Calendar

Akron hires its first women's soccer coach

Akron hired Catherine Byrne as the school's first head women's soccer coach. The program is scheduled to begin competition during the fall of 2001.

Byrne formerly served as head women's coach at Mount Union. During a four-year tenure, she built a 35-32-10 record and captured the regular season and conference tournament championships in 1996. Prior to her stint at Mount Union, she led the girls' varsity soccer program at Hopewell (Pennsylvania) High School.

As a soccer student-athlete at Methodist, Byrne earned recognition as an all-American three times and as an academic all-American once. Additionally, the Dublin, Ireland, native was a member of the Irish National Soccer Team from 1981 to 1994 and was team captain from 1985 to 1987.

Byrne is a graduate of Methodist with a bachelor's degree in physical education and a concentration in biology. She earned a master's degree in sports medicine from Akron in 1994.

GENERAL

DIRECTORS OF ATHLETICS

Campbell's Tom Collins resigned as athletics director to become dean of student life, effective June 1 ... Notre Dame appointed Kevin White as athletics director, replacing Mike Wadsworth. White has been athletics director at Arizona State ... Texas A&M-Kingsville athletics director Ron Harms resigned, effective May 31 ... New Orleans named vice chancellor Bob Brown as athletics director ... C.M. Newton, director of athletics at Kentucky and former chairman of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee, announced plans to retire, effective June 30.

SENIOR WOMAN ADMINISTRATOR

Colleen Bruley accepted additional duties as senior woman administrator at New Paltz State. Bruley will continue to serve as head women's soccer and lacrosse coach.

FACULTY ATHLETICS REPRESENTATIVE

Westminster (Missouri) selected Bob Hansen as faculty athletics representative to succeed Ben Budde. Hansen currently is director of counseling and health services and an assistant professor of psychology.

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS

Barbara Bolich resigned as associate director of athletics and swim coach at Bryn Mawr.

ASSISTANT DIRECTORS OF ATHLETICS

Terry Mohajir was elevated to assistant athletics director for external relations at Missouri-Kansas City. Mohajir, who has been filling the position in an interim capacity for the past six months, was director of athletics advancement at the school from 1998-99 ... Iowa's Bob Elliott resigned as assistant athletics director to assume duties as football associate head coach, defensive backs coach and special teams coordinator at Iowa State ... Bill Nepfel was elevated to assistant athletics director for compliance and academic services at San Francisco, effective immediately. Nepfel relinquished women's basketball coaching duties, which he has had for the past 13 years ... Mindy DeGroot was appointed as assistant athletics director/development at Cal State Northridge.

COACHES

Baseball -- Houston chose Norm Miller as director of baseball operations ... Army's Dan Roberts resigned as head coach. The school appointed Joe Sottolano as interim head coach ... Piedmont selected Jim Stoeckel as head coach.

Baseball assistant -- Dean Stotz was elevated to associate head coach at Stanford. Stotz has fulfilled assistant coaching duties with the program for 24 years.

Men's basketball -- Binghamton head coach Jim Norris resigned after four years to become an athletics administrator at the school ... Lasell head coach Mike Catapano resigned. The school promoted associate head coach Chris Harvey to head coach, effectively immediately ... Jim O'Connor resigned as head coach at New Haven ... Tennessee State's Frankie Allen resigned as head coach, effective March 31 ... Kennesaw State released head coach Greg Yarlett. Yarlett had been with the program for 10 years, serving the last four as head coach ... Kevin Bannon, head coach at Rutgers, was awarded a contract extension through the 2005-06 season. Bannon has led the program for three seasons ... Western Michigan released Bob Donewald as head coach. Donewald has been reassigned as special assistant to the athletics director, ... Milton Barnes was released as head coach at Eastern Michigan. Barnes had been head coach for four seasons ... Colorado head coach Ricardo Patton agreed to a five-year contract extension. Patton is completing his fourth season as head coach ... Paul Brazeau stepped down as head coach at Hartford ... Wichita State's Randy Smithson resigned after four seasons as head coach ... Texas-Arlington renewed the contract of head coach Eddie McCarter ... Rodger Blind, head coach at St. Peter's, was reassigned within the athletics department ... Air Force will not renew the contract of head coach Reggie Minton ... Marcos Rodriguez resigned after five seasons as head coach at Florida International. Rodriguez will remain with the staff until June ... Kansas State selected Jim Wooldridge as head coach to replace Tom Asbury, who resigned after leading the program for the last six years. Since August 1998, Wooldridge has been an assistant with the NBA's Chicago Bulls ... Danny Nee was released as head coach at Nebraska. Nee has led the program for the past 14 years and built a 254-190 record ... Sacramento State's Tom Abatemarco resigned after three years as head coach ... Scott Perry resigned as head coach at Eastern Kentucky. Perry has guided the program for the past three years ... Cal State Fullerton head coach Bob Hawking resigned after six seasons ... Robert McCullum was awarded head coaching duties at Western Michigan ... Wichita State hired Mark Turgeon as head coach. Turgeon most recently was head coach at Jacksonville State.

