Randolph-Macon names football coach

Randolph-Macon has selected Pedro Arruza as its head football coach.

For the past five years, Arruza, the 2003 American Football Coaches Association NCAA Division III assistant coach of the year, has been an assistant at Washington (Missouri). In addition to serving as defensive coordinator for the past three seasons, he has fulfilled responsibilities as defensive backs coach, strength and conditioning coordinator and recruiting coordinator. He also formerly coached at Butler.

Arruza was a three-year starting running back at Wheaton (Illinois) and is the school's all-time leading rusher with 3,179 yards. He earned all-America recognition twice and was named as a first-team Academic All-American in 1994 and 1995.

GENERAL

Chief executive officers

Loras named James Collins as president, effective June 1. Collins has been senior vice-president at the school ... John Ettling was chosen as president at Plattsburgh State, effective no later than July 1. Ettling has been vice-president for academic affairs at North Dakota ... Amy Gutmann, a professor of politics and provost at Princeton, was selected as president at Pennsylvania, effective July 1 ... Lafayette President Arthur J. Rothkopf resigned, effective at the end of the 2004-05 academic year ... Rodney J. Sawatsky retired as president at Messiah, effective June 30 ... Albright President Henry A. Zimon resigned.

Directors of athletics

Nevada hired Cary Groth as athletics director. Since 1994, Groth, who replaces Chris Ault, has been director of athletics at Northern Illinois ... Misericordia's Michael Mould announced plans to retire as director of athletics, effective at the end of the year. Mould, who formerly was athletics director and head baseball coach at Keystone, has been athletics director at Misericordia since 1990 ... Auburn Athletics Director David Housel announced plans to resign, effective January 2005.

Senior woman administrator

Valerie Richardson was hired as senior woman administrator and associate athletics director at UC Santa Barbara. Most recently, Richardson has worked as an assistant commissioner at the West Coast Conference.

Associate directors of athletics

Zafir Bludevich was elevated to senior associate athletics director and Christopher Kenny was promoted to associate athletics director at Saint Michael's.

Assistant directors of athletics

Clyde Wrenn resigned as assistant athletics director for high-school relations at South Carolina ... North Carolina State named Joe Pate as assistant athletics director ... Bob Moosbrugger was elevated to assistant athletics director at San Diego State.

Coaches

Men's basketball -- San Francisco released head coach Phil Mathews after nine seasons ... Nova Southeastern's Tony McAndrews resigned as head coach ... Dan Hipsher was released as head coach at Akron. Hipsher, who will be reassigned within the university, has guided the program since 1995. The school promoted three-year assistant coach Keith Dambrot as Hipsher's successor ... Ray McCallum, head coach at Houston for the past four seasons, was reassigned as an athletics department fund-raiser ... Todd Raridon resigned as head coach at Nebraska Wesleyan. In a 15-year tenure as head coach, Raridon has led the program to six conference championships and seven NCAA Division III tournament appearances ... Lynchburg promoted John Swickrath to head coach. Swickrath most recently has been fulfilling the post on an interim basis and was an assistant at the school during the 2002-03 season ... Eastern Michigan awarded head coach Jim Boone a contract extension through 2004-05 ... Melvin Watkins resigned as head coach at Texas A&M, effective at the end of the season. Watkins has guided the program since 1998 ... Loyola (Illinois) released head coach Larry Farmer after six seasons ... UNLV hired Lon Kruger as head coach, succeeding Charlie Spoonhour and interim head coach Jay Spoonhour. Kruger formerly coached at Pan American, Kansas State, Florida and Illinois ... UMBC head coach Tom Sullivan resigned after guiding the program for nine seasons. The school chose Randy Monroe as acting head coach ... Sherman Dillard resigned after seven seasons as head coach at James Madison ... Southern Mississippi head coach James Green resigned after eight seasons. The school appointed assistant coach Jeff Norwood as interim head coach ... Farmingdale State promoted Eric Smiles to head coach. Smiles, who replaces Bill Musto, was an assistant with the program and most recently has served as interim head coach ... Craig Esherick was released as head coach at Georgetown. Esherick took over the program in 1999.

Women's basketball -- Wake Forest will not renew the contract of head coach Charlene Curtis, who has led the Demon Deacons since the 1997-98 season ... Southern Illinois released head coach Lori Opp after four years ... Clayton State head coach A.C. McCullers resigned ... Alabama-Birmingham released Jeannie Milling as head coach. Milling has been head coach at the school for 17 seasons ... Northwestern will not renew the contract of head coach June Olkowski, who has led the program for five seasons ... Ron Marvel retired as head coach at Central Arkansas... South Carolina State head coach Keshia Campbell resigned, effective June 30 ... Scott Ballard resigned as head coach at Central Missouri State ... Mercyhurst will not renew the contract of Bo Kuntz, who has been head coach for three years ... UC Riverside will not renew the contract of head coach Jennifer Young, who has guided the program for seven seasons ... Southern California released Chris Gobrecht as head coach. Gobrecht has been head coach since 1998.

