Baker named NJCAA executive director

W. Wayne Baker has been elevated to executive director of the National Junior College Athletic Association, effective August 1.

Baker succeeds George Killian, who will retire July 31 after 35 years with the association.

Baker's tenure with the NJCAA began in 1985 as an eligibility administrator. In 1994, he was promoted to his present post of associate executive director. Baker also formerly taught and coached at Westmoreland (Kansas) High School.

A 1979 graduate of Kansas State, Baker earned a bachelor's degree in education. He also earned a master's degree in business administration in 1989 from Regis (Colorado).

St. John's selects Roberts as head coach

St. John's (New York) has hired Norm Roberts as head men's basketball coach to succeed Mike Jarvis.

For the past year, Roberts has served as associate head coach at Kansas. Before coming to Kansas, he served as an assistant coach at Illinois from 2001 to 2002 before being promoted to associate head coach there in 2003. Roberts also has completed tenures as an assistant at Tulsa from 1998 to 2000 and at Oral Roberts from 1996 to 1997. In addition, he served as head coach at Queens (New York) from 1992 to 1995.

Roberts is a 1987 graduate of Queens (New York), where as a member of the men's basketball team he became the career leader in steals and assists. He also is the school's all-time second-leading scorer with 1,719 points. Roberts earned a bachelor's degree in health and physical education.

GENERAL

Lewis M. Duncan was named as president at Rollins, effective August 1. Duncan has been dean of the Thayer School and professor of engineering at Dartmouth ... Rochester President Thomas H. Jackson will step down, effective June 30, 2005. Jackson will return to the school's faculty after a sabbatical ... Richard L. Judd announced plans to retire as president at Central Connecticut State, effective July 1 ... New Mexico State appointed Michael V. Martin as president, effective July 1. Martin has been vice-president for agricultural and natural resources at Florida ... G. David Pollick, president at Lebanon Valley, was selected as president at Birmingham Southern ... North Alabama President Robert L. Potts was appointed as chancellor of the North Dakota system, effective July 1 ... Wheaton (Massachusetts) named Ronald Crutcher as president, effective July 15. Crutcher has been provost at Miami (Ohio) ... Former Plattsburgh State President Horace Judson was selected as president at Grambling, effective June 1 ... Les Wong was named as president at Northern Michigan. Wong has been vice-president for academic affairs at Valley City State University ... Steven Ballard was chosen as chancellor at East Carolina. Ballard, who has been provost and vice-chancellor for academic affairs at Missouri-Kansas City since 2001, succeeds interim chancellor Bill Shelton and Chancellor William V. Muse, who resigned ... John M. Borek Jr. resigned as president and chief executive officer at Liberty ... Texas A&M-Corpus Christi President Robert R. Furgason stepped down, effective upon the selection of his successor, to become director of the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies at the university ... Jacob Martinson resigned as president at High Point, effective upon the appointment of his replacement. Martinson will continue with the school as chancellor ... Sabine O'Hara was named as president at Roanoke. Most recently, O'Hara has been dean and vice-president for academic affairs at Concordia-Moorhead.

Directors of athletics

Misericordia appointed Dave Martin as athletics director to succeed Michael Mould. Martin has been head men's basketball coach and associate athletics director at the school for the past 14 years ... Laurie Massa was hired as director of athletics and recreation at John Carroll, effective June 1, to replace interim athletics director Gretchen Weitbrecht and athletics director Tony DeCarlo. For the past 11 years, Massa has worked as senior woman administrator at South Carolina ... Utah State's Rance Pugmire resigned after five years as director of athletics ... Mike Lynch was promoted to athletics director at Boston U. to succeed Gary Strickler. Lynch has been assistant vice-president of development for athletics since April 2000 and will retain those responsibilities ... Bridgeport's Joe DiPuma resigned as director of athletics, effective June 1. DiPuma has led the athletics department since June 1, 1999. The school announced associate athletics director John Pizzi Jr. as interim athletics director.

Associate directors of athletics

Carolyn Greer was elevated to associate director of athletics for sports medicine at San Diego. Greer has been head athletic trainer at the school for 26 years ... Wagner hired Peg Hefferan as associate athletics director for compliance. Hefferan has been at Seton Hall for the past 17 years, most recently serving as assistant athletics director for compliance ... Mark Harlan was named as associate athletics director for development at Northern Colorado. Most recently, Harlan has worked as assistant athletics director for regional development and marketing at Arizona ... Scott Morehouse was hired as associate athletics director for game operations and facilities at Marshall. Morehouse, who replaces David Reed, has been assistant athletics director for facilities and operations at Wichita State.

