Stephenson named to Emory AD position

Betsy Stephenson has been named as director of athletics and recreation at Emory, effective June 1.

Stephenson, who recently completed a term on the NCAA Division I Management Council, has served as associate athletics director and senior woman administrator at UCLA since 1996. Before joining the Bruins athletics department, she spent four years as associate athletics director and senior woman administrator at Kansas. Stephenson also completed an eight-year tenure at the NCAA national office, including three years as director of Division I men's basketball operations.

She has served the NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Committee and has been active with several Pacific-10 Conference committees.

Stephenson earned a bachelor's degree in personnel administration in 1983 at Kansas, where she was a volleyball student-athlete.

Wake Forest CEO to retire in June 2005

Wake Forest President Thomas K. Hearn Jr. has announced plans to retire in June 2005.

Hearn has served as president since 1983.

A former member of the NCAA Presidents Council, Hearn came to Wake Forest from Alabama-Birmingham, where he was a professor and chair of the department of philosophy from 1974 to 1976, before being elevated to dean of the school of humanities in 1976. Two years later, Hearn was selected as vice-president for university college, a position he held until 1982, when he was appointed as senior vice-president. In addition, Hearn formerly was an assistant professor (1965-68) and associate professor (1968-74) at William and Mary.

Hearn earned a bachelor of arts from Birmingham Southern in 1959 and a bachelor of divinity at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1963. He also earned a doctorate of philosophy at Vanderbilt in 1965. <

GENERAL

Chief executive officers

Dallas selected Francis M. Lazarus as president, effective July 1. Lazarus has been vice-president for academic affairs and provost at San Diego ... Ronald D. Liebowitz, provost and executive vice-president at Middlebury, was announced as president at the school, effective July 1 ... Keith Terrence Miller was appointed as president at Lock Haven, effective this summer. Miller, who has served as provost and vice-chancellor at Wisconsin-Oshkosh, succeeds the retiring Craig D. Willis ... San Jose State named Paul Yu as president, effective July 15. Yu has been president at Brockport State ... Radford President Douglas Covington announced plans to retire, effective June 1, 2005 ... Nathaniel Hansford announced plans to retire as president at North Georgia, effective in 2005 ... Illinois Wesleyan chose Richard F. Wilson as president, effective July 1. Wilson has been associate chancellor for development at Illinois and vice-president for the University of Illinois Foundation.

Directors of athletics

St. John's (Minnesota) named Timothy Backous as athletics director. Backous, who succeeds Jim Smith, has spent the past year filling the position on an interim basis ... Cortland State announced Joan Sitterly as director of athletics. Sitterly, who has been head volleyball coach at the school since 1983, has been interim athletics director since January 2003 ... Seattle chose Wendy Guthrie as athletics director, effective June 30. Guthrie was associate director of athletics and senior woman administrator at San Diego from 1996 to 2002 and since January 2003 has been director of Wisdom for the Real World, a new residential learning program at San Diego ... Chuck Gordon was selected as director of athletics at Augustana (Illinois). Gordon was director of athletics and recreation at Emory from 1990 to 2003. He succeeds men's athletics director Greg Wallace, who will continue as head baseball coach, and women's athletics director Liesl Fowler, who will become registrar ... Pacific (Oregon) athletics director Judy Sherman announced plans to relinquish her duties, effective June 30. Sherman, who has been with the school for 37 years including serving as athletics director for the past 12 years, will continue as special assistant to the athletics director for the next two years, before assuming a full retirement in 2006 ... Paul Michael Plinske was named as athletics director at Wisconsin-Whitewater, effective July 1, to replace Shawn Eichorst, who accepted a position at South Carolina. Plinske has been associate athletics director at Wisconsin-La Crosse since 1999 ... Jerry Olson was hired as director of athletics and head women's basketball coach at Oklahoma Panhandle State, where he formerly served in the same capacity from 1990 to 1994. Olson has been an assistant men's basketball coach at Montana State since 1994 ... Mike Bobinski, athletics director at Xavier, was chosen as associate vice-president for development at the school ... North Carolina-Asheville hired Janet Cone as athletics director to replace Joni Comstock. Cone has been at Samford since 1996 and has most recently served as an associate athletics director.

