Giacoletti chosen to lead Utes' hoops

Utah appointed Ray Giacoletti as head men's basketball coach. Giacoletti succeeds Rick Majerus, who resigned for health reasons in January.

Giacoletti came to Eastern Washington as head coach in 2000. The team appeared in the Big Sky Conference tournament championship game in each of his four seasons at the helm. In 2003, Eastern Washington earned a place in the NIT field for the first time in school history. This season, the Eagles won the regular-season and conference titles and earned a berth in the NCAA tournament.

Before taking over at Eastern Washington, Giacoletti spent three seasons as head coach at North Dakota State. He served as an assistant at Illinois State for four years and at Washington for four years.

Giacoletti was a four-year letter-winner, three-year starter and two-time caption for the basketball squad at Minot State University. He earned a bachelor's degree in physical education from the school in 1985.

GENERAL

Chief executive officers

Saint Benedict named Maryann Baenninger as president, effective August 1. Baenninger has been executive associate director at the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. ... Rochester President Thomas H. Jackson announced plans to step down, effective June 30. Jackson will take a sabbatical before returning as a member of the school's faculty ... Brian C. Mitchell, president at Washington & Jefferson, was named as president at Bucknell ... Washington & Jefferson appointed G. Andrew Rembert as interim president. Rembert has been an executive vice-president at the school ... Marjorie Bakken stepped down as president at Wheelock, effective at the end of the academic year. The school chose Jackie Jenkins-Scott as Bakken's successor. Jenkins-Scott has been president and chief executive officer of the Dimock Community Health Center in Massachusetts ... Linfield President Vivian A. Bull announced plans to retire, effective in June 2005 ... Timothy E. Foster, executive director of the Colorado Commission on Higher Education, was selected as president at Mesa State, effective in May ... La Roche appointed Candace Introcaso as president, effective July 1. Introcaso has been vice-president for planning and assessment at Barry ... Steven H. Kaplan was named as president at New Haven, effective July 1. Kaplan has been chancellor at the University of Virginia's College at Wise ... W. Rory Lee resigned as president at Louisiana College, effective at the end of the academic year ... Patricia Lewis Poteat resigned as president at Bethany (West Virginia), effective June 30 ... Adams State announced Richard A. Wueste as president. Wueste formerly was vice-president and chief operating officer at Heritage College.

Directors of athletics

Bruce Hanks resigned as director of athletics at Louisiana-Monroe. Hanks has led the athletics department since June 2001 ... John Carroll chose Laurie Massa as director of athletics and recreation.

Associate directors of athletics

Dawn Whalin was promoted to associate athletics director, human resources and financial services, and Robert Hartman was elevated to associate athletics director, marketing at California.

Assistant directors of athletics

Widener's Susan Fumagalli resigned as assistant athletics director and sports information director ... California promoted Gordon Bayne to assistant athletics director, event management, Solomon Fulp to assistant athletics director, corporate development, and Dan Williams to assistant athletics director, information technology.

