Xavier names Alexander as head coach

 Xavier has hired Alvin Alexander as head women's soccer coach.

Alexander is the first African-American coach in any sport at the school and becomes the Musketeers' first full-time women's soccer coach. He has spent the past two years as an assistant women's soccer coach at Notre Dame. During his tenure, the Irish went 45-4-2, captured two straight Big East Conference regular season titles and the 2004 NCAA Division I national championship.

Before coming to Notre Dame, Alexander spent 10 years coaching at various levels of soccer. He established the Black Magic Soccer Club in 1989 and served as director of the 11-team club until 1999. From 1993 to 2001 Alexander fulfilled responsibilities as a staff coach and trainer for the North Texas and Midland Olympic Development Programs. He also was head men's coach at the University of Texas at Permian Basin from 1995 to 1997. In addition, Alexander spent four years coaching soccer at the Oakridge School in Arlington, Texas, from 1999 to 2003.

Alexander earned a bachelor's degree from Midwestern State, where he was an all-American soccer student-athlete from 1975 to 1978.

GENERAL TRANSACTIONS

Chief executive officers

Kim S. Phipps was named as president at Messiah. Phipps has been fulfilling the post on an interim basis ... Lynn President Donald E. Ross announced plans to retire, effective June 2006 ... Lafayette chose Daniel H. Weiss as president, effective July 1. Weiss has been a dean at Johns Hopkins ... Castell V. Bryant was selected as interim president at Florida A&M ... Craig J. Franz, president of Saint Mary's (California), was appointed as president at Saint Mary's (Minnesota), effective June 1 ... John Carroll President Edward Glynn resigned, effective upon the selection of a successor ... Keith Lovin announced plans to retire as president at Maryville, effective at the end of the academic year ... Rochester named Joel Seligman as president, effective July 1. Seligman has been a professor and dean in the school of law at Washington-St. Louis.

Directors of athletics

Syracuse named Daryl Gross as director of athletics to replace the retiring Jake Crouthamel. Gross, a member of the Southern California athletics administration since 1991, has worked as an associate athletics director at the school since 1995 ... Tom Bowen accepted responsibilities as athletics director at San Jose State to replace the retired Chuck Bell. Bowen, formerly an assistant and associate athletics director at California and an associate athletics director at St. Mary's (California), has most recently been director of community affairs and executive director of the 49ers Foundation for the NFL's San Francisco 49ers ... Andy Geiger, director of athletics at Ohio State, announced plans to step down, effective June 30. Geiger has held the position for 11 years.

Associate directors of athletics

Oneonta State elevated Tracey Ranieri to senior associate athletics director. Ranieri has been with the school for 14 years and will continue as senior woman administrator and head women's soccer coach ... Chris Delisio was appointed as associate athletics director for development at Ohio. Delisio was director of athletics development at Dayton.

Assistant directors of athletics

Geoff Hassard was promoted to assistant athletics director for media relations and Tom Benoit was elevated to assistant director of athletics for sports medicine at Oneonta State. Hassard has spent the past six years as sports information director at the school and Benoit has worked as Oneonta State's head athletic trainer for 11 years and served as strength and conditioning coordinator for five years ... Santa Clara promoted Teal Sewards to assistant director of athletics for development. Most recently, Sewards was associate director for major gifts in the university's development office ... Matt Brainard resigned as assistant athletics director and head baseball coach at Wilmington (Delaware) to become head baseball coach at West Chester. Brainard, who has been in charge of the baseball program for 10 seasons, guided the Wildcats to a 262-183-2 record, two Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference regular season championships and one league tournament title ... Rollins' Dean Hybl resigned as assistant athletics director for communications. Hybl has been with the school since 1996.

Coaches

Baseball assistant ­ Francis Marion tabbed Collin Liggett as an assistant.

Men's basketball assistant ­ Danny White was promoted to interim assistant coach at Ohio to succeed Kevin Kuwik, who was called to active military service. White has been a graduate assistant coach at the school for the past season.

Women's basketball ­ UC Irvine's Mark Adams resigned after eight seasons. The school chose Molly Tuter, an assistant coach, as Adams' interim successor ... Texas head coach Jody Conradt was awarded a five-year contract extension through 2009. Conradt is the second-winningest coach in the history of women's college basketball.