Associate directors of athletics

Hunter Yuracheck was appointed as associate athletics director for marketing and promotions at Virginia. Most recently, Yuracheck has worked as senior associate athletics director at Western Carolina. Virginia also hired Jim Booz as associate athletics director for compliance. Booz has been at Vanderbilt since 1995 and has spent the past four years as assistant athletics director for compliance.

Assistant directors of athletics

Mike Mitchell was chosen as assistant athletics director for development at Longwood. Since 2003, Mitchell has worked as a marketing consultant in corporate communications and marketing with the Nature Conservancy of Canada ... Seton Hall promoted Alicia Alford to assistant athletics director for compliance. Alford has been athletics business manager. The school also announced the resignation of Chris Colleary as assistant athletics director for tickets and marketing.

Coaches

Baseball -- Pennsylvania's Bob Seddon announced plans to retire as head coach, effective at the end of the 2005 season ... Pete Southall, head coach at Henderson State for the past five years, resigned, effective June 30. The school chose assistant John Harvey as interim head coach.

Men's basketball -- John Thompson III was hired as head coach at Georgetown. For the past four seasons, Thompson has guided the program at Princeton to three Ivy League championships. Princeton appointed Joe Scott as head coach to replace Thompson. This past season, Scott led Air Force to its first Mountain West Conference championship and the program's first NCAA tournament berth in 42 years ... Grand Valley State chose Ric Wesley as head coach ... Chris Mooney was promoted to head coach at Air Force. Mooney, who takes over for Joe Scott, has been with the Falcons for four years, including serving as associate head coach for the last two seasons ... Northern Kentucky appointed Dave Bezold as head coach ... Jessie Evans was selected as head coach at San Francisco to replace Phil Mathews. Evans was head coach at Louisiana-Lafayette for seven years ... Hendrix hired Dan Priest as head coach. For the past five years, Priest has worked as head coach at Ohio Dominican ... Michael Hunt resigned after three years as head coach ... Arkansas awarded two-year head coach Stan Heath a one-year contract extension through 2009 ... Hamilton named Tobin Anderson as head coach ... Matt Brady was chosen as head coach at Marist. Brady, formerly an assistant with St. Joseph's (New York) for 11 years, replaces Dave Magarity ... John Shulman was promoted to head coach at Chattanooga to succeed Jeff Lebo. Shulman has been an assistant at the school for two years ... Boise State awarded head coach Greg Graham a five-year contract extension. Graham guided the program to an appearance in the NIT last season ... Nebraska Wesleyan chose Mark Franzen as head coach. Franzen has been an assistant men's basketball coach and head men's and women's golf coach at Wartburg ... Nova Southeastern named Gary Tuell as head coach ... St. Mary's (Minnesota) head coach Mark Lovelace resigned to become an assistant at Loyola (Illinois). Lovelace spent one season in charge of the Cardinal program ... Jeff Capel signed a six-year contract extension as head coach at Virginia Commonwealth. Capel has guided the team for two years and led the Rams to an appearance in the NCAA tournament this past season ... Al Sokaitis, head coach at Alaska Fairbanks for the past eight years, resigned. Sokaitis guided the program to a 23-7 record and an appearance in the Division II postseason tournament this season ... Arizona awarded head coach Lute Olson a contract extension through 2009. In 21 seasons, Olson has led the Wildcats to four Final Four appearances and the 1997 national championship ... North Carolina Central selected Henry Dickerson as head coach. Dickerson formerly served as head coach at Chattanooga from 1997-02 and has worked as an assistant dean of student development there for the past two years ... Dave Bezold was chosen as head coach at Northern Kentucky to replace the retired Ken Shields. For the past 14 years, Bezold has been an assistant with the program.

