Chicago State chooses LeFleur as AD

 Gregory LaFleur has been hired as director of athletics at Chicago State.

LaFleur takes over for Al Avant, who resigned in August.

Most recently, LaFleur has been athletics director at Huston-Tillotson College. Before taking over the program there, he served in the same capacity at Texas State. LaFleur got his start in athletics administration in 1991 at LSU. He began as a marketing and promotions coordinator for the Tigers and rose to the level of associate athletics director.

LaFleur, who also played professional football in the NFL for six years, is a 1981 graduate of LSU.

Chief executive officers

Washington and Jefferson announced Tori Haring-Smith as president, effective in January. Haring-Smith has been vice-president for educational affairs at Willamette ... Oglethorpe President Larry D. Large announced plans to retire, effective in August 2005 ... Lebanon Valley named Stephen C. MacDonald as president. MacDonald most recently has been acting president at the school ... Edward A. Nicholson announced his retirement as president at Robert Morris, effective in July 2005. Nicholson will continue with the school as a professor of management ... James L. Oblinger was selected as chancellor at North Carolina State, effective January 1. Oblinger has been provost and executive vice-chancellor of academic affairs at the school.

Directors of athletics

Mike Capaccio was appointed as interim athletics director at North Carolina-Wilmington, replacing Peg Bradley-Doppes, who was reassigned with the university's division of public service and continuing studies. Capaccio will continue as executive director of the school's Seahawk Club, a post he has held for the past two years ... Oglethorpe named Jay Gardiner as director of athletics. Gardiner has been associate athletics director for development at Miami (Ohio).

Senior woman administrator

Longwood announced the selection of Barbara Dearing as senior woman administrator. Dearing, who replaces Molly Myers, is assistant athletics director for business operations.

Associate director of athletics

Edward Stoner was named as associate athletics director for administration and finance at Northeastern. Stoner was an associate athletics director at Massachusetts-Lowell.

Coaches

Baseball ­ Gordon chose Joe Scarano as head coach. Scarano, who replaces Bob Dickerman, coached at Lexington Christian Academy in Massachusetts during the 2004 season.

Baseball assistants ­ Texas-Tyler appointed Wes Davis as an assistant coach ... Tim Brown was hired as pitching coach at Siena. Brown most recently completed his collegiate baseball career as a pitcher at Lindenwood.

Men's basketball ­ Bruce Pearl signed a five-year contract extension through the 2008-09 season as head coach at Wisconsin-Milwaukee. In three seasons, Pearl has led the Panthers to a 60-32 mark, an NCAA tournament appearance and one Horizon League tournament and one regular-season championship ... Nicholls State elevated assistant coach J.P. Piper to head coach. Piper replaces Ricky Blanton, who resigned ... Mike Brey, head coach at Notre Dame, was awarded a two-year contract extension through the 2010-11 season. Brey has guided the Irish to an 84-44 record, three NCAA tournament berths and one NIT appearance since taking over the program in 2000 ... Central Florida's Kirk Speraw signed a three-year contract extension through the 2006-07 sesason. Speraw has guided the program to a 171-154 record in 12 years.

Men's basketball assistants ­ Lycoming added Isaac Willis and Brian Haas as assistants ... Larry Jones was hired as an assistant coach at Texas-Tyler. Jones formerly coached at the high-school level ... Siena appointed Steve Curran as an assistant to succeed Steve Seymour. For the past three seasons, Curran has worked as an assistant coach at Robert Morris ... Lehman announced Walter Kent as a graduate assistant coach ... Richard Brown was tabbed as an assistant at Teikyo Post. Brown was an assistant coach at Notre Dame (Connecticut) High School during the 2002-03 season.

Women's basketball ­ Stephanie DeWolfe was promoted to head coach at St. Peter's. DeWolfe, who succeeds the retired Mike Granelli, has been an assistant with the program for the past six seasons.

Women's basketball assistants ­ Adrienne Wydra was chosen as an assistant at Lycoming. Wydra will continue as head cross country coach at the school, a post she has held for three seasons ... Bruce Johannessen was selected as an assistant coach at Concordia (New York) ... Melissa Dymek and Diana Spencer were added as assistants at Delaware. Dymek and Spencer take over for Tyrone Perry and Carrie Timmins ... Diana Olaya was hired as an assistant at Lehman ... Northern Illinois added Shannon Baugh as an assistant coach to replace Charmonique Stallworth. Baugh has completed one-year assistant coaching stints at Wisconsin-Green Bay (2001-02), North Dakota (2002-03) and Bradley (2003-04).

Men's and women's cross country ­ Eileen McAllister was hired as head men's and women's cross country coach and assistant men's and women's track and field coach at Southern Illinois Edwardsville. McAllister, who replaces Darryl Frerker, has been an assistant cross country and track and field coach at Miami (Florida) since 2002.

Men's and women's cross country assistant ­ Longwood chose Kristel French as an assistant men's and women's coach. French is a 2004 graduate of the school, where she was a three-year member of the cross country team and captain of the squad as a senior.