Coaches

Men's basketball -- Houston hired Tom Penders as head coach. Penders, who takes over for Ray McCallum, formerly has coached at Tufts, Columbia, Fordham, Rhode Island, Texas and George Washington ... Billy Gillispie was chosen as head coach at Texas A&M. Gillispie, who has been head coach at Texas-El Paso, succeeds Melvin Watkins ... New Orleans agreed to terms with head coach Monte Towe on a five-year contract through 2008-09. Towe has guided the program for three years ... Kermit Davis, head coach at Middle Tennessee, was awarded a contract extension through the 2008-09 season ... Southern Methodist hired Jimmy Tubbs as head coach to replace Mike Dement. Tubbs has spent the past two seasons as an assistant at Oklahoma and formerly was an assistant at Southern Methodist for 12 seasons ... Auburn released head coach Cliff Ellis after 10 seasons ... Larry Eustachy was hired as head coach at Southern Mississippi to replace James Green. Eustachy formerly was head coach at Iowa State ... Billy Lange was selected as head coach at Navy. For the past three seasons, Lange has worked as director of basketball operations at Villanova ... Maryland-Eastern Shore will not renew the contract of head coach Thomas Trotter, who was in charge of the program for four years ... Florida International hired Sergio Rouco as head coach to replace Donnie Marsh. Rouco, who has been an assistant at UTEP during the past season, formerly was an assistant at Florida International from 1987-91 and from 2000-03 ... Mike DeGeorge was selected as head coach at Cornell to succeed Ed Timm. DeGeorge has been head coach at Eureka for the past four years ... Steve Aggers, head coach at Loyola Marymount, was awarded a two-year contract extension through 2007. Aggers has guided the program since 2000 ... Utah named Ray Giacoletti as head coach to replace Rick Majerus and interim head coach Kerry Rupp. This season, Giacoletti led Eastern Washington to it's first NCAA tournament berth and the Big Sky regular and conference tournament championships ... Miami (Florida) released Perry Clark after four seasons as head coach ... Doc Sadler was promoted to head coach at UTEP to replace Billy Gillispie. Sadler spent the past season as an assistant with the program ... Bruce Evans was appointed as head coach at Lander ... Dave Magarity resigned after 18 years as head coach at Marist. Magarity will assume a post in the school's athletics department ... Nevada awarded head coach Trent Johnson with a five-year contract. This season, Johnson, who just closed out his fifth season in charge of the Wolfpack, led the school to its third NCAA tournament appearance and its first ever Sweet Sixteen berth.

Men's basketball assistants -- Craig Smith resigned as an assistant at North Dakota State to become head coach at Mayville State University ... Brian Allen resigned as director of men's basketball operations at Penn State.

Women's basketball -- Surina Dixon resigned after four years as head coach at Maryland-Eastern Shore ... Joe Ciampi, head coach at Auburn, retired. Ciampi led the school to 16 NCAA tournament appearances, three regular-season Southeastern Conference championships and four SEC tournament titles in 25 years ... Carrie Zickefoose resigned as head coach at Washington & Jefferson ... Indiana/Purdue-Indianapolis will not renew the contract of head coach Kris Simpson ... Albany (New York) awarded Trina Patterson with a two-year contract extension as head coach. Patterson has guided the program since May 2002 ... Kansas hired Bonnie Henrickson as head coach to succeed Marian Washington, who resigned after 31 seasons. Henrickson led Virginia Tech to a 158-62 record in seven seasons.

Football -- Greg Debeljak was promoted to head coach at Case Western Reserve. Debeljak, who succeeds Joe Perella, has been offensive coordinator for the past three years.

Football assistants -- Temple selected Rubin Carter as defensive line coach ... Albion chose Josh Buis as an assistant coach ... Amp Campbell was appointed as defensive secondary coach and special teams coordinator at Ferris State. Campbell, who replaces Darrell Perkins, has been defensive secondary coach at Urbana University ... Fordham named Jim Miceli as recruiting coordinator for football and linebackers coach, Andrew Cohen as defensive line coach, Mark Melnitsky as offensive line coach, Joseph Dougherty as wide receivers coach and Brandon Walker as assistant offensive line coach ... Gary Miller and Tyree Foreman were added as assistant coaches at Army ... Tom Shea was chosen as defensive coordinator at Upper Iowa ... Rhode Island appointed Peter Quaweay as defensive backfield coach and video and film coordinator. Quaweay was defensive backs coach at Duquesne ... Villanova chose Dan Rattay as an assistant coach ... Tim Camp was selected as offensive coordinator at Bucknell. Camp has been an assistant with the program.

Men's and women's ice hockey -- Wentworth Institute elevated Jonathan Deptula to head men's coach. Deptula, who also will serve as the athletics department's strength and conditioning coach, has been interim head men's ice hockey coach since January 30

Men's soccer -- Shannon Poser resigned as head coach at Monmouth (New Jersey), effective at the end of the academic year. Poser was an assistant with the program for two seasons before serving as head coach for the past six seasons ... Eckerd named Derrick Leeson as head coach. Leeson has been head coach at Campbell.