Women's basketball assistant ­ Oakland added Katie Wolfe as an assistant coach. Wolfe, who replaces Petra Knoche, has been playing professionally in Denmark and Iceland for the past year and a half.

Men's and women's cross country ­ Al Barnes resigned as head men's and women's cross country and track and field coach at High Point. Barnes took over the programs in 2001 and has led the men's squad to three straight Big South Conference championships from 2002 to 2004. The school selected Ricky Overstreet, top assistant coach since May 2003, as interim head coach.

Field hockey ­ Bridgewater State announced Amy Richendollar as head coach. Richendollar, who has been an assistant coach with the program for the past seven seasons, succeeds Courtney Hexter.

Football ­ LSU hired Les Miles as head coach to replace Nick Saban, who resigned to become head coach of the NFL's Miami Dolphins. Miles has led Oklahoma State to a 28-21 record and three straight bowl appearances in four years as head coach ... Lawrence appointed Chris Howard as head coach to replace Dave Brown. For the past three seasons, Howard has worked as defensive coordinator and defensive secondary coach at St. Norbert ... Hal Mumme was hired as head coach at New Mexico State. Mumme has been head coach at Southeastern Louisiana for the past two seasons and takes over for Tony Samuel, who was released ... Tommy Tuberville was awarded a seven-year contract to remain head coach at Auburn. The Tigers have compiled a 50-24 record during Tuberville's six-year tenure ... San Jose State appointed Dick Tomey as head coach to succeed Fitz Hill. Tomey, who has been assistant head coach and defensive ends coach at Texas, formerly was head coach at Hawaii and Arizona ... Paul Pasqualoni was released as head coach at Syracuse. In 14 years, Pasqualoni led the Orange to a 107-59-1 record and leaves as the second-winningest coach in school history .... Southern awarded Pete Richardson a three-year contract extension. In 12 seasons as head coach, Richardson has led the Jaguars to a 105-38 record and five Southwestern Athletic Conference championships ... Pittsburgh hired Dave Wannstedt as head coach to replace Walt Harris, who assumed head coaching responsibilities at Stanford. Wannstedt most recently was released after more than four years as head coach for the NFL's Miami Dolphins ... Guilford head coach Mike Ketchum stepped down to become assistant to the director of athletics at the school. Ketchum has been head coach since 1991 ... Mike Gundy, offensive coordinator at Oklahoma State, was elevated to head coach to succeed Les Miles. Gundy has been been offensive coordinator and assistant head coach for the Cowboys for the past four seasons ... Bridgewater State announced the retirement of head coach Peter Mazzaferro. During a 36-year tenure, Mazzaferro has helped the Bears earn outright or share seven New England Football Conference championships and make appearances in the 1999 and 2000 NCAA Division III championship tournaments ... Terry Hoeppner was hired as head coach at Indiana. Hoeppner, who has spent the past six years as head coach at Miami (Ohio), succeeds Gerry DiNardo ... UCLA head coach Karl Dorrell earned a contract extension through 2010. Dorrell is in his second season as the Bruins head coach ... Dartmouth hired Buddy Teevens as head coach. Teevens, who formerly was in charge of the program from 1987 to 1991, most recently was released after three seasons as head coach at Stanford.

