Calendar

Nebraska's Pettit announces retirement

Nebraska head women's volleyball coach Terry Pettit announced his retirement. In 23 years as head coach, Pettit has earned a 694-148-11 record and an overall collegiate coaching mark of
743-159-11.

During Pettit's tenure, Nebraska squads have competed in 18 consecutive NCAA tournaments, earned 21 Big Eight/Big 12 Conference championships and captured one national title in 1995. He has won Big Eight/Big 12 Conference Coach of the Year honors nine times and garnered American Volleyball Coaches Association Coach of the Year recognition in 1986, 1994 and 1996. Pettit also was named as the United States Olympic Committee's Elite Coach of the Year in 1996.

Pettit earned a bachelor's degree in English from Manchester in 1968 and a master's degree in creative writing from Arkansas in 1974.

The school named John Cook as Pettit's successor. Cook, who has been associate head coach this past season, formerly served as an assistant at Nebraska from 1988 to 1991. Prior to his current stint with the school, Cook was head coach at Wisconsin for seven seasons.

GENERAL

DIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS

John Hardt accepted the position of director of athletics and recreation at Bucknell. Since 1996, he has been associate athletics director for administration and compliance services at Michigan State. Hartdt succeeds Rick Hartzell, who became athletics director at Northern Iowa, and interim athletics director Brad Tufts.

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS

Lynn's Douglas Dudeck resigned as assistant director of intercollegiate athletics and campus recreation. Dudeck has been with the school's athletics department since 1989.

COACHES

Baseball -- Wayne Mazzoni was hired as head coach at Teikyo Post.

Men's basketball assistants -- Lisa Beamer was chosen as an assistant at Tampa. Beamer, who replaced Mike Moran, currently is the only female assistant men's basketball coach at the Division II level ... Montana State-Billings added Eric Stang as an assistant coach.

Women's basketball assistant -- Scott Hatler was chosen as an assistant at Montana State-Billings.

Football -- Lafayette elevated Frank Tavani to head coach to succeed Bill Russo. Tavani has been an assistant coach for 13 seasons, including serving as associate head coach since 1994 ... Lou Tepper was selected as head coach at Edinboro ... Central Arkansas appointed Clint Conque as head coach. Conque most recently was offensive coordinator at Louisiana Tech ... Benjamin Blacknall was awarded head coaching duties at Delaware State. During the past season, Blacknall fulfilled responsibilities as an assistant head coach and defensive coordinator at Morehouse ... Tennessee-Martin hired Sam McCorkle as head coach. Since 1997, McCorkle has been offensive coordinator at Mississippi Delta Community College, and he formerly was an assistant coach at Austin Peay, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Mississippi and North Texas ... Sacred Heart named Jim Fleming as head coach ... Mount St. Joseph assistant coach Rod Huber was promoted to head coach ... Gene Nicholson retired as head coach at Westminster (Pennsylvania). Nicholson, who has been head coach since 1991 and a member of the football coaching staff for 31 years, missed all of last season after taking a leave of absence for health reasons. He will continue to serve as a physical education professor and will be assigned other coaching duties.

Football assistants -- Valdosta State named Will Muschamp as defensive coordinator, David Dean as receivers coach and Kirby Smart as secondary coach. The school also promoted offensive line coach Shawn Bostick to assistant head coach ... Mike Bradeson, secondary coach at UNLV, accepted additional duties as defensive coordinator. Bradeson has been with the program since 1996 ... Nebraska defensive coordinator Charlie McBride announced his retirement. McBride has been an assistant coach with the program for 23 years, including 18 as defensive coordinator. The school elevated Craig Bohl to defensive coordinator at Nebraska to succeed McBride. Bohl has been linebackers coach ... Stan Parrish was elevated to offensive coordinator and Andy Moeller was hired as offensive tackles and tight ends coach at Michigan.