Men's soccer assistants -- Bert Molinary was selected as an assistant coach at South Carolina ... Paul Bravo assumed duties as an assistant coach at UCLA.

Women's soccer -- Michael Coll resigned as head coach at St. Francis (Pennsylvania).

Women's soccer assistant --New York University named Carlos De Brito as an assistant coach.

Men's and women's track and field -- Jim Taylor, head men's coach at Susquehanna, retired. In 26 years as head coach, Taylor has led the school to 11 Middle Atlantic Conference championships.

Men's and women's volleyball -- Northern Iowa extended the contract of head women's coach Bobbi Petersen through 2008 ... Tim O'Brien assumed responsibilities as head women's coach at Loyola (Illinois) to replace Liz Tortorello-Nelson. O'Brien has been an assistant coach with the program for the past two seasons ... Diana Felker resigned as head coach at Widener ... Villanova named Gilad Doron as head women's coach.

Staff

Academic services -- Heather Jensen was hired as student success coordinator at Southeastern Louisiana. Jensen most recently has been a CHAMPS/Life Skills academic counselor at Quinnipiac.

Assistant athletic trainers -- Carolyn Greer was elevated to associate director for sports medicine and Suzi Higgins and Paul Signorelli were promoted to associate athletic trainers at San Diego.

Compliance -- Central Florida named Kelly Scafariello as director of compliance.

Sports information -- Pete Lefresne was hired as sports information director at Norwich, succeeding Dave Caspole, who became assistant director of public affairs for the university. For the past four and a half years, Lefresne has been associate manager of athletics media relations at Maine.

Sports information assistant -- Robert Hester resigned as associate sports information director at Northern Illinois.

Strength and conditioning -- Georgia Southern selected Tom Melton as strength and conditioning coach ... Pat Ivey was appointed as strength and conditioning coach at Missouri.

National office

LaRon Black and Jess Rigler were elevated to assistant directors of membership services at the national office ... Joe Dunn was chosen as a manager of corporate alliances at the national office. Dunn has been an account manager for Coca-Cola Enterprises ... Dea Shipps Wilson, Renee Madison and Scott Johnson were added as assistant directors of enforcement, effective April 12. Wilson was a compliance coordinator at Chicago State. Madison most recently served as a deputy prosecutor with the Marion County (Indiana) Prosecutors Office and Johnson has been an associate attorney with Meils Thompson Dietz and Berish.

Correction

An article about the North Coast Athletic Conference in the March 29 issue of The NCAA News reported the name of the conference incorrectly. Also, a story about Division III conferences in that issue incorrectly reported the title of Richard Rasmussen of the University Athletic Association, as did an accompanying graphic featuring a quotation attributed to Rasmussen. He serves as executive secretary of the UAA.

Notables

Jameer Nelson, a senior guard at St. Joseph's, and Diana Taurasi, a senior guard at Connecticut, were named as the 2004 Naismith college basketball players of the year. This is the second straight year Taurasi has captured the honor. Nelson, the Atlantic 10 player of the year, is the school's career leader in points and assists. Taurasi, who has led the Huskies to two NCAA national championships, is a two-time Big East Conference player of the year.

Phil Martelli, head men's basketball coach at St. Joseph's, and Pat Summitt, head women's basketball coach at Tennessee, were chosen as the Naismith college basketball coaches of the year. Martelli led St. Joe's to a 30-2 season and an appearance in the Elite Eight. Summitt guided the Lady Vols to their third straight Women's Final Four appearance.

DEATHS

Terrence Murphy, former chancellor and president at St. Thomas (Minnesota), died February 24. Murphy was 83.

Wisconsin-River Falls Chancellor Ann Lydecker died March 25 in a two-car accident.

Matthew Gribble, a former all-American swimmer at Miami (Florida), died in an automobile accident March 25. He was 41. Gribble earned two NCAA titles with the Hurricanes and went on to capture a gold medal at the 1982 World Games. He also earned three golds at the 1983 Pan American Games. That same year, Gribble set a world record for the 100m butterfly.

--Compiled by Leilana McKindra