Assistant directors of athletics

Teikyo Post promoted Karin Mann to assistant athletics director for compliance and sports medicine, Wayne Mazzoni to assistant athletics director for advancement and Dawn Spellman to assistant athletics director for fitness. Mann has been with the school for six years and will continue as head athletic trainer and senior woman administrator. Mazzoni, who will retain responsibilities as head baseball coach, has been with the school for five seasons. Spellman has been at Teikyo Post for five years and will continue as head softball coach and head women's volleyball coach ... Pete Oliszczak was hired as assistant athletics director for internal operations at Utah. For the past five years, Oliszczak has been a member of the NCAA national office staff, most recently serving as an assistant director of championships.

Coaches

Men's basketball -- Auburn hired Jeff Lebo as head coach to replace Cliff Ellis. Lebo has been head coach at Chattanooga ... Georgia Tech awarded head coach Paul Hewitt a six-year contract. This season, Hewitt guided the Yellow Jackets to an appearance in the Division I national championship game ... Sergio Rouco was hired as head coach at Florida International. Rouco, who has been an assistant at UTEP, formerly was an assistant coach at Florida International from 1987 to 1991 and from 2000 to 2003 ... Manchester head coach Jamie Matthews resigned to become coach at Saginaw Valley State ... Miami (Florida) hired Frank Haith as head coach. Haith, who succeeds Perry Clark, has been an assistant coach at Texas for three seasons ... Chris Lowery was named as head coach at Southern Illinois. Lowery, who succeeds Matt Painter, has been an assistant at Illinois ... Rhode Island College's Michael Kelly resigned after three seasons as head coach to become an assistant at James Madison ... Emmanuel (Massachusetts) head coach Lance Tucker resigned. The school named Jamahl Jackson as head coach ... Barry Wohler was chosen as head coach at Hamline ... Loyola (Illinois) appointed Jim Whitesell as head coach. Whitesell, who succeeds Larry Farmer, has been head coach at Lewis for the past 12 seasons ... Michael Hunt resigned after three seasons as head coach at Towson ... North Park promoted Paul Brenegan to head coach to replace Rees Johnson. For the past six years, Brenegan has been associate head men's basketball coach and head golf coach at the school ... Dean Keener, top assistant at Georgia Tech, was hired as head coach at James Madison.

Men's basketball assistants -- Utah added Randy Rahe, Marty Wilson and Mike Score as assistant coaches. Rahe has been an assistant at Utah State, Wilson formerly was at UC Santa Barbara and Score was an assistant at Eastern Washington ... Purdue appointed Southern Illinois head coach Matt Painter as associate head coach ... Texas A&M chose Alvin Brooks as an assistant coach. Last season, Brooks was an assistant at UTEP ... Lew Hill was named as an assistant coach and Mike Shepherd was chosen as director of basketball operations at UNLV ... Rickey Broussard resigned after two years as an assistant coach at LSU, but will continue at the school as director of development for athletics ... Troy State's Billy Jefcoat resigned as an assistant to become head coach at Northeast Mississippi Community College.

Women's basketball -- Beth Dunkenberger was hired as head coach at Virginia Tech. Dunkenberger, who replaces Bonnie Henrickson, has been head coach at Western Carolina for four seasons ... Memphis signed head coach Joye Lee-McNelis to a contract extension through 2009 ... Karin Nicholls was chosen as head coach at Mercyhurst ... Lori Fish was named as head coach at Minnesota State ... Montana State's Robin Potera-Haskins resigned as head coach. The school selected Greg Kudrna as interim head coach for the 2004-05 season ... Gloria Pacsi, head women's basketball coach and cross country coach at Thiel, will not return for the 2004-05 season ... Alabama-Birmingham appointed Audra Smith as head coach to replace Jeannie Milling. Since 1994, Smith has worked as an assistant at Virginia ... Josh Keister was promoted to head coach at Missouri Western. For the past five seasons, Keister has been top assistant for the program and also has been head women's tennis coach since 2003 ... New Orleans named Amy Champion as head coach to succeed Joey Favaloro. Champion has been an assistant at Alabama-Birmingham ... Mike Petersen was chosen as head coach at Wake Forest. Petersen has been associate head men's basketball coach at Minnesota and formerly coached women's basketball at Gonzaga, New Mexico State and Texas Christian ... Roy Dixon was appointed as head coach at Montevallo ... Tonya Mackey was elevated to head coach at South Carolina State to replace Keshia Campbell. Mackey has been associate head coach for the past two seasons and was an assistant at the school for seven seasons ... Portland State selected Charity Elliott as head coach to succeed George Wolfe. Elliott has been an assistant at Arkansas ... Karin Nicholls was chosen as head coach at Mercyhurst ... Beth Combs, head coach at Colgate, was named as head coach at Northwestern to take over for June Olkowski ... Mark Trakh was selected as head coach at Southern California. Trakh, who succeeds Chris Gobrecht, has been head coach at Pepperdine for the past 11 years ... Bridgeport announced Mark McCaleb as head coach. McCaleb spent last season as head coach at St. Joseph's (Maine).