Men's basketball assistants -- Maryland tabbed Mike Lonergan as an assistant coach ... Jake Morton resigned as an assistant coach at St. Francis (Pennsylvania) ... Washington State named Ben Johnson as an assistant coach ... Malcolm Montgomery was chosen as an assistant coach at Lipscomb. Since 2002, Montgomery, who replaces Tim Cornwell, has worked as an assistant at Trevecca Nazarene ... Utah State hired Dave Rice as an assistant. For the past 11 years, Rice has worked as an assistant at UNLV ... Ken McDonald was named as an assistant at Texas to replace Frank Haith. McDonald was an assistant at Georgia ... Barry Rohrssen was elevated to associate head coach at Pittsburgh. Rohrssen has been an assistant coach ... Lafayette appointed John Gallagher and Drew Dawson as assistant coaches ... Charlton Young was tabbed as an assistant coach at Chattanooga ... Tusculum hired Daniel Willis as an assistant. For the past three seasons, Willis has been an assistant at Western Carolina ... George Nessman assumed responsibilities as an assistant coach at California.

Women's basketball -- Nell Fortner was hired as head coach at Auburn to succeed the retired Joe Ciampi. Fortner, who has been a television analyst since 2001, led Purdue to the 1997 Big Ten Conference championship. She also spent three seasons as head coach and general manager of the WNBA's Indiana Fever ... Jill Dunn, top assistant coach at Georgia State for the past three years, was chosen as head coach at Jacksonville. Dunn replaces Melissa Taketa ... Canisius (New York) named Terry Zeh as head coach to succeed Mike Decillis, who retired. Zeh has been an assistant men's basketball coach at the school for the past seven years ... Brian Boyer was awarded a two-year contract extension as head coach at Arkansas State ... Southern Illinois appointed Dana Eikenberg as head coach. For the past three seasons, Eikenberg has been an assistant at Missouri-Kansas City ... John Margaritis was selected as head coach at UC Riverside. Since 1996, Margaritis has been associate head coach at Northern Arizona ... Kellie (Jolly) Harper was hired as head coach at Western Carolina. Harper, who succeeds Beth Dunkenberger, has been an assistant at Chattanooga for three seasons ... Deb Patterson, head coach at Kansas State, signed a two-year contract extension through the 2006-07 season ... Bud Childers was hired as head coach at Winthrop. Childers formerly has guided programs at Cumberland, Montevallo, Murray State, Louisville and James Madison ... Thomas More appointed Brian Neal as head coach to succeed Sharri Brumfield. For the past six seasons, Neal has been an assistant at Northern Kentucky ... LSU head coach Sue Gunter retired after 22 seasons at the school. Gunter's 708 career victories rank as the third most wins in women's basketball. The school named Pokey Chatman, an assistant with the program for seven years and associate head coach for the past five years, as Gunter's successor.

Women's basketball assistants -- Alabama-Birmingham selected Kathy Allen, JoVanka Lewis-Ward and Daryl Oliver as assistant coaches ... Wake Forest added Fred Applin as associate head coach. Applin has been an assistant at Texas for the past six seasons and formerly was an assistant at Wake Forest in 1997-98 ... Natasha Adair was named as an assistant coach at Wake Forest... New Orleans chose Mitch White and Sally Jeter as assistants ... Matt Hart, Nicole Anderson and Jennifer Gross resigned as assistant coaches at San Diego State ... Texas hired Travis Mays as an assistant coach to succeed Fred Applin. Mays has been with the WNBA's San Antonio Silver Stars for the past two years.

Field hockey -- Michele Bedesem Linder was named as head coach to succeed Laura-Ann Lane ... Kiki Chesterton was appointed as head field hockey coach and assistant women's lacrosse coach at Wittenberg. Chesterton, who was an assistant women's lacrosse coach at Montclair State during the past year, succeeds Marianne Beshara.

