Calendar

Union athletics director to retire in June

Dick Sakala, athletics director at Union (New York), announced plans to retire, effective June 30.

Sakala has been director of athletics at the school since 1977. During his tenure, he played a significant role in establishing the Upstate Collegiate Athletic Association. The conference began formal competition during the 1995-96 season, and Sakala served as the conference's president for the 1997-98 season.

Sakala also has been an active participant in the Eastern College Athletic Conference. He formerly fulfilled responsibilities as president of the organization and has held memberships on the executive council, finance committee and various championship committees. Further, Sakala served on the NCAA Division III Football Committee.

Recipient of the 1984 Union College Alumni Association's Faculty Meritorious Service Award, Sakala played baseball at Columbia and was quarterback and defensive back for the school's 1961 Ivy League football championship squad. Sakala graduated in 1962.

GENERAL

DIRECTORS OF ATHLETICS

Mike Wadsworth resigned as athletics director at Notre Dame, effective at the end of the year ... Michigan athletics director Tom Goss resigned, effective at the end of March ... Jeffrey Compher was chosen as director of athletics at Western Carolina ... Drake athletics director Lynn King resigned to become athletics director at Pacific (California). King, who has been athletics director at the school since 1990, has served on various NCAA committees, including a term as chair of the Men's and Women's Track and Field Committee, from 1996 to 1999 ... Arkansas State's Barry Dowd resigned as athletics director. The school named head football coach Joe Hollis as interim athletics director ... Beth Murray resigned as athletics director at Wingate.

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS

Missouri-Kansas City elevated Carla Wilson to assistant athletics director for business operations. For the past three years, Wilson has been business manager and senior woman administrator.

COACHES

Aquatics -- John McKeown was chosen as manager of aquatics, intramurals and recreation at York (New York).

Baseball assistant -- Coker hired Matt Belinsky as an assistant.

Men's basketball -- Coastal Carolina awarded head coach Pete Strickland a contract extension through the 2003-04 season ... Derek Allister resigned as head coach at Stephen F. Austin, effective at the end of the season ... Valdosta State head coach James Dominey resigned, effective at the end of the season.

Women's basketball -- Hartford awarded head coach Jennifer Rizzotti a four-year contract.

Football -- Western Connecticut selected Bob Surace as head coach ... Tim Coen resigned after seven seasons as head coach at Salve Regina to become head coach at LaSalle Academy in Providence, Rhode Island ... Bob Tyler was hired as head coach at Millsaps to succeed Ron Jurney, who resigned. Tyler, a former assistant and head coach at Mississippi in the 1970s, has been a deputy director for the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks for the past seven years ... Towson extended the contract of head coach Gordy Combs through the 2004 season. Combs, who was the 1999 Patriot League coach of the year, enters his ninth season as head coach ... Bill Schmitz, head coach at Austin Peay, was awarded a three-year contract extension through the 2002 season ... Chattanooga appointed Donnie Kirkpatrick as interim head coach ... Carl Torbush, head coach at North Carolina, will relinquish defensive coordinator responsibilities ... Mike Schmitz was chosen as head coach at Wooster ... Canisius named Edward W. Argast as head coach to replace Chuck Williams. For the past 12 years, Argast has been an assistant coach at Colgate, including spending the last seven as defensive line coach.

