National Collegiate Athletic Association |
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The NCAA RecordFebruary 9, 1998
Calendar
Von Thron named first female SID in ACC
Prior to her seven-month stint as interim director, von Thron had served as assistant sports information director at the school since September 1994. She also has been sports information director at American and College of Charleston, her alma mater. A three-sport participant at College of Charleston, von Thron was a three-year member of the tennis squad and a member of the basketball team for two years. In one year on the golf team, she served as team captain.
Von Thron graduated from College of Charleston in 1989 with a bachelor's degree in business administration.
GENERALCHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICERS Willamette appointed M. Lee Pelton president, effective in July. Pelton has been dean of the college at Dartmouth ... Ruth A. Schmidt, president emeritus at Agnes Scott, named interim president at Lyon. FACULTY ATHLETICS REPRESENTATIVE John M. Bernard named faculty athletics representative at Ithaca. A biology professor at the school since 1964, Bernard has one of the faculty's longest active terms of service and is currently serving his second stint as chairman of the biology department. ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS Emory announced the retirement of Sandy Tillman, associate director of athletics and recreation. Tillman has worked at the school for 28 years, the last 12 in her present position. ASSISTANT DIRECTORS OF ATHLETICS Rick J. Spelman promoted to assistant athletics director for marketing at Oklahoma ... Joe Verbeckmoes, assistant athletics director for development at Wichita State, resigned after nine years to return to private business ... Ohio tapped Christine Sheets as assistant athletics director for business and personnel after serving for the past two years as director of business and marketing for the school's campus recreation department. Sheets replaces Al Hammond, who resigned to assume a position with McDonald's Corporation. COACHES Baseball--Clarkson named Mike Nicholson head coach. Nicholson has served as a scout for Major League Baseball's Pittsburgh Pirates since 1995 ... John Cunningham, head coach at UC San Diego, will step down at the end of the 1998 season. Cunningham, who also has served as head freshman and assistant varsity basketball coach and director of intramurals activities at the school, assumed the head baseball coaching post in 1964. He will continue to serve at the school in another capacity. Baseball assistant--Jake Filip appointed assistant coach at New Hampshire, where he will be hitting coach. For the past two years, Filip has been an assistant coach at Pinkerton Academy. Men's basketball--Idaho State head coach Herb Williams announced his resignation, effective at the end of the season. Williams has been head coach for eight years. Women's basketball--Five-year Miami (Ohio) head coach Lisa Bradley granted a leave of absence for health reasons. Assistant coach Randy Roberts was named interim head coach in her absence. Women's cross country--April Ecke selected as head women's coach at Northwestern. Field hockey--St. Mary's (Maryland) hired Laura Biggs as head field hockey and women's lacrosse coach. Biggs, who has served as an assistant coach of field hockey and lacrosse at Washington (Maryland) and Goucher, also will fulfill intramurals director responsibilities. Football--Ron Cooper tapped as head coach at Alabama A&M, succeeding Ken Pettiford, who was released. Cooper most recently coached at Louisville ... Long Island-C. W. Post named Bryan Collins head coach ... Bob Estock named head coach at Coast Guard, where he has been interim head coach ... St. Thomas (Minnesota) assistant coach Don Roney appointed head coach at the school, succeeding Mal Scanlan, who retired. Roney, a 10-year assistant, has coached receivers for the last five seasons. Football assistants--Texas Christian named Chris Thurmond as director of football operations, replacing Rick Villarreal, who was released. The school also hired assistant coaches Dan Dodd, Gary Patterson, Jim Bob Helduser, Mark Parks, Kenith Pope, Stan Eggen, Mike Schultz, Mark Tommerdahl and Kasey Dunn. Assistant coaches Curtis Modkins, Dan Sharp, Charlie Rizzo, Travis "Bud" Casey, Phil Bennett, Steve Brickey, Tommie Robinson, Bob Fello and Pete Hoener were released ... Aaron Price selected as quarterbacks coach and Les Boyum appointed offensive coordinator for the 1998 season at Missouri Western State. Price, who has been a graduate assistant coach at Washington State for three years, succeeds Jeff Leiker, who assumed the head coaching post at Fort Hays State. Last season, Boyum worked as assistant head coach and offensive line coach ... St. Francis (Pennsylvania) tapped Scott F. Khare and John F. Thompson as assistant coaches. In 1997, Khare was head junior varsity coach and assistant varsity coach in charge of running backs at Trinity (Connecticut). Since 1996, Thompson has been linebackers coach, assistant to the defensive backs coach, cohead junior varsity coach and video coordinator at Marist ... Connecticut selected Tom Masella as defensive secondary coach ... Daniel Mullen, wide receivers coach at Columbia for two years, appointed graduate assistant coach at Syracuse. He will work with the offensive unit. Men's golf--Earl Yestingsmeier announced his retirement at Ball State after 36 years as head coach, effective June 30. For 31 years, Yestingsmeier worked as the