First female CEO in place at Syracuse

Syracuse has named Nancy Cantor as chancellor and president. Cantor, who succeeds the retiring Kenneth A. "Buzz" Shaw, will be the first female to hold the position in the history of the school.

Cantor has been chancellor at Illinois since July 2001. Before coming to Illinois, she was provost and executive vice-president of academic affairs at Michigan. She also completed a tenure as dean of the graduate school and vice-provost for academic affairs at the school. In addition, Cantor formerly was chair of the psychology department at Princeton.

A fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Cantor also serves as a trustee of Sarah Lawrence and on the board of directors of the American Association for Higher Education, a group she chaired in 2002-03. In addition, she recently was a member of the Congressional Commission on Military Training and Gender Related Issues.

Cantor earned an A.B. at Sarah Lawrence in 1974. She also earned a doctorate in psychology at Stanford in 1978. Cantor, who has co-authored or co-edited three books, also will be a professor of psychology and women's studies at Syracuse.

GENERAL

Chief executive officers

Florida Southern named Anne Kerr as president, effective June 1. Kerr, who has been vice-president for institutional advancement at Richmond, replaces Thomas Reushling, who is retiring ... Hiram named Thomas V. Chema as president. Chema has been fulfilling the position on an interim basis ... Cheryl J. Norton was selected as president at Southern Connecticut State. Norton has been provost and vice-president for academic affairs at Metropolitan State.

Directors of athletics

Florida A&M's J.R.E. Lee III resigned as interim athletics director ... St. Norbert's Don Maslinski announced plans to retire as athletics director at the end of the school year. Maslinski will continue with the school as a special consultant for athletics facilities planning and funding ... Joe Etzel announced plans to retire as director of athletics at Portland. Etzel, who is the longest-tenured NCAA Division I athletics director, has led the Pilot athletics department since 1970 ... Hugh Durham was released as director of athletics at Jacksonville due to the elimination of the position as part of the school's efforts to reduce its budget deficit. Durham will continue to serve as head men's basketball coach at the school.

Associate director of athletics

Fran Ganter was named as associate athletics director for football administration at Penn State. Ganter has been an assistant with the football squad since 1971 and has most recently served as offensive coordinator.

Assistant directors of athletics

Laura Mincy was chosen as assistant athletics director for compliance at Chattanooga ... John Baum was named as assistant athletics director for major gifts at Temple.

Coaches

Men's basketball -- Mississippi State agreed to terms with head coach Rick Stansbury on a four-year contract extension through the 2007-08 season. Stansbury has been head coach since 1998 ... UNLV head coach Charlie Spoonhour resigned due to medical concerns. Spoonhour took over the program in March 2001 and has guided the school to back-to-back NIT appearances in 2002 and 2003. The school elevated assistant Jay Spoonhour to interim head coach ... Dave Faucher resigned as head coach at Dartmouth, effective at the end of the season.

Men's basketball assistants -- St. John's (New York) selected Ron Rutledge as a volunteer assistant coach. Rutledge has been a member of the school's institutional advancement office since 1998 and formerly was an assistant coach with the program ... Carthage appointed Dave Roehl as an assistant coach.

Women's basketball -- Tim Bernero was promoted to head coach at Carthage. Bernero most recently has served in the position on an interim basis ... St. Bonaventure agreed to terms with head coach Jim Crowley on a contract extension through the 2006 season ... Vince Goo, head coach at Hawaii, announced plans to retire at the end of the season. Goo has been head coach for 17 seasons and has guided the program to five NCAA tournament appearances.

Women's bowling assistant -- Michelle Spratford was hired as an assistant coach at Fairleigh Dickinson. Spratford was a 2003 graduate of St. Peter's.

Football -- Grambling head coach Doug Williams resigned to join the Tampa Bay Buccaneers organization. Williams has been head coach of the Tigers for the past six seasons ... Don Brown was hired as head coach at Massachusetts to replace Mark Whipple, who accepted duties as quarterbacks coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Since 2000, Brown has served as head coach at Northeastern and formerly was defensive coordinator at Massachusetts for two seasons ... Truman appointed Shannon Currier as head coach. Currier has been head coach and offensive coordinator at Concordia (Minnesota) since December 2000 ... Elmhurst selected Tom Journell as head coach. For the past 15 years, Journell, who takes over for Paul Krohn, has been assistant head coach at Wisconsin-River Falls ... Jim Reid resigned as head coach at Richmond to accept defensive line coaching duties at Syracuse. Reid has led the program for nine seasons ... Williams promoted Mike Whalen to head coach. Whalen, who succeeds Dick Farley, has been with the program for eight years and most recently has been offensive coordinator ... Mississippi awarded head coach David Cutcliffe with a two-year contract extension through the 2007 season. Cutcliffe has guided the program to a 40-22 record in five seasons ... Colorado named Brian Cabral as interim head coach. Cabral, assistant head coach of the program, takes over for Gary Barnett, who was placed on administrative leave ... Nick Saban, head coach at LSU, signed a seven-year contract. Saban led the Tigers to the Bowl Championship Series national championship after a win over Oklahoma in the 2004 Sugar Bowl ... Melvin Spears was elevated to interim head coach at Grambling to replace Doug Williams. Spears is assistant head coach and offensive coordinator at the school.