Men's and women's cross country -- John Maloney resigned after 11 seasons as head men's coach at Santa Clara.

Field hockey -- Albany chose Phil Sykes as head coach. Sykes, who spent the 2003 season as interim head coach at Cornell, formerly was an assistant at Towson.

Football -- Northeastern hired R.E. "Rocky" Hager as head coach to replace Don Brown. Hager most recently has been an assistant at Temple and formerly led North Dakota State to two NCAA Division II national championships in nine seasons as head coach ... Mark Mauer was chosen as head coach at Concordia-St. Paul. For the past three seasons, Mauer has been wide receivers coach at New Mexico State ... Lewis & Clark head coach Mike Fanger resigned after five seasons. The school appointed associate head coach Gerald McEldowney as interim head coach ... Donald Smith was released after three seasons as head coach at Kentucky State.

Football assistants -- Patrick McGee was named as director of football operations at New Mexico State ... Northern Illinois named Levern Belin as defensive interior line coach, Steve Bernstein as secondary coach, John Bond as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach and Marquis Mosely as wide receivers coach. The school also promoted Sam Pittman to assistant head coach and offensive line coach and shifted Greg Bower to tight ends coach from defensive interior line coach ... Doug Lichtenberger was named as tight ends coach at Ohio. The school also moved tight ends coach Nick Toth to defensive line coach and awarded additional duties to Steve Russ, who will serve as special teams coordinator as well as linebackers coach ... South Florida appointed Carl Franks as running backs coach and recruiting coordinator and selected Lawrence Dawsey as receivers coach ... Bill Miller, linebackers coach at Florida, was named as associate head coach at the school ... Theron Aych was selected as wide receivers coach at Central Missouri State ... Grand Valley State named Steve Brockelbank as offensive line coach, Matt Mitchell as linebackers coach and Matt Middleton as wide receivers coach ... Dick Tressel was appointed running backs coach at Ohio State. Tressel, who succeeds Tim Spencer, has been associate director of football operations at the school for the past three years ... Western Carolina chose Scott Frazier and Clayton White as assistants ... Western Michigan named Bob Diaco as linebackers and special teams coach, Van Malone as cornerbacks coach, Clayt Birmingham as safeties coach and Scott Niles as coordinator of football operations. Diaco has been an assistant at Eastern Michigan for three seasons and Malone was wide receivers coach at North Dakota State last season. For the past three seasons, Birmingham has worked as defensive coordinator at Emporia State, and Niles is a former football student-athlete at the school, earning first-team all-Mid-American Conference recognition as a linebacker in 1999 ... Cornell announced Clayton Carlin as defensive coordinator and cornerbacks coach, Tim Rogers as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, Brian Coon as offensive line coach, Roderick Plummer as running backs coach and special teams coordinator, Mike Roark as linebackers coach, Brad Beerwinkel as safeties coach, Scott Kavanagh as wide receivers coach and Dyran Peake as tight ends coach. Carlin has worked as secondary coach and special teams coach at New Mexico State for the past season, and for the past six seasons, Rogers has been head coach at Kalamazoo. Coon has been offensive coordinator and offensive line coach at Kalamazoo for the past six years, and Plummer joins Cornell after serving as linebackers coach and special teams coordinator at Kutztown for two seasons. Roark was defensive line coach at Buffalo, while Beerwinkel most recently worked as director of football operations at Western Michigan. For the past two seasons, Kavanagh has been a graduate assistant coach at Wisconsin, and Peake has been a graduate assistant coach at Duke for three seasons ... Nelson Barnes was hired as defensive line coach and Reggie Moore was hired as wide receivers coach at North Dakota State. Barnes has been an assistant coach at Nebraska Wesleyan and Moore spent last season as a graduate assistant coach at Washington.

Men's and women's golf -- St. Leo appointed Rebecca Villegas as head women's coach. Villegas formerly competed on the Ladies Professional Golf Association Futures Tour.

Men's soccer -- Joel Harrison was selected as head coach at St. Leo. Harrison, who succeeds Francis X. Reidy, most recently has coached at Newberry ... LeTourneau hired Thomas Wait as head coach. Wait has been coaching at the high-school level for the past 12 years and most recently has been head coach at Pine Tree (Texas) High School ... Thomas Newell was chosen as head men's soccer coach and sports information director at Eastern Nazarene. For the past four years, Newell has worked as an assistant men's soccer coach at Florida Atlantic.

Men's soccer assistant -- Northwestern chose Erik Ronning as associate head coach.

Women's soccer -- Mercer chose Grant Serafy as head coach ... Serge Lipovetsky accepted responsibilities as head coach at Erskine ... LeTourneau hired Troy Edwards as head coach. In 2003-04, Edwards served as head coach at Trinity Western University in Canada and formerly was an assistant men's coach at Wheaton (Illinois).

Women's soccer assistant -- Jay Cooney was elevated to first assistant coach at Stanford.

Softball -- NYCCT appointed Edward Esses as head coach.