Football assistants -- Lafayette hired John Loose as defensive coordinator and linebackers coach. For the past eight seasons, Loose has been linebackers coach at Army ... Chris Klenakis was awarded offensive coordinator responsibilities at Southern Mississippi. Klenakis has been offensive coordinator at Nevada for four years ... Vincent White was named as running backs coach at Arizona State ... Penn State awarded Fran Ganter assistant head coaching responsibilities and named Tom Bradley, defensive secondary coach since 1996, as defensive coordinator. The school also chose Al Golden as linebackers coach, Bob White as defensive line assistant coach and special teams coach, Jay Paterno as quarterbacks coach, Dick Anderson as guards and centers coach, Bill Kenney as tackles and tight ends coach, Larry Johnson as defensive line coach, Kenny Jackson as wide receivers coach, and Joe Sarra, former defensive line coach, as assistant to the head coach for special projects ... Tennessee-Martin announced Gerald Broussard as offensive line coach, Brian Maner as running backs coach, Sammy McCorkle as secondary coach, Jeff Richards as defensive coordinator and linebackers coach, and Blaine McCorkle as graduate assistant coach ... Florida elevated Buddy Teevens to passing game coordinator and Jon Hoke to assistant head coach. Teevens was running backs coach, and Hoke was defensive coordinator ... Tim Launtz was selected as football recruiting coordinator and defensive coordinator at Juniata ... West Virginia added Frank Kurth as receivers coach. Kurth has been offensive line coach and running game coordinator at Kent since 1997. The school also appointed Bill Stewart, an assistant coach with the program since January, as quarterbacks coach ... Aaron Brady was hired as linebackers coach at Mansfield. Brady most recently has been an assistant coach at East Side (New Jersey) High School ... Paul Randolph was chosen as defensive line coach at Illinois State. Last season, Randolph served as an assistant at Valdosta State ... Mansfield added Paul Fuller as defensive line coach ... North Carolina moved wide receivers coach Darrell Moody to running backs coach and named Gunter Brewer as wide receivers coach. The school also announced Ken Browning as defensive coordinator ... Buddy Green was awarded defensive coordinator duties at North Carolina State ... Syracuse selected Greg Keigher as a graduate assistant ... Monmouth (New Jersey) added Scott Van Zile as an assistant. Van Zile is a 1999 graduate of Towson and was a four-year football letterwinner ... Paul Petrino was selected as quarterbacks coach at Southern Mississippi ... Air Force offensive coordinator Bob Noblitt announced retirement plans. The school named Chuck Petersen as offensive coordinator and selected Ed Warriner as offensive line coach ... George Yarno was appointed as offensive line coach at Arizona State ... James Shibest resigned as head coach at Butler County Community College to accept assistant coaching duties at Arkansas ... Georgia relieved defensive coordinator and secondary coach Kevin Ramsey of responsibilities as defensive coordinator. The school selected Gary Gibbs to fulfill that role ... Tim Albin was appointed as linebackers coach at Nebraska ... Syracuse chose Reggie Terry as director of football operations ... Todd Bradford resigned as defensive backs coach at Louisiana Tech to become the secondary coach at Wisconsin. Louisiana Tech also announced that defensive line coach Karl Dunbar resigned to accept assistant strength coaching duties at LSU ... Southern Arkansas added Clay Jennings as defensive backs coach and Tate Behne as defensive line coach ... Tim Burke was chosen as secondary coach, and Todd Middleton was added as tight ends coach at Kansas ... The Citadel appointed Bruce Hardin as offensive coordinator, Keith Jones as defensive coordinator, Jim Daniel as defensive line coach and Ahren Self as linebackers coach ... Shelton Gandy was selected as running backs coach at Southern Mississippi. Most recently, Gandy has been secondary coach at East Mississippi Community College.

Men's and women's golf -- Barry Denton resigned as men's head coach at Texas-San Antonio ... Sam Hall announced plans to retire as head men's coach at Southern Mississippi ... Bill Hill announced retirement plans as head coach at Stephen F. Austin, effective at the end of the 2000 season. Hill's 1999 squad was co-champion of the Southland Conference ... North Carolina-Charlotte selected Ben Hannan as head coach.

Men's and women's gymnastics -- Illinois named Bob Starkell as head women's coach. Starkell has been an assistant coach with the program for six years and was interim head coach this season.

Men's ice hockey -- Don Brose, head coach at Minnesota State-Mankato, will retire at the end of the 2000 season.

Men's and women's lacrosse -- Beaver selected Melinda Altadonna as head women's coach. Altadonna is a 1999 Bloomsburg graduate, where she competed on the women's lacrosse team and was a first-team all-American ... Ken Tubbs accepted head men's coaching duties at Southern Maine.

Men's and women's lacrosse assistant -- Laura Ann Lane accepted assistant women's coaching responsibilities at Beaver.

Men's soccer -- Eric Miller was chosen as head coach at Southern Maine ... Beaver named Tom Carlin as head men's coach.

Women's soccer -- Chattanooga chose Luis Reis as head coach ... Joe Barrosso was named as head coach at Sacred Heart ... Iowa head coach Stephanie Gabbert resigned to assume head coaching duties at Iowa State. Ian Rickerby was appointed as interim women's head coach ... South Dakota State hired Lang Wedemeyer as head coach. The program is scheduled to begin competition in the fall. In addition to serving as director of coaching and women's coordinator for the Roanoke Valley Youth Soccer Club, Wedemeyer also has been assistant executive director of the club for the past three years ... Wingate selected Geri-Lyn Dubay as head coach.

Women's soccer assistant -- Mark Phillips was awarded duties as assistant coach at Indiana/Purdue-Indianapolis. Phillips will continue to play professionally with the Indiana Blast.

Softball -- Appalachian State selected Wilma Rucker as head coach.

Softball assistants -- Jennie Allerding and Angela Walter were added as full-time assistants at Kent. Allerding was pitching coach with the program last season, and Walter was an assistant coach at Northern Kentucky for two years.

Men's and women's swimming assistant -- Bowling Green hired Paige Gross as assistant men's and women's coach. Gross has been an assistant at St. Xaiver (Ohio) High School for five years.

Men's and women's tennis -- Vic Stone retired as head coach at Central Connecticut State, effective at the end of the 2000 season.