Football assistants -- Northern Illinois selected Denny Doornbos as defensive coordinator ... Tulsa hired Thurmond Moore as a defensive assistant coach. Moore has been defensive coordinator at Buffalo for the past three seasons ... Brent Myers was appointed as running game coordinator and offensive line coach at Arizona State. Myers, who succeeds Jeff Grimes, was assistant head coach and offensive line coach at Utah last season ... Georgia Southern added Andre Curtis as defensive ends coach ... Shelton Gandy resigned as an assistant coach at Southern Mississippi ... Darryl Mason was hired as wide receivers coach and Lorenzo Costantini was chosen as defensive line coach at Tulane. Mason has been offensive coordinator and receivers coach at Northwestern State for two seasons and Costantini was defensive line coach at Central Florida from 2000 to 2003 ... Washington named Charlie Dickey as offensive line coach ... Mike Orthmann resigned as associate head coach at Northern Arizona ... Grambling named Tom Lavigne as defensive coordinator. Lavigne, who has been linebackers coach at Southern, takes over for Michael Roach ... Bret Bielema was hired as defensive coordinator at Wisconsin to replace Kevin Cosgrove. For the past two years, Bielema has been co-defensive coordinator, linebackers coach and recruiting coordinator at Kansas State ... Washington added Jimmy Lake as cornerbacks coach. Lake has been secondary coach at Eastern Washington for four years ... Darryl Drake resigned as wide receivers coach and assistant head coach at Texas to become wide receivers coach for the Chicago Bears. Drake has been with the Longhorns for six years ... Nebraska added Randy Jordan as running backs coach and Bill Busch as outside linebackers coach. Jordan has been a special teams assistant coach with the Oakland Raiders and Busch has been secondary coach at Utah ... Akron named Mark Nori as tight ends coach to replace Harold Goodwin, who resigned to become an assistant offensive line coach with the Chicago Bears. During this past season, Nori was offensive line coach at Maine ... John Kelling was awarded duties as defensive backs coach at North Dakota ... Ohio State selected Darrell Hazell as wide receivers coach ... McMurry added Mike Patterson as offensive line coach and Joe Crousen as defensive coordinator. For the past 12 seasons, Patterson has worked as assistant head coach and offensive coordinator at Abilene Cooper (Texas) High School. Crousen formerly has coached at the high-school and junior college levels and was an assistant at Mississippi State and Sul Ross State ... Steve Bernstein was tabbed as secondary coach at Northern Illinois ... Citadel named Toby Strange as offensive coordinator and Shane Burnham as linebackers coach ... Washington hired Steve Axman as receivers coach and Cornell Jackson as recruiting coordinator ... Eastern Michigan added Joe Palka as cornerbacks coach ... Rod Holder assumed responsibilities as offensive line coach at Rutgers ... Southern Cal named Todd McNair as running backs coach ... Anthony Poindexter was chosen as an assistant running backs coach and John Garrett was appointed as wide receivers coach at Virginia ... UNLV tabbed Jonathan Himebauch as offensive line coach. The school also announced tight ends coach Bruce Snyder assumed additional responsibilities as offensive coordinator ... Penn State added Galen Hall as offensive coordinator and running backs coach, and Mike McQueary was added as wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator ... Mike Keller was hired as offensive coordinator at California (Pennsylvania). Keller has been associate head coach, offensive coordinator, quarterbacks coach and receivers coach at Northern Michigan ... Saint Mary's (California) tabbed Don Frease as offensive coordinator and offensive line coach. Frease formerly coached at Vanderbilt and Colorado ... Nebraska Wesleyan appointed John Bates as defensive coordinator, athletics recruiting coordinator and administrative assistant for the cross country and track and field programs. Bates has been defensive line coach at Western Oregon since the fall of 2002. He also was defensive coordinator for the Chrysler Vienna Vikings of the European Professional League in the spring and summer of 2002 and 2003 ... Western Illinois selected Kerry Cooks as defensive backs coach. Cooks, who replaces Richie Solomon, has served as a graduate assistant at Kansas State since January 2003 ... Bobby Kennedy, an assistant coach at Washington, was chosen as receivers coach at Texas to take over for Darryl Drake. Texas also announced the promotions of Mac McWhorter, offensive line coach, to assistant head coach, Michael Haywood, running backs coach and assistant special teams coordinator, to recruiting coordinator, and Bruce Chambers, tight ends coach, to director of the Longhorn High School Coaches Clinic and assistant recruiting coordinator ... Jay Norvell was hired as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Nebraska. Norvell has been tight ends coach with the Oakland Raiders for the past two seasons ... Utah added Chuck Heater as cornerbacks coach and recruiting coordinator to succeed Bill Busch. For the past five years, Heater has worked as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Washington ... Chris Mussman was promoted to assistant head coach at North Dakota. Mussman has been with the program for five seasons and has been offensive coodinator since 2001.