school's sports information director in addition to his responsibilities as coach before deciding to concentrate solely on golf in 1990. He also has served as assistant director of alumni relations and ticket manager at the school. Men's and women's soccer--Jim Findlay appointed head men's coach at Susquehanna. He replaces Steve Reinhardt, who accepted the position of head women's and assistant men's coach at Upper Iowa. Findlay has been assistant men's and women's soccer coach at Lycoming for the past two seasons ... Bill Easteadt named head men's soccer coach at Long Island- C. W. Post, where he has been interim head coach ... James R. Conner named soccer program coordinator and athletics department academic advisor at Saginaw Valley State. Conner will retain his responsibilities as head women's coach, a position he held last year. Men's and women's track and field--Marcus Newsom, sprints and jumps coach at Wartburg for the past three years, tapped as head coach at the school. Newsom replaces Steve Johnson, who was head men's and women's cross country and track coach for eight years and who will continue to head the cross country program and assist in track. Men's volleyball--Don Shondell, head men's coach at Ball State, announced his retirement, effective June 30. Women's volleyball--St. Mary's (Maryland) tapped Bryan Snyder as head women's volleyball coach. Snyder, who has served as assistant sports information director at Washington and Lee for the last year and a half, also will assume sports information director's responsibilities at the school. STAFF Academic support assistant--Syracuse appointed Edward Hobson graduate assistant in academic support for football. Hobson will monitor academic progress and assist in the design and implementation of academic support programs. Sports information assistant--Al Carbone selected as assistant sports information director at Boston U. Carbone has been a media relations assistant at Boston College since August 1997. Sports promotions coordinator--Ron D'Innocenzo accepted the position of coordinator of sports promotions at Boston U. Since September 1995, D'Innocenzo has worked as an account manager at Arnold Communications, Inc. Strength and conditioning coach--Chris Doyle named strength and conditioning coach at Utah, succeeding Dwight Daub, who accepted a strength coaching post with the Seattle Supersonics of the National Basketball Association. Doyle has been strength and conditioning coach and director of computer operations for football at Wisconsin since January 1996. ASSOCIATIONS The College Athletic Business Management Association named Julie Bright third vice-president. Bright has worked as athletics business manager and licensing administrator at Northern Iowa since 1985. CONFERENCES Mike Pereira resigned as football officials supervisor in the Western Athletic Conference to serve as a supervisor of officials in the National Football League. Pereira began officiating in the Big West Conference in 1982 and has been a WAC official since 1992. NCAA NATIONAL OFFICE Gordon Finch hired as membership services representative. Finch has been a clerk for Judge Douglas L. Richards in Blue Earth, Minnesota, since April 1995 ... Mike King named service center coordinator. King was printing and mailing services manager at Indiana/Purdue-Indianapolis Publishing Services. SEMINAR Vermont is presenting a live, two-hour national teleconference exploring Title IX issues beginning at 1:45 p.m. (Eastern time) February 23. The seminar will feature a panel of gender-equity experts, including Donna Lopiano, executive director of the Women's Sports Foundation; Janet Justus, NCAA director of educational outreach; National Women's Law Center senior counsel Deborah Brake; Frances O'Shea, Office of Civil Rights national coordinator for Title IX and athletics; and athletics directors from various schools. The format will include interviews with coaches and athletes, a postprogram Internet discussion group, and permission to videotape the program for future use. The cost is $495 per teleconference location. An unlimited number of individuals may participate at each location. For more information, call 800/639-3188 or visit the school's Title IX teleconference World Wide Web site at http://uvmce.uvm.edu:443/profprog.htm.
NotablesJerry Vroom, former San Jose State golf coach, received the Rolex Honor Award January 29 during the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) convention. The award is presented to a former coach for outstanding service and contributions to men's collegiate golf. Vroom is a 1981 inductee into the GCAA Hall of Fame. During his tenure, San Jose State appeared in the NCAA tournament in each of his 22 years at the helm in addition to netting five Pacific Coast Athletic Association Conference titles and seven Western Intercollegiate Championships. Former Michigan State head women's golf coach Mary Fossum received the Rolex/Gladys Palmer Meritorious Service Award January 28. Recognized for outstanding service and contributions to women's collegiate golf, Fossom coached at Michigan State from 1973 to 1997 and was inducted into the Golf Coaches Hall of Fame in 1988. Between 1974 and 1978, Fossum led squads to a string of five Big Ten titles. She was named the first-ever NCAA Midwest region coach of the year in 1984. |
Joan von Thron has been named sports information director at North Carolina State, where she was interim director. Von Thron becomes the first woman sports information director in the history of the Atlantic Coast Conference.