Men's and women's swimming and diving -- Eastern Michigan awarded additional responsibilities to Peter Linn as head women's swimming coach. Linn will retain duties as head men's swimming coach ... Claudia Kolb Thomas resigned as director of swimming and head women's coach at Pacific (Oregon) after one year. The school announced Nathan Templeman, head coach of the Forest Grove Swim Club for the past three years, will serve as interim head coach.

Men's and women's tennis -- Massachusetts-Boston appointed Carl Biggs as head men's and women's coach.

Men's and women's track and field assistant -- Marlon Lawrence was named as an assistant coach at Fairleigh Dickinson. Lawrence is a 2002 graduate of Mount St. Mary's, where he was a member of the track team.

Men's and women's volleyball -- Iowa's Rita Buck-Crockett resigned as head women's coach ... Stephanie Radecki resigned after one season as head women's coach at St. Leo to become head coach at North Alabama ... Lee Maes was selected as associate head women's coach at California.

Men's and women's volleyball assistant -- Lynze Lysen was selected as an assistant women's coach at Samford.

Staff

Marketing/promotions -- Georgia Southern promoted Ricky Ray to director of athletics marketing to replace Cicely Johnson. Ray was an assistant director of athletics media relations and most recently has been acting marketing director.

Sports information -- Norwich appointed Pete Lefresne as sports information director.

Strength and conditioning -- Nick Gannelli was hired as strength and conditioning coach at Duquesne. Gannelli has fulfilled similar duties at Wayne State (Michigan) for the past year and a half.

Strength and conditioning assistant -- Elon named Melissa Moore as an assistant strength and conditioning coach.

Reprimand

The NCAA Division III Men's Lacrosse Committee has reprimanded Eastern Connecticut State head coach Jon Basti and student-athlete Andrew Handras for inappropriate behavior during the second-round game of the 2003 NCAA Division III Men's Lacrosse Championship. Basti was reprimanded for using foul and abusive language toward game officials and reportedly had to be physically restrained by an assistant coach from the institution. Handras' behavior also included the repeated use of foul and abusive language toward game officials while approaching them in an unsportsmanlike manner. The committee has asked for the return of the per diem for two travel party members, and Basti and Handras will be banned from participation in either a first- or second-round game of any future men's lacrosse championship in which the institution participates.

Notables

Gail Goestenkors, head women's basketball coach at Duke, and C. Vivian Stringer, head women's basketball coach at Rutgers, were named as assistant coaches for the U.S. Olympic women's basketball team. Goestenkors, a six-time Atlantic Coast Conference coach of the year, was an assistant for the 2002 world championship team. Stringer has served on the coaching staff for five previous U.S. national teams ... The United States Track Coaches Association (USTCA) named Alistair Cragg of Arkansas and Kim Smith of Providence as the 2004 Indoor Male and Female Athletes of the Year, respectively. In earning titles in the 3,000 meter and 5,000 meter at the 2004 indoor national championships, Cragg, a senior, became just the second student-athlete in NCAA meet history to win both crowns for two straight years. Smith, also a senior, collected titles in the 3,000- and 5,000-meter events during the 2004 indoor national championships, breaking NCAA records in both events en route to the crowns. The USTCA also named LSU head coach Pat Henry as the Indoor Coach of the Year. Henry led the men's and women's programs to a sweep of the 2004 NCAA Division I indoor team national championships, the 30th overall track championship for the school and the 27th under Henry's guidance.

Deaths

Former Ball State men's basketball coach Dick Stealy died March 13. He was 85. Stealy led the school's men's team from 1948 to 1952. He also was an assistant football coach (1946-55), head track coach (1954-67) and head cross country coach (1958-66) at the school.

Jack Leaman, former head men's basketball coach at Massachusetts, died March 6 at the age of 71. Leaman began as an assistant coach with the program in 1961 before being promoted to head coach in 1966. In 13 years, he guided the school to a 217-126 mark, eight Yankee Conference championships and six appearances in the National Invitational Tournament. He had been a radio color commentator for Massachusetts men's games since 1994.

North Carolina A&T sophomore football linebacker Herbert Dixon III died March 13. He was 20.

Former Georgia Southern football student-athlete Vance Pike died March 10. He was 41. Pike was a member of the 1985 Division I-AA national championship team. He also helped guide the school to its fourth national championship and one Southern Conference title as an assistant coach at the school.

George Bioardi, a men's lacrosse student-athlete at Cornell, died March 17 after he was struck in the chest by a ball during a game. He was 22. Boiardi, a senior defenseman, was named as the team's rookie of the year in 2001.

LeMoyne's first men's basketball coach and director of athletics, Thomas J. Niland, died March 16. He was 83. Niland joined the school in 1947 as head men's basketball coach and athletics director and was a former member of the NCAA Committee on Infractions. During his coaching tenure of 26 years, he guided the Dolphins to a 327-219 record and seven NCAA Division II national tournament appearances. Niland retired as director of athletics in 1990. The 1947 Canisius graduate served as captain of the men's basketball squad for two years.

--Compiled by Leilana McKindra