Field hockey assistants -- Albany (New York) appointed Jill Dedman as an assistant coach ... Kristen Manson was named as an assistant coach at James Madison. From 2000-04, Manson served as an assistant at Central Michigan.

Football assistants -- Louisiana-Lafayette chose Tim Rebowe as safeties coach. Rebowe has been cornerbacks coach at Louisiana-Monroe for three seasons ... Drew Di Giacinto and KiJuan Ware were appointed as assistant coaches at Dartmouth ... Bob James was announced as football defensive coordinator and assistant baseball coach at Susquehanna ... Kenyon named Marion Posey Jr. as defensive coordinator to succeed Matt MacPherson, who became an assistant at Eastern Michigan. Posey has been defensive coordinator at Delaware State for three seasons ... Kutztown added Steff Kruck as quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator and Greg Kosciolek as offensive line coach. Kruck, who replaces Jim Shiffer, has been offensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator at West Chester for 10 seasons. Kosciolek, who has been a graduate assistant tight ends coach at Shippensburg for two seasons, replaces Dan Collins ... James Lott was tabbed as cornerbacks coach at Central Michigan ... Widener added John Amendt as defensive backs coach, Chris Ostrowsky as offensive coordinator and Brian Sheridan as wide receivers coach.

Men's and women's golf --- Scott W. Allen resigned as head coach at Seton Hall ... Wichita State's Shelly Hogan resigned as head women's coach.

Men's and women's rowing -- Stetson's Charles Huthmaker resigned as rowing coach, effective May 31.

Men's soccer -- Bowling Green appointed Fred Thompson as head coach.

Men's soccer assistants -- Tony Pierce was named as an assistant coach at Wisconsin-Green Bay. Pierce formerly was a goalkeeper for the Milwaukee Wave of the Major Indoor Soccer League ... Vermont selected Steve Elliott as an assistant coach.

Women's soccer -- Central (Iowa) hired Rick Burns as head coach. Burns has been head coach at Gordon since 1999.

Women's soccer assistant -- Penn State hired Michael Coll as an assistant coach. Since 2000, Coll has worked as head women's coach at St. Francis (Pennsylvania) and formerly was an assistant men's soccer coach at Penn State from 1997 to 2000 ... Joe Mendonca Jr. was tabbed as an assistant at Bridgeport. From 2002 to 2004, Mendonca served as head girls' coach at Wheeler (Connecticut) High School.

Men's and women's swimming and diving -- Leslie Ramsey resigned after three years as head men's and women's coach at Wittenberg ... Sergio Lopez was hired as head men's and women's coach at West Virginia.

Men's and women's tennis -- Albert Stroble was named as head women's coach at Holy Family. The program is scheduled to begin competition in the fall of 2004.

Men's and women's track and field -- Matt Canterbury was selected as head men's and women's track and cross country coach at Briar Cliff ... Susquehanna head men's coach Jim Taylor announced plans to retire at the end of the season. Taylor has led the program to 11 Middle Atlantic Conference championships in 26 years as head coach.

Men's and women's volleyball -- Todd Raasch was selected as head women's coach at Kenyon. Raasch, who replaces interim head coach Pam MacPherson, has been an assistant at Metro State for the past five years.

Men's and women's volleyball assistant -- Craig Dyer was appointed as an assistant coach at Seton Hall. In 2002-03, Dyer served as an assistant and interim head coach at Rutgers.

Wrestling -- Newberry named Jason Valek as head coach ... Billy Greene was elevated to head coach at Campbell to succeed the retired Dave Auble. For the past two years, Greene has served as an assistant with the program ... St. John's (Minnesota) head coach John Elton stepped down. Elton built a 273-100-5 dual meet record in 23 seasons. The school announced assistant coach Brandon Novak as interim head coach.

Staff

Academic services assistant -- Donnie Tucker was named as student services assistant for academics at West Virginia.