Men's basketball assistant -- David Marshall was released as an assistant at Kennesaw State. Marshall had been an assistant for the past two seasons.

Women's basketball -- Temple's Kristen Foley resigned as head coach ... Monmouth head coach Susan DeKalb resigned ... Frank McCarthy, interim head coach at Montana State, will be retained for the 2000-01 season ... Indiana released Jim Izard as head coach. Izard had led the program to a 188-159 mark in 12 seasons ... Donna Freitag resigned as head coach at Bradley, a position she has held since May of 1996. The school appointed Jonelle McCloud, an assistant with the program for the past four years, as interim head coach ... Moorhead State head coach Jean Roise resigned ... Robin Muller was released as head coach at Winthrop ... Marianne Stanley resigned as head coach at California. Stanley was head coach for four seasons ... Cal State Fullerton head coach Denise Curry will not seek a renewal of her contract, which expires on March 31. Curry closes a three-year stint as head coach at the school ... Jeff Tadtman resigned as head coach at Missouri-Kansas City. Tadtman has lead the program for four seasons ... Mary Hile-Nepfel was appointed as head coach at San Francisco. Hile-Nepfel has been serving as co-head coach of the program ... Saginaw Valley State's Lori Flaherty resigned as head coach ... Lisa Hicks resigned after seven years as head coach at Indianapolis to become chairperson of the school's health and physical education department ... Drexel head coach Kevin Murphy resigned ... Marcia Heady resigned as head women's basketball and head men's and women's cross country coach at Mount Olive, effective May 31.

Football -- Terry Szucs was appointed as interim head coach at Lock Haven ... Jerry Schmitt was hired as head coach at Westminster (Pennsylvania) to succeed Gene Nicholson, who retired. Schmitt has been an assistant at Duquesne for 11 seasons, including serving the last five as offensive coordinator and offensive line coach ... Walt Harris, head coach at Pittsburgh, accepted a contract extension through the 2006 season.

Football assistants -- Wake Forest selected Tony Pierce as co-defensive coordinator and secondary coach and promoted Theo Lemon to assistant head coach ... Jeff Stoutland accepted offensive line coaching responsibilities at Michigan State, replacing Pat Ruel. Stoutland spent two seasons as tight ends and tackles coach and last season as offensive line coach at Syracuse ... Will Holthouser was chosen as defensive coordinator at Chattanooga ... Pittsburgh hired Paul Rhoads as defensive coordinator and secondary coach to replace Larry Coyer. Rhoads has spent the last four seasons as secondary coach and one season as inside linebackers coach at Iowa State ... Dave Huxtable was appointed as linebackers coach at Oklahoma State ... Princeton named Dave Rackovan as offensive coordinator, Eric Jackson as defensive backs coach and Stanley Clayton as offensive line coach ... Elon elevated Pat Apke to defensive coordinator, succeeding Will Holthouser. For the past four years, Apke has been linebackers coach, special teams coach and recruiting coordinator ... Joseph Braico was appointed as wide receivers coach at Mansfield ... Washington promoted Keith Gilbertson to offensive coordinator. Gilbertson has been offensive line coach ... Merchant Marine selected Carleton Cotner as defensive coordinator and assistant track and field coach and named Brian Cummings as quarterbacks coach and assistant baseball coach. For the past three years, Cotner has been offensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator at Ohio Wesleyan. Cummings played football professionally in the Canadian Football League for two years and has been a volunteer assistant coach for Maryland ... David Lockwood was hired as secondary coach at West Virginia. Lockwood, who replaces Tony Pierce, has been defensive secondary coach at Wyoming since December ... Eastern Kentucky added Wesley McGriff as secondary coach. McGriff has been assistant head coach, defensive coordinator and secondary coach at Kentucky State ... Cheyney awarded offensive coordinator responsibilities to Lou Orth ... Paul Lounsberry was named as offensive line coach at South Carolina ... Wake Forest chose John Klacik as quarterbacks coach ... Austin Peay's Mark Rhea, Terry Sims and Brian Shirk resigned as assistant coaches ... Bob Leahy was chosen as an assistant coach at East Carolina ... Oklahoma State appointed Mike Jacobs as offensive line coach ... Paul Fuller was hired as defensive line coach at Mansfield.