Field hockey -- Scranton tabbed Sara Fuller as head field hockey coach and assistant softball coach.

Football -- Pete Alvanos, head coach at Hamilton, signed a four-year contract extension through the 2007 season ... TCU awarded head coach Gary Patterson with a one-year contract extension through the 2008 season. Patterson, who took over as head coach in 2000, led the Horned Frogs to an 11-2 mark and an appearance in the Fort Worth Bowl last season ... Texas Tech agreed to terms with head coach Mike Leach on a three-year contract extension through the 2008 season. Leach has led the Red Raiders to bowl game appearances in each of his four seasons in charge ... Delaware awarded head coach K.C. Keeler with a contract extension through the 2009 season. Keeler, who became head coach in 2002, led the Blue Hens to the Division I-AA national championship last season ... Joe Novak, head coach at Northern Illinois, was awarded a contract extension through the 2007 season. Novak has been in charge of the program since December 1995.

Football assistants -- New Mexico State chose Derek Mason as receivers coach. Mason was assistant head coach and defensive coordinator at St. Mary's (California) ... Louisiana-Monroe tabbed Luke Wells as tight ends coach and announced Josh Brooks as director of football operations. Wells and Brooks were graduate assistants at the school ... Stony Brook added Paul McGonagle as offensive coordinator ... John Peterson was tabbed as tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator at Ohio State. Peterson spent the past five seasons as offensive line coach at Miami (Ohio) ... Vance Joseph was named as defensive backs coach at Bowling Green to succeed Steven Wilks. Most recently, Joseph has worked as an assistant at Colorado ... Texas Tech appointed Carlos Mainord as safeties coach to replace Johnny Barr. Mainord, who previously served three separate stints as an assistant with the Red Raiders, also has been an assistant coach in the NFL ... Wayne (Michigan) named Kurt Mattix as secondary coach. For the past two seasons, Mattix has been a defensive backs and defensive line graduate assistant coach at Ball State ... Northeastern added Rapheal Dowdye as running backs coach, Wally Dembowski as defensive line coach and recruiting coordinator, John Cervino as defensive coordinator and linebackers coach, James Salgado as defensive secondary coach, Eddie Davis as offensive coordinator and running backs coach and Brian Surace as offensive line coach. The school also elevated J.J. Fadden to defensive tackles coach and video coordinator. Dowdye has been an assistant coach at Brown for four years and Dembowski has been defensive ends coach at Holy Cross. Most recently, Cervino has worked as an assistant coach at Bridgewater (Virginia), and Salgado has been defensive secondary coach at Hofstra since March 2002. Davis has spent the past five years as an assistant coach at James Madison, while Surace has been an assistant at Rensselaer for five seasons. Fadden was a defensive assistant coach and video coordinator.

Men's and women's golf -- James Trittler resigned as head men's coach at Missouri-St. Louis.

Men's soccer -- Southern New Hampshire promoted Dave Anderson to head coach to succeed Tom Poitras. Anderson has been the top assistant coach with the program for six seasons and has served as interim head coach since December ... Widener head coach Fred Dohrmann resigned to become director of fitness-weight room operations. The school announced that head women's coach Jack Shafer will assume additional responsibilities as head men's coach.

Women's soccer -- Syracuse head coach April Kater resigned ... Geoffrey Bennett was hired as head coach at Colorado College. Bennett has been an assistant men's coach at Hartwick for the past year.

Women's soccer assistants -- Mike Bristol was named as an assistant coach at Maryland ... Michael Coll was chosen as an assistant coach at Penn State.

Men's and women's swimming and diving -- Bob Bowman was named as head coach at Michigan, effective in September. Bowman, who coaches Olympic swimming hopeful Michael Phelps, will succeed the retiring John Urbanchek ... Matt Gardner resigned as head men's and women's coach at Webster ... Jeff Cavana resigned as head swimming coach at LSU.

Men's and women's volleyball -- Montevallo's Margaret Sherman resigned as head women's coach ... Courtney Dipert was named as head coach at Eckerd. Dipert, formerly an assistant coach at Duke and Florida State, replaces A.J. Joseph, who resigned after two seasons ... Southern Mississippi appointed Ricci Luyties as head women's coach ... Don Metil was hired as head women's coach at Lees-McRae. Metil has been head coach at Notre Dame (Maryland).

Staff

Assistant athletic trainers -- San Diego elevated Suzi Higgins and Paul Signorelli to associate athletic trainers. Higgins and Signorelli were assistant athletic trainers.