Parrish has been quarterbacks coach for four seasons and replaces Mike DeBord. Moeller has been an assistant coach at Missouri for six years, including coaching the offensive line for the past three ... Arkansas' Mark Hutson resigned as special teams and tight ends coach to become offensive line coach at Tulsa ... Missouri named Bill Cubit as co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach and selected Sam Pittman as offensive line coach. The school also promoted Chris Tabor to running backs coach. Tabor was a graduate assistant coach ... Southern Mississippi will not renew the contracts of assistants Steve Davis and Petey Pero ... Brian Norwood was added as defensive backs coach, and Ruffin McNeill was appointed as linebackers coach at Texas Tech ... Tulsa chose Chris Vaughn as inside linebackers coach ... Bret Ingalls resigned as offensive coordinator and offensive line coach at Northern Iowa to become offensive coordinator at Idaho ... Arkansas chose John Thompson as secondary coach and co-defensive coordinator ... William Harris was selected as defensive coordinator and secondary coach, and Peter Alamar was selected as offensive coordinator and offensive line coach at Eastern Michigan ... Georgia added Doug Marrone as an assistant coach ... Ted Gilmore resigned as tight ends coach at Kansas to join the football staff at Houston ... New Mexico appointed Dan Dodd as offensive coordinator ... Army named David Blackwell, John Bond, Harold Etheridge, Travis Niekamp, Junior Smith, Dennis Therrell, Tucker Waugh and Chris Wilson as assistants ... Kenny Carter was appointed as assistant head coach and defensive coordinator at Citadel ... Sam Houston State selected James Ferguson as offensive coordinator and Craig Naivar as defensive line coach ... North Alabama named Sam Graham as defensive line and strength coach to replace Willie Slater. Graham was a graduate assistant defensive line coach with the program last season. The school elevated offensive line coach David Martin to offensive coordinator and moved receivers coach Cody Gross to quarterbacks and fullbacks coach.

Men's and women's lacrosse -- Ed Charlton was hired as head men's coach at Clark. Charlton most recently was co-head coach of the Worcester Polytechnic club team.

Men's soccer -- Dan Hogan was chosen as head coach at Southern Indiana. From 1991 to 99, Hogan served as head coach at Columbia College.

Women's soccer -- Angela Kelly was chosen as head coach at Tennessee to replace Charlie MacCabe, who resigned ... Westfield State selected Heather Boisvere as head coach. Boisvere, who competed in the United Soccer League in 1998 and 1999, was an assistant at American International this past season.

Women's soccer assistant -- Tusc -ulum's Jessica Maddox resigned after three years as an assistant coach to become head women's coach at South Dakota.

Men's and women's tennis assistant -- Jason Kinder accepted interim men's assistant coaching duties at North Carolina-Greensboro.

Men's and women's track and field -- Texas A&M-Corpus Christi named Shawn Flanagan as head men's and women's cross country and track and field coach. The cross country program is scheduled to begin competition in the fall of 2000, and the track program is slated to begin in the fall of 2001. Flanagan has been head cross country coach and assistant men's track and field coach at Texas since 1997.

Men's and women's volleyball -- Liz Perryman resigned as head coach at Concordia (Minnesota), effective January 7 ... Illinois State head coach Julie Morgan resigned ... Miles Pabst retired after 22 years as head coach at Oklahoma. Pabst closes his tenure with an overall record of 436-389-1.

Wrestling -- Sam Barber promoted to head coach at Upper Iowa.

STAFF

Administrative -- North Carolina appointed Rick Steinbacher as assistant to the athletics director.

Athletic training -- Jason Pennella was added as head athletic trainer at Adams State.

Facilities -- Lenoir-Rhyne appointed Joe Fisher as athletics facilities and special events coordinator.

Sports information -- Beaver awarded John DiBricida with sports information director responsibilities. DiBricida also serves as assistant baseball coach and replaces Lisa Brackbill. Brackbill, who has been head athletic trainer and sports information director for five and a half years, will continue as head athletic trainer.

Sports information assistant -- Mary Jo Haverbeck retired as associate sports information director at Penn State, effective January 1. Haverbeck, the first woman elected to the College Sports Information Directors Association of America Hall of Fame, joined the Penn State sports information office in 1973.

Strength and conditioning -- Cal State Fullerton named Michael Nagler as strength and conditioning coach. For the past 17 months, Nagler has been assistant strength coach at Iowa.