Men's and women's tennis assistant -- Syracuse named Jana Strnadova-Bacova as women's assistant coach.

Men's and women's track and field -- Kathy Manizza was chosen as men's and women's track and cross country coach at Hartford to replace Clint Bowman. For the past seven years, Manizza has been head track coach at Eastern Connecticut State.

Men's and women's track and field assistant -- Lewis and Clark hired Erik Smith as an assistant coach, working primarily as a throw specialist ... Eric Campbell was appointed as assistant track coach at Miami (Florida).

Men's and women's volleyball -- Catherine Lavery resigned as head women's coach at Towson after one season. Lavery, who formerly coached nine years at UMBC, closes a 10-year coaching career with a 220-121 record ... Upper Iowa awarded head women's coaching duties to Sarah Storms ... Illinois State assistant Kalani Mahi accepted head coaching duties at Oklahoma ... Melissa DeRan was added as head coach at Tiffin ... Laura Alford resigned after three years as head women's coach at Cincinnati to become associate head women's coach at UC Irvine. Reed Sunahara was appointed as women's interim head coach ... Delaware head women's coach Barbara Viera announced plans to retire ... Cassie Olson was chosen as head women's coach at North Texas.

Men's and women's volleyball assistant -- Michelle Buckner was appointed as assistant women's coach at Regis (Colorado).

STAFF

Administrative assistant -- Jessica Cherry was named as assistant to the athletics director at York (New York).

Athletic trainer -- York (New York) selected Dan Matte as athletic trainer.

Assistant athletic trainer -- Miami (Florida) added Kevin Blaske as an assistant athletic trainer.

Communications -- Jamie Joss was added as assistant director of athletics communications at Colgate. Joss, who was most recently sports information director at High Point, replaces Mike Donlin.

Equipment manager -- Eric Holloman was named as equipment manager at York (New York).

Facilities -- Albany (New York) named Jerry Faiola as director of athletics facilities. Faiola has been assistant administrator of events and facilities at Princeton.

Sports information assistants -- Louisiana-Lafayette named Robert Broussard as assistant sports information director ... Andy Grossman resigned after three years as assistant sports information director at UNLV to assume duties in the public relations department at Mirage Resorts, Inc., in Las Vegas ... Missouri-Kansas City's Michelle Copeland resigned after a year and a half as assistant sports information director to become sports sales manager with the Overland Park (Kansas) Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Strength and conditioning -- J. Andrew Swasey was selected as head strength coach at Miami (Florida).

ASSOCIATIONS

Mike Hardisky, assistant athletics director for media relations at Massachusetts, resigned to become director of public relations for the International Basketball League.

ETC.

In the December 6 installment of the NCAA Century Series, a listing of significant events in the 1980s failed to note the election of James Frank as NCAA president. Frank, who served as president in 1981-82, was the first institutional chief executive officer to serve as NCAA president and is the only African American to have filled that position.

NOTABLES

Bob Nye, former men's golf coach at Wooster, was selected as recipient of the 2000 Rolex Honor Award presented by the College Golf Foundation. The award is given to a coach for outstanding service and contributions to men's collegiate golf. Nye spent 30 seasons coaching the Wooster's men's squad and won the 1975 Division III national championship, the school's first and only NCAA title.

Robert Linville, men's golf coach at Greensboro College, has been named NCAA Division III men's golf coach of the year by the Golf Coaches' Association of America. Under Linville's direction, Greensboro has finished no lower than fourth in Division III in the last four seasons. Linville, who has coached Greensboro since 1995, also has had success selecting academic achievers. Last year his team had two CoSIDA/GTE District III academic award winners and three Golf Coaches Association scholar-athletes.

DEATHS

Former Northern Illinois football player Len Jacobson died January 13 at the age of 68. Jacobson was a four-time letterman who served as captain of the 1953 squad.

Dave Bethany, former track and field coach at Texas Southern, died of lung disease February 2. He was 58. Bethany led the track squads for 27 years before relinquishing duties in 1996. During his tenure, he captured 46 Southwestern Athletic Conference titles, four NAIA men's crowns and two NAIA women's championships. In 1985, his team finished third at the NCAA meet.

Former LSU football player John Garlington, who was a wildlife agent, was found three days after disappearing in a reservoir while investigating reports of illegal fishing. Garlington, 53, competed at LSU from 1965 to 1967 and played linebacker for the NFL's Cleveland Browns. He had been with the state department of wildlife and fisheries since 1986.

Former Utah athletics administrator James Rutter "Bud" Jack died February 9. During a 40-year tenure at the school, Jack worked as athletics ticket and business manager, assistant athletics director, director of collegiate athletics and assistant vice-president for athletics development. Jack, 81, was an active participant on NCAA committees and served as president of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics from 1971 to 1972.

--Compiled by Leilana McKindra