Compliance -- Oregon State named Mark Rountree as eligibility coordinator. Rountree, who has been an assistant athletics director for compliance at Towson, takes over for the retired Mary Alice Stander.

Compliance assistant -- Utah chose Gregory Walter as assistant compliance director. Walter is a 2003 graduate of the University of Virginia's School of Law and has worked as a compliance intern in the Virginia athletics department.

Marketing/promotions -- Wichita State hired Chris Andrews as athletics marketing and sales coordinator. Andrews has been assistant athletics director for external operations at Northwest Missouri State ... Bob Askin was appointed as director of marketing and promotions at Marshall.

Strength and conditioning assistant -- Jason Phillips was hired as an assistant strength and conditioning coach at Oregon State. Since September 2001, Phillips has worked as an assistant strength and conditioning coach at UC Irvine.

Conferences

Chris Graham was announced as commissioner for the Midwest Conference, effective July 1. Graham, who has been acting commissioner since the retirement of Ralph Shivley, will become the league's first full-time chief executive officer.

Associations

AutoZone, Inc. reached an agreement to became the title sponsor of the Liberty Bowl, which will be played December 31 and broadcast on ESPN ... Diamond Walnut signed a three-year contract extension as title sponsor of the San Francisco Bowl through 2006. The company also changed the name of the contest to Emerald Bowl. The game, which will be played December 31, matches teams from the Mountain West and Pacific-10 Conferences.

Corrections

The team coached by Fred Thompson was listed incorrectly in the Division II notes of the March 29 issue of The NCAA News. Thompson recently won his 100th career game as the men's basketball coach at Millersville University of Pennsylvania.

Notables

The following Division I-A football players and coaches were announced as 2004 inductees to College Football Hall of Fame by the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame: Players -- Bob P. Anderson, Army, running back, 1957-59; Tony Casillas, Oklahoma, middle guard, 1982-85; Frank Emanuel, Tennessee, linebacker, 1963-65; Ray Guy, Southern Mississippi, punter, 1970-72; Wayne Harris, Arkansas, guard/linebacker, 1958-60; Joe Kapp, California, quarterback, 1956-58; James Mandich, Michigan, tight end, 1967-69; Lydell Mitchell, Penn State, running back, 1969-71; Tracy Rocker, Auburn, defensive tackle, 1985-88; Jack Tatum, Ohio State, defensive back, 1968-70; Andre Ware, Houston, quarterback, 1987-89; Charles Young, Southern California, tight end, 1970-72. Coaches -- LaVell Edwards, Brigham Young, 1972-2000; and George Welsh, Navy and Virginia, 1973-2000 ... Alana Beard, a senior at Duke, and Joe Curl, head women's basketball coach at Houston, were named as the Associated Press player and coach of the year. Beard, the first women's basketball player to have her jersey retired at Duke, led the Blue Devils to four Atlantic Coast Conference regular season and tournament championships and two appearances in the Final Four during her career. This season, Curl led the Cougars to a 28-4 mark, a school record for victories, en route to capturing the Conference USA regular season and tournament championships as well as earning a berth in the NCAA tournament for the first time in 12 years ... Connecticut's Diana Taurasi was named as the 2004 recipient of the Nancy Lieberman Award. This is the second straight year Taurasi has earned the honor which recognizes the nation's top collegiate women's point guard in Division I. Taurasi led the Huskies to their third straight national championship this season ... St. Joseph's head coach Phil Martelli and Hawks' senior Jameer Nelson were named as the Associated Press men's basketball coach and player of the year. Martelli led St. Joe's to a 30-2 record and an appearance in the East Rutherford regional final. Nelson, averaging 20.6 points and 4.7 rebounds and 5.3 assists, helped the Hawks gain the school's first No. 1 national ranking and a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. Nelson also earned the Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award. The honor, presented by the Basketball Hall of Fame and the National Association of Basketball Coaches, annually recognizes the nation's best senior basketball player under six feet tall.

DEATHS

Former Carthage President Harold H. Lentz died March 11 at the age of 93.

Thomas J. Niland Jr., former head men's basketball coach and director of athletics at Le Moyne, died March 16. Niland was 83.

Former Saint Louis President Thomas R. Fitzgerald died March 22. Fitzgerald was 82.

Jim Dynan, former sports information director at Bradley, died April 5. He was 77. Dynan completed two stints at the school. He spent the 1954 season with the Braves before moving to Tulsa to fulfill similar duties from 1954 to 1956. Dynan returned to Bradley and spent 19 years as sports information director.

Eckerd men's basketball student-athlete Peter Akintola died April 9. He was 21. The junior management major played forward for the team.

Former Towson President Hoke L. Smith died March 27 at the age of 72.

--Compiled by Leilana McKindra