Field hockey assistant ­ Longwood chose Crystal Carper as an assistant. During the 2003-04 season, Carper worked as an assistant at James Madison.

Football ­ Ron Zook was released as head coach at Florida, effective at the end of the season. Zook has guided the Gators to a 20-13 mark since taking over the program after the 2001 season.

Men's and women's golf ­ Tim Crooks was hired as an assistant men's and women's coach at Campbell. Crooks, who succeeds Jenny Bruun, most recently was an assistant golf professional at the Butte Des Morts Country Club in Wisconsin.

Men's soccer assistants ­ Delaware tabbed Greg Forte and Brian Gillespie as assistant coaches. Forte and Gillespie succeed Greg Esposito and Keith O'Connor.

Men's and women's swimming and diving assistant ­ Bernard Baruch chose Bruce Semer as an assistant coach.

Men's and women's tennis ­ Indianapolis hired Paul Buck as head men's coach. Buck, who replaces interim head coaches Marko Saulovic and Ryan VanDonselaar and head coach Pat Nickell, has been in charge of the boys' and girls' tennis programs at Ben Davis (Indiana) High School.

Men's and women's track and field ­ Southern Illinois Edwardsville announced Ben Beyers will serve as head women's track and field coach and assistant men's coach and David Astrauskas will work as head men's track and field coach and assistant women's coach. Beyers and Astrauskas are entering their third year at the school and most recently have been assistant track and field coaches.

Wrestling ­ Neil Barnes was appointed as head coach at Millersville. Barnes, who spent last winter as an assistant coach with the program, replaces Steve Capoferri.

Staff

Assistant athletic trainer ­ Troy Roberts was named as an assistant athletic trainer at Texas-Tyler.

Broadcasting ­ Campbell selected Claude Dicks as director of athletics broadcasting. Dicks, who has spent the past two years as assistant director of broadcasting for the Chattanooga Lookouts of the Southern (Class AA) League, takes over for Mike Vaccaro.

Sports information ­ Frank Cash was hired as sports information director at Quincy. Cash, who has been a sports writer for the past 12 years, takes over for Ryan Dowd.

Sports information assistants ­ Delaware announced Kevin Tritt as an assistant sports information director and John Kneisly and Megan O'Brien as sports information interns. Tritt, who has been an assistant sports information director at Johns Hopkins since 2001, replaces Mike Hirschman. Kneisly is a 2004 graduate of Lycoming, where he was a three-year sports information student assistant and O'Brien is a 2004 graduate of York (Pennsylvania), where she served as an assistant in the sports information office as well as manager of the women's basketball team.

Conferences

The Big East hired Jonathan Gust as director of communications. For the past four years, Gust has worked as an assistant director of media relations at Villanova ... The Mid-American Conference extended the contract of Commissioner Rick Chryst through the 2008-09 academic year. Chryst is entering his sixth year as commissioner of the league and currently serves as chair of the Division I-A Collegiate Commissioners. In addition, the conference appointed Dan Hughes as assistant commissioner for men's basketball operations, elevated Shonna Brown to assistant commissioner for compliance services and promoted Aimee Dupree-Chambers to director of marketing and corporate programs. Hughes formerly coached in the WNBA and completed tenures as an assistant men's basketball coach and as an assistant women's basketball coach at Toledo. Brown, who also will serve as senior woman administrator, has been director of compliance for the league since 2003. Dupree-Chambers, who joined the conference as an administrative assistant in 2001, most recently has been director of marketing and special events.

National office

Kent Barrett was named as associate director of public and media relations at the national office, effective November 22. Most recently, Barrett has been news manager in the university communications office at Wisconsin.

Notables

Jim Calhoun, head men's basketball coach at Connecticut, was named as this year's recipient of the John R. Wooden Legends of Coaching award. In 18 seasons, Calhoun has lead the Huskies to a 432-165 record and national championships in 1999 and 2003.

DEATHS

Maine assistant football coach Jeff Cole died October 18 after a three-year battle with cancer. He was 30. Cole, who was in his sixth season at the school, served as running backs coach and special teams coordinator during the 2004 season. In addition, he coached tight ends and wide receivers during his tenure. Cole was a three-year letter-winner and 1996 graduate of St. John Fisher, where he also spent one year as an offensive assistant.

Todd Holloway, a former Texas A&M men's basketball student-athlete, died October 20 at the age of 39. As a member of the Aggies squad from 1984 to 1987, Holloway helped the team capture the 1986 Southwest Conference championship. He established a conference record for career steals with 116 and is ranked second in school history with 208 steals, fourth in assists with 491 and ninth in points with 1,331.

Former Florida International track and field student-athlete Mike Felsberg was killed in action in Iraq. Felsberg, a Marine second lieutenant and weapons platoon commander, ran track and cross country for the Golden Panthers. He was a 2003 gradute of the school with a degree in criminal justice.

--Compiled by Leilana McKindra