Men's and women's golf assistants -- Kathleen Takaishi, an assistant at UC Riverside since 2002, resigned to assume assistant coaching duties at Oregon State. The school selected Jennifer Dolph as Takaishi's successor. Dolph, a 2003 graduate of Eastern Washington, is an assistant golf pro at Oak Valley Golf Club.

Men's soccer -- Thiel's Bryan Williams resigned as head men's and women's coach ... UC Riverside promoted Othoniel "Junior" Gonzalez to head coach to replace Nat Gonzalez, who resigned after three years. Othoniel Gonzalez has been an assistant men's coach since 2001 ... Eric Da Costa was hired as head men's soccer coach, director of soccer operations and intramural director at Teikyo Post. Most recently, Da Costa has been an assistant women's coach at Quinnipiac ... Jesse Cormier was named as head coach at Vermont ... Clayton State's John Rootes resigned after six seasons as head coach to become head coach at the Savannah College of Art and Design.

Men's soccer assistant -- Bryan Green was named as a full-time assistant coach at West Virginia. Green has been an interim assistant with the program.

Women's soccer -- Tulsa hired Rena Richardson as head coach. For the past three seasons, Richardson has worked as an assistant at Alabama.

Women's soccer assistants -- Jen Renola resigned as an assistant coach at Texas ... Stephanie Erickson was appointed as an assistant women's coach at Northwestern ... Tulsa added Dang Pibulvech as an assistant coach. Pibulvech was head coach at Nevada from 2000 to 2004.

Softball -- Brooklyn named Jaclyn Apicello as head coach.

Softball assistant -- Kristy Lauriat was added as an assistant coach at Brooklyn.

Men's and women's swimming and diving -- New Orleans named Ashley Tappin as head women's coach.

Men's and women's track and field assistants -- Delaware named Jon DiNozzi as a volunteer assistant men's coach and appointed Kevin Muhammed as an assistant women's coach and David Wiederrecht as a volunteer assistant women's coach ... Roger Kingdom, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and five-time U.S. champion, was selected as an assistant track and field and cross country coach at California (Pennsylvania).

Men's and women's volleyball -- Long Island named Toby Rens as head women's coach. Rens has been head coach at Maryland-Eastern Shore ... Genny Volpe was selected as head coach at Rice ... Mars Hill chose Tony Fontanelle as head women's coach. Since June 2002, Fontanelle has been director of volleyball operations and head women's volleyball coach at Lees-McRae ... Maureen Rafferty was elevated to head women's coach at Seton Hall. For the past two seasons, Rafferty, who takes over for Rich Pickrell, has been an assistant coach ... Georgia State's Richard Leonard resigned after six years as head coach. During his tenure, Leonard led the team to a conference tournament championship, three regular-season conference titles and an NCAA tournament berth.

Staff

Academic services assistant -- Michael Oulette was selected as assistant director of academic services at Pennsylvania.

Compliance -- Dana Richardson resigned as compliance director at Washington.

Assistant equipment manager -- Jennifer Jones was announced as an assistant equipment manager at Delaware. Jones, a junior at the school, has been a student assistant equipment manager and student manager for the football team since 2001.

Facilities -- Scott Ward was awarded duties as coordinator of facilities and operations at Pennsylvania.

Operations assistant -- Pennsylvania named J.P. Bradley as operations assistant.

Recreation assistant -- Christine Clay was hired as associate director of membership services for recreation at Pennsylvania.

Sports information assistant -- Pennsylvania appointed Stephanie Gross as an athletics communications assistant.

Agreements

The San Francisco Bowl reached an agreement with the Pacific-10 Conference in which the league's No. 6 selection will compete against the No. 3 representative from the Mountain West Conference. The game is scheduled for December 31.

Deaths

Virginia Commonwealth freshman women's soccer student-athlete Nicole Megaloudis died February 9 from injuries suffered in a one-car accident. Megaloudis, 19, started 12 games as an outside midfielder and led all rookies on the team in points, shots and minutes played.

Hollins President Nora Kizer Bell died January 24. Bell was 62.

Frederick M. Binder, former Juniata president, died January 28 at the age of 83.

Former Florida State and Furman President Gordon W. Blackwell died January 26. Blackwell was 92.

Art Acuff, former coach and athletics administrator at St. Martin's, died September 15, 2003. He was 87. Acuff guided the basketball, baseball, tennis and track programs and also served as director of athletics at the school from 1970 until his retirement in 1982.

Former Tennessee football student-athlete Jimmy Streater died February 20. He was 46. Streater was quarterback for the Volunteers from 1976-79 and went on to compete in the Canadian Football League in 1980 and 1981.

--Compiled by Leilana McKindra