Men's and women's golf -- Ferris State hired Brad Bedortha as head men's and women's coach. Bedortha, who replaces Tom Underwood, has been assistant golf professional at Bend Golf and Country Club in Bend, Oregon ... Illinois State chose Ray Kralis as head women's coach, effective at the end of the season.

Men's and women's golf assistant -- Chip Huston was selected as an assistant at Houston.

Men's and women's lacrosse -- Kristen Gangemi was hired as head women's coach, and Pascale "Pat" Musto was hired as head men's coach at Salve Regina. Gangemi has been a women's assistant coach at Newport, and Musto most recently was an assistant with the school's men's soccer squad ... Tom Baldwin was selected as head men's coach at Alvernia. Baldwin formerly was head lacrosse coach at Kutztown from 1979 to 1985 and most recently has been an assistant football coach at the high-school level.

Men's and women's lacrosse assistants -- New England selected Heath Pierce as women's assistant coach and appointed Josh Ireland as men's assistant coach.

Men's soccer -- Wilmington (Delaware) appointed Bill Boyer as head coach ... Greg Ogden was chosen as head coach at Rutgers-Camden ... Rob Burns was awarded head coaching duties at Saint Joseph's (Indiana). Burns, who graduates from the school in May with a bachelor's degree in physical education and health, replaces Mike Singleton ... Chris Masters resigned as head coach at Limestone. The school selected head women's soccer coach Stewart Brown as Masters' successor.

Women's soccer -- Albany (New York) named Joanna Tomasino as head coach. For the past three years, Tomasino has been head coach at Indiana (Pennsylvania) ... Robert Rooney was awarded head coaching duties at Wilmington (Delaware) ... Andy Nelson was awarded head coaching duties at Stanford ... Rutgers-Camden selected Brian Sheehan as head coach ... Doug Shank was hired as head coach at Greensboro. Shank presently serves as head women's coach for the New Jersey Olympic Development Program and leads the Counties United U-19 girls' team and the FC United U-14 boys' team ... Nathan Pifer was chosen as head coach at Tennessee-Martin.

Women's soccer assistant -- Alabama named Nikki Kubiszyn-Smith as an assistant coach.

Softball -- East Tennessee State chose Stephanie DeFeo as head coach.

Softball assistant -- New England chose Joan Howard as an assistant coach.

Men's and women's swimming -- Ted Knapp was promoted to associate head coach of men's swimming at Stanford. Knapp has served as an assistant with the program for 16 seasons.

Men's and women's tennis -- Julia Denny resigned as head women's coach at Southampton ... Princeton appointed Glenn Michibata as men's head coach to succeed David Benjamin, who will retire at the end of the spring 2000 season. Michibata has spent one season as women's assistant and the last two seasons as men's assistant coach at Southern California ... Bill Simms announced plans to retire as head men's and women's coach at Chicago, effective at the end of the 2000 seasons. Simms' tenure with the athletics department began in 1967 and includes stints as men's gymnastics coach, assistant football coach, head diving coach, assistant men's and women's tennis coach and sports information director.

Men's and women's tennis assistant -- Stanford elevated Lele Forood to associate head coach for women's tennis and promoted John Whitlinger to associate head coach for men's tennis. Forood has been an assistant with the program for 11 seasons, and Whitlinger has been an assistant for more than 14 seasons.

Men's and women's track and field assistant -- Liz Legault was chosen as an assistant at Rhode Island College.

Men's and women's volleyball -- Southampton head men's coach Scott Gleason and head women's coach Kevin DesLauriers resigned ... Candy White West accepted head coaching duties at Illinois College. West succeeds Brenna Kelly, who will focus on duties as head women's basketball coach and assume additional duties as head women's golf coach ... Bates hired Jennifer Bowman as head coach. For the past two seasons, Bowman has fulfilled head coaching duties at Frostburg State ... Auburn's Kris Grunwald resigned as head coach.