NOTABLES

The following men's and women's soccer coaches have been selected as 1999 NSCAA/adidas Senior College Regional Coaches of the Year: Men's Division I -- New England -- Ray Ried, Connecticut; New York -- Dean Foti, Syracuse; South Atlantic -- Pete Caringi, UMBC; Middle Atlantic -- Barry Gorman, Penn State; South -- Doug Allison, Furman; Great Lakes -- Ian Collins, Kentucky; Midwest -- Jon Leamy, Southwest Missouri State; Far West -- Todd Saldana, UCLA. Men's Division II -- New England -- Tom Lang, Southern Connecticut State; Northeast -- Ed Goodhines, Southampton; Southeast -- Fred Norchi, Queens (North Carolina); Great Lakes -- Peter Curtis, Charleston (West Virginia); South -- Steve McCrath, Barry; Midwest -- Jeremy Gunn, Fort Lewis; Central -- Terry Stefankiewicz, Indiana/
Purdue-Fort Wayne; Far West -- Dwayne Shaffer, UC Davis. Men's Division III -- New England -- Ed Mighten, Trinity (Connecticut); New York -- Robert Durocher, St. Lawrence; Metro -- Jeff Haines, Richard Stockton; Middle Atlantic -- David Brandt, Messiah; South -- Gerry DiBartolo, Salisbury State; Great Lakes -- Scott Frey, Alma; Central -- Joe Bean, Wheaton (Illinois); Far West -- Kurt Anderson, St. Olaf. Women's Division I -- Northeast -- Tim Wheaton, Harvard; Middle Atlantic -- Patrick Farmer, Penn State; Southeast -- Brian Lee, Furman; Central -- John Walker, Nebraska; Great Lakes -- Warren Lipka, Kentucky; West -- Jerry Smith, Santa Clara. Women's Division II -- New England -- Jose Gomes, Stonehill; Northeast -- Peter Campbell, Lock Haven; South -- Bill Elliott, West Florida; Central -- Matt Townsend, North Dakota State; Great Lakes -- John Melody, Mercyhurst; West -- Carlos Juarez, Cal Poly Pomona; Midwest -- Jaymee L. Stone, Fort Lewis; Southeast -- Brian S. Purcell, Presbyterian. Women's Division III -- New York -- Aliceann Wilber, William Smith; Middle Atlantic -- Joseph R. Bochicchio, Scranton; South -- Todd Olsen, Lynchburg; Central -- Peter Felske, Wheaton (Illinois); Great Lakes -- Gail Murphy, Denison; New England -- Luis Reis, Wheaton (Massachusetts); West -- Kristen Martini, Pomona-Pitzer.

Danny Ragsdale was named as the 1999 Gagliardi Trophy winner as the nation's most outstanding Division III football player. Ragsdale, a senior quarterback at Redlands, was second in total offense and third in passing efficiency in Division III this season. He also was selected as the 1999 Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference offensive player of the year.

USA Baseball announced Jason Jennings as the 1999 Golden Spikes Award winner as the top amateur baseball player in the nation. A right-handed pitcher, Jennings is Baylor's all-time leader in strikeouts, strikeouts in a season, saves, victories and innings pitched. Jennings, a two-time member of USA Baseball National Team, was chosen by the Colorado Rockies as 16th overall in the first round of the the 1999 Major League Baseball draft.

April Heinrichs, head women's soccer coach at Virginia, was selected as the first recipient of the National Soccer Coaches Association of America Women's Committee Award of Excellence. The award, sponsored by the Washington Area Girls Soccer League, is given to an individual for outstanding long-term service and contribution to the improvement and advancement of the women's game in the United States. Heinrichs has guided the Virginia women's squad for four seasons and also is head coach of the U.S. Women's U-16 National Team.

DEATHS

Former coach and athletics director James H. "Fuzzy" Williams died December 21 at the age of 79. Williams coached football at Elizabeth City State College and Bethune-Cookman. He served as athletics director at Delaware State from 1962 to 1978.

Reggie Carter, former basketball player at St. John's, died of a heart attack. Carter, 42, competed at St. John's during the 1977-78 and 1978-80 seasons and played professionally with the NBA's New York Knicks for two seasons. Following his professional career, he became an educator and assistant high-school principal.

Bill Bowerman, Former Oregon athletics coach and co-founder of Nike, died at age 88.

Frank A. Zazula, former Akron football player, died on December 12. Zazula, 83, was a three-year member of the football squad and went on to coach football at Oregon and North Dakota.

Upper Iowa head wrestling coach Mike McCready died of an apparent heart attack December 16. He was 49. McCready had been head coach for 15 years, and he had served as football coach, cross country coach and athletics director during his tenure with the school.

Ulices Charon, a freshman wrestler at Upper Iowa, died December 11 of injuries sustained in a car accident November 25. Charon was 18.

Former Middle Tennessee State head basketball coach, Stanley "Ramrod" Simpson died of cancer . From 1979 to 1984, Simpson guided the Middle Tennessee State men's basketball program to a 71-66 mark.

Ed Doherty, former head football coach at Arizona and Arizona State, died at the age of 81. Doherty coached at Arizona State from 1947 to 1950 and at Arizona from 1957 to 1958. He also coached several years at the high-school level.

Former California two-time basketball all-America Bob McKeen died of heart failure December 31. McKeen, 66, competed at California from 1951 to 1955, and his 1,019 rebound mark is still the school record.

--Compiled by Leilana McKindra