado and Fort Collins.

GENERAL

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

Frederick Woodward appointed president at Westfield State. Woodward was president at the State University of New York College of Agriculture and Technology at Morrisville ... Richard Byyny named chancellor at Colorado. He has been serving as interim chancellor.

ASSOCIATE DIRECTORS OF ATHLETICS

David Wegrzyn, associate athletics director for external affairs at St. John's (New York), named assistant vice-president for institutional advancement at the university ... Nick Floyd, who resigned June 30 to enter private business, returned to his previous position as senior associate AD at Southern Mississippi. Floyd had been at Southern Mississippi for 11 years before his departure. Southern Mississippi also promoted Helen Grant to associate AD. She has been assistant AD, compliance officer and senior woman administrator.

ASSISTANT DIRECTORS OF ATHLETICS

Gerald Shellard hired as assistant athletics director for athletics medicine at Rhode Island College. Shellard was director of sports medicine at Quinnipiac for the past four years ... Harvard named Stephen Staples assistant AD for marketing and promotions and John Veneziano assistant AD for sports information and media relations. Staples was director of marketing and promotions at Utah State last year and Veneziano has been sports information director at Harvard since 1989.

COACHES

Baseball--Joe "Spanky" McFarland appointed head coach at James Madison. He was head coach at Northern Illinois for the past seven years.

Men's basketball--UCLA coach Steve Lavin given a five-year contract extension. Lavin was named interim head coach last November and then was appointed in February ... Larry Epperly hired as head coach at Limestone. He most recently was head coach at South Carolina-Aiken.

Men's basketball assistants--Gallagher Driscoll selected as part-time assistant coach at Albany (New York). He has been an assistant at Le Moyne for the past two years ... John O'Shea hired as assistant coach at Rhode Island College. He has coached at the high-school level ... Jermaine Scott named assistant coach at Limestone. He was an assistant at South Carolina-Aiken.

Women's basketball assistants--Ron Cicchinelli appointed part-time assistant coach at Albany (New York). He has been coaching at the high-school level ... Pam Artman hired as assistant coach at Edinboro. Artman was a standout player at the school from 1992 to 1995 ... Jodie Runner named assistant coach at Shepherd, succeeding Samantha Ezell, who resigned to accept a similar position at Marshall ... Jennifer Schneider appointed assistant coach at Michigan Tech, succeeding Dawn Plitzuweit, who joined the staff at Wisconsin. Schneider also will serve as assistant track and field coach at Michigan Tech ... Karen Callaghan and Eddwena Wright selected as assistant coaches at Wentworth Institute.

Women's cross country assistant--Carolyn Kimball named assistant women's cross country and track coach at Rhode Island. She has been a graduate assistant track and field coach at New Hampshire.

Football--Missouri Southern State head coach Jon Lantz resigned. Rob Green, offensive coordinator, was named interim coach. Lantz was in his ninth season as head coach.

Men's and women's golf--George Heslin hired as head men's and women's golf coach at Sacred Heart. Heslin has been head golf professional at Fairchild Wheelter Golf Course in Fairfield, Connecticut.

Women's gymnastics--Kim Zeiner appointed head women's gymnastics coach at Rhode Island College, succeeding Dick Stapleton, who retired after four years. Zeiner has been coaching at the high-school level.

Women's lacrosse assistant--Tami Riley hired as assistant women's lacrosse coach at James Madison. Riley, who was a four-year member of the lacrosse team at Maryland, was an assistant lacrosse coach last year at Virginia.

Women's softball assistant--Dirk Welch hired as a part-time assistant coach at Bradley.

Men's and women's swimming and diving--Jim Parker named swimming coach and aquatics director at Wells, succeeding Steve Siford. Parker was men's and women's swimming and diving coach at Morrisville.

Women's track and field assistant--Carolyn Kimball named assistant women's track and field and cross country coach at Rhode Island. She has been a graduate assistant track and field coach at New Hampshire.

Women's water polo--Jennifer Gahan hired as head women's water polo coach at Harvard. Gahan is a 1994 Harvard graduate and was a four-year letter winner in women's water polo. She was an assistant coach last year at Wellesley.

Wrestling assistants--Brian Allen named assistant wrestling coach at Rhode Island College. He was a two-time all-American at the school, in 1989 and 1991. He has been a high-school coach ... Kendall Cross selected as assistant coach at Harvard. The 1990 Oklahoma State graduate won a gold medal in freestyle wrestling at the 1996 Summer Olympics.

STAFF

Athletics development director--Ralph Pim given additional duties as director of athletics development at Limestone. He will continue as director of physical education.

Sports information directors--
John Veneziano, sports information director at Harvard since 1989, promoted to assistant athletics director for sports information and media relations ... Mickey Smith appointed SID at Belmont. He was SID at Lewis.

Sports information assistants--Jamie Zeitz named coordinator of sports communication at Rhode Island. He was a media relations assistant at Massachusetts last year ... Tom Isaacson hired as assistant sports information director at Ferris State. Isaacson spent the past eight months as an intern with the Chicago White Sox.

Assistant video coordinator--Todd Blumen selected as assistant video coordinator at Syracuse. Blumen has been a graduate assistant for the past two years.

Etc.

CONFERENCES

James Companion Jr. hired as assistant commissioner for marketing and promotions at the Big South Conference. Companion was an account executive with Gamecock Sports Marketing, Host Communications/USA.

Notables

Deaths

Dan Libera, head athletic trainer at Northern Colorado for 26 years, died August 2 in Greeley, Colorado. He was 49. Libera was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease in July 1994. Libera was a member of the Northern Colorado Hall of Fame and an inductee into the National Athletic Trainers Association Hall of Fame.

Sean Tunstall, a member of the Kansas men's basketball team in 1990-91, died October 16 in St. Louis. Police reported Tunstall was killed in a shooting outside a recreation center.

Pat Myers, a former member of the men's basketball team at Southwestern (Texas), died October 5. He was 33. Myers, who played basketball at Southwestern in 1985 and 1986, had cancer.

Walter Turner, a freshman member of the Florida Atlantic basketball team, collapsed during stretching exercises at practice and died October 19. He was 18. Turner began playing basketball during his junior year at Norland Senior High School in Miami.

Jay Barrington, a radio and television personality in the 1950s and '60s, died October 2 in Washington, Kansas. He was 71. Barrington was a play-by-play announcer for Kansas and other Big Seven Conference football and basketball teams and for the NCAA basketball championship in Kansas City. In the early 1960s, Barrington moved to California, where he managed several radio and television stations and later became a radio sports marketing and sales director.

--Compiled by Sally Huggins