Men's and women's volleyball assistants -- Jennifer White was selected as assistant volleyball and assistant softball coach at Illinois College ... Kevin Campbell was hired as an assistant at North Carolina-Charlotte. Campbell was a graduate assistant at Ohio last season.

Wrestling-- Indianapolis head coach Terry Wetherald announced plans to retire.

STAFF

Athletic trainer -- New Paltz State awarded head athletic trainer responsibilities to Corey Smith. Smith has been a head athletic trainer at the high-school level.

Equipment manager -- Paul Kelley was added as equipment manager at Temple.

Marketing/promotions -- Chuck Hussion was named as director of sales and promotions at Furman.

Sports information assistant -- Cal State Fullerton announced Ryan Ermeling as assistant sports information director. For the past three years, Ermeling has been sports information director at Fullerton College.

Strength and conditioning -- Mike Bugar was chosen as strength coach at North Texas.

CONFERENCES

Linda E. Hopple announced plans to retire as executive director of the Middle Atlantic States Conference, effective in May 2000. Hopple, who was hired in 1993 as the organization's first female executive director, has been involved in several NCAA Division III committees, including the steering/council, championships and nominating committees. The conference selected Kenneth W. Andrews as Hopple's successor. Andrews has been director of physical education, athletics and recreation at Macalester for 10 years.

The Mid-Continent Conference announced that Ron Collins' contract as coordinator of women's basketball officials will not be renewed for the 2000-01 season.

ETC.

CONFERENCE MEMBERS

The Southwestern Athletic Conference has relocated its offices to 1527 5th Avenue N, Birmingham, Alabama 35203. Phone: 205/320-0263; fax: 205/297-9820.

NOTABLES

Matt Kuchar and Shauna Estes were named as Rolex College Golfers of the Month for February. Kuchar is a senior at Georgia Tech, and Estes is a senior at Georgia.

The Institute for International Sport named the following individuals as 2000 sports ethics fellows in recognition of consistently demonstrating an interest in promoting the ideals of ethics and fair play in sport and society: Grant Hill, former Duke basketball player and current member of the NBA's Detroit Pistons; Chris Spielman, former player with the NFL's Cleveland Browns; Jennifer Rizzotti, head women's basketball coach at Hartford and member of the WNBA's Houston Comets; Carol Anne Beach, assistant athletics director at Mount Holyoke; Nancy Blank, head women's basketball coach at Johns Hopkins; Bill Bradshaw, athletics director at DePaul; Liz Garger, chief operating officer of the Sanex WTA Tour; Mark Newlen, former Virginia basketball player and current teacher and coach at the Collegiate School in Richmond, Virginia; Kim Record, associate athletics director at Florida State; and Jerry Sandusky, former defensive coordinator/linebackers coach at Penn State.

The Women's Basketball Coaches Association selected Kathy Delaney-Smith as the Carol Eckman Award winner. Delaney-Smith, head coach at Harvard, has built a 262-201 record and captured six Ivy Group championships in 18 years. The award is given to an active WBCA coach exemplifying spirit, integrity and character through sportsmanship; commitment to the student-athlete; honesty; ethical behavior; courage; and dedication to purpose demonstrated by the award's namesake, who died of cancer in 1985.

Tammi Blackstone, a LEFT at Drake, and Jami Barraclough, a forward/post at South Dakota School of Mines and Technology of the NAIA, were chosen as 2000 Women's Basketball Coaches Association Scholarship Award winners. The award is presented to two female basketball players who show outstanding commitment to women's basketball and academic excellence.

The Robin Roberts/Women's Basketball Coaches Association Sports Communication Scholarship award was presented to Alisha Mosley, a guard at Wake Forest. The honor is given to a female collegiate basketball player planning to pursue graduate studies and a career in sports communication/journalism.

DEATHS

Sean Earl, a senior runner at Loyola (Illinois), died February 27 after battling cancer. Earl was 21.

Former Providence basketball coach Joe Mullaney died of cancer March 8. He was 75. Mullaney headed the Providence program from 1955-69 and 1981-85. He captured NIT championships in 1961 and 1963 and guided teams to three NCAA tournament appearances. Mullaney, who also coached at the professional level, closed his tenure at Providence with a 319-164 record.

Darrell Floyd, an all-American at Furman who twice led the NCAA in scoring, died after a long illness. He was 67.

Arkansas-Pine Bluff sprinter Johnnaya Peer collapsed while jogging and died March 14. Peer was 19.

--Compiled by Leilana McKindra