Marketing/promotions -- Cindy Green was hired as director of marketing and promotions at Western Illinois. Since July 2003, Green has served as an intern with the athletics events and promotions department at Notre Dame ... Butler named Erin Lukac as director of sports marketing and promotions. Lukac has been assistant director of alumni and parent programs at the school for the past two years and formerly was manager of sports marketing and promotions at Butler from 1999 to 2002.

Sports information assistant -- West Virginia tabbed Lainie Guiddy as sports publications assistant.

Strength and conditioning -- South Carolina named Matt Jennings as men's basketball strength and conditioning coach ... John Patrick was chosen as strength and conditioning coach at Jacksonville. Since January 2003, Patrick has worked in a similar capacity at Georgia Southern ... Dwayne Chandler accepted responsibilities as strength and conditioning coach for football at Minnesota.

Conferences

The Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference appointed Lloyd "Butch" Raymond as commissioner. Raymond, who is chair of the NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Committee, has been athletics director and associate director of development at Southwest Minnesota State since 1997.

National office

The national office selected Leilani Judy as a membership services coordinator, effective May 17. Judy has been the legislative director for the office of Congressman Eni Faleomavaega of American Samoa.

Associations

The Humanitarian Bowl was renamed the MPC Computers Bowl recently when it reached a multi-year agreement with MPC Computers. The game, which will be televised by ESPN, matches teams representing the Western Athletic Conference and Atlantic Coast Conference.

Notables

Scott Sandelin, head men's hockey coach at Minnesota Duluth, was named as the recipient of the Spencer Penrose Award as the NCAA Division I men's hockey coach of the year. The honor was presented by the American Hockey Coaches Association. Sandelin guided the Bulldogs to an appearance in the 2004 Frozen Four ... Connecticut's Diana Taurasi was named as the Honda Award winner as the top female college athlete in the sport of women's basketball. This is the second straight year Taurasi, who guided the Huskies to a 139-8 mark and three consecutive national championships during her collegiate playing career, has won the award. She was the No. 1 pick in this year's WNBA draft.

DEATHS

Former Georgia football student-athlete Brice Hunter died April 18. He was 29. As a wide receiver at Georgia from 1992 to 1995, Hunter made 182 catches for 2,373 yards. He also competed professionally in the NFL.

Albie Grant, a former basketball student-athlete at Long Island, died April 15 at the age of 60. Grant competed at the school from 1963 to 1966 and is the only player in the program's history to average more than 20 points and 10 rebounds for his career.

McMurray head athletic trainer Bill "Doc" Hadley died of cancer recently. He was 53. Hadley had been head athletic trainer at the school for more than 20 years.

M. Majella Berg, president emerita at Marymount (Virginia) died April 5. Berg was 87.

Former Bowdoin men's ice hockey coach Sid Watson died April 24. He was 71. Watson was a football student-athlete at Northeastern, where he established school records for points in a single season (74) and career points (191). He completed four seasons in the NFL in the 1950s before taking over the ice hockey program at Bowdoin in 1958. He guided the school to four Eastern College Athletic Conference championships in 24 years as head coach.

Doug May, head men's soccer coach at Nazareth for the past eight years, died at the age of 54. May, who also was a CHAMPS/Life Skills coordinator at the school, led the Golden Flyers to the Empire 8 Conference co-championship this past season. In addition, the former soccer standout at Brockport State served as head coach at Rochester for 16 seasons.

Mike Wadsworth, former director of athletics at Notre Dame, died April 28. He was 60. Wadsworth, a football student-athlete at the school in the 1960s, guided the Irish athletics department from 1995 to 2000.

Central Arkansas senior basketball student-athlete Aaron B. Mackey died in an apartment fire April 29. Mackey, 22, averaged four points and 1.8 rebounds in one season at the school. He spent the 2002 season competing at Incarnate Word.

--Compiled by Leilana McKindra