Football assistants ­ Bill Miller was named as defensive coordinator at Arizona State. Miller most recently was released as linebackers coach at Florida ... North Dakota State promoted Casey Bradley to defensive coordinator, awarded additional duties to Pat Perles as offensive coordinator and chose Brent Vigen as passing game coordinator. Bradley, who formerly was defensive coordinator for the Bison for six seasons, has been linebackers coach and will remain assistant head coach. Perles will continue as offensive line coach for the program and Vigen has been quarterbacks coach and running backs coach ... Jim Williams and Joe Sarra retired as assistants at Penn State. Williams joined the program in 1977 as a defensive assistant and has been an administrative assistant for the Nittany Lions since leaving the coaching staff in 1993. Sarra, who joined the squad in 1984 as an defensive assistant coach, spent 16 years on the coaching staff before assuming administrative assistant responsibilities in 2000 ... Houston hired Erik Slaughter as linebackers coach. For the past two seasons, Slaughter has worked as strength and conditioning coach ... Delta State will not renew the contract of defensive coordinator Sean Cannon ... Marty Galbraith was released after one season as offensive coordinator at Duke ... Danilo Robinson was selected as an assistant at Utah State. Robinson has been linebackers coach at Louisiana-Monroe for two years ... Washington added Kent Baer, Steven Wilks and Mike Denbrock as assistants. Baer, who will serve as defensive coordinator, Wilks, and Denbrock, who will work as offensive line coach, have been assistant coaches as Notre Dame. Randy Hart, who has been with the team for 17 seasons, and Chris Tormey, a former assistant with the Huskies who rejoined the staff last year, will continue with the program. In addition, Erica Genise was appointed as director of football operations at Washington. Genise fulfilled similar responsibilities at Notre Dame from 2002 to 2004 ... Notre Dame named David Cutcliffe as assistant head coach for offense and quarterbacks coach, Bill Lewis as assistant head coach for defense and defensive backs coach, Rick Minter as defensive coordinator and linebackers coach, Michael Haywood as offensive coordinator and running backs coach, Rob Ianello as receivers coach and recruiting coordinator, John Latina as offensive line coach, Jerome "Happy" Oliver as defensive line coach, Bernie Parmalee as tight ends and special teams coach and Brian Polian as assistant defensive backs and special teams coach ... Minnesota State Mankato tabbed Garin Higgins as offensive coordinator ... Louisiana-Monroe hired Ron Dickerson, Jr. as running backs coach. Dickerson has been running backs coach and special teams coach at Southwest Missouri State for three seasons ... Jimmy Heggins resigned as an assistant coach at Florida State. Heggins has been with the program for 19 seasons and has spent the past 11 seasons as the Seminoles offensive line coach ... Utah added Jay Boulware and Dave Schramm as assistants. Boulware has been running backs coach at Stanford for the past year and Schramm has served as offensive tackles coach, tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator at Montana for two seasons ... Southern elevated Terrence Graves to defensive coordinator to replace Cliff Lewis. Graves has been inside linebackers coach ... Tim Albin was named as offensive coordinator and Jimmy Burrow was chosen as defensive coordinator at Ohio. Albin and Burrow most recently fulfilled similar capacities at North Dakota State. Ohio also announced Pete Germano will continue as recruiting coordinator for the Bobcats ... Brian Knorr was tabbed as an assistant at Air Force to succeed Vic Shealy. Knorr, formerly an assistant with the Falcons, most recently was released after four years as head coach at Ohio ... Paul Dunn and Aubrey Hill were selected as offensive assistant coaches at Pittsburgh. Dunn has been run-game coordinator at Kentucky for the past two years and Hill has been an assistant coach at Florida and Duke. The school also announced that Paul Rhoades, Bob Junko and Curtis Bray will continue as assistants with the program ... East Carolina appointed Greg McMahon as tight ends coach and special teams coach. McMahon has spent the past 13 years as an assistant at Illinois, serving as tight ends coach, wide receivers coach and special teams coordinator ... Illinois chose Curt Mallory as an assistant. For the past three seasons, Mallory has served as secondary coach at Indiana ... James Bernhardt accepted duties as running backs coach and recruiting coordinator at Central Florida. Since December 2003, Bernhardt has been director of football operations at the school ... Indiana selected Harold Mauro as director of football operations. Mauro has been senior associate athletics director at the school for the past 22 years ... Mississippi added Noel Mazzone as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, George DeLeone as offensive line coach, Matt Lubick as wide receivers coach, Frank Wilson as running backs coach, Shawn Slocum as assistant head coach and defensive backs coach, Charlie Camp as linebackers coach, Joe Cullen as defensive line coach and Dennis Slutak as special teams coordinator. Mazzone has been offensive coordinator and tight ends coach at North Carolina State for the past two years and DeLeone spent the past season as associate head coach and offensive line coach at Syracuse. For the past four seasons, Lubick has worked as wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator at Colorado State. Wilson has been director of athletics of the New Orleans Public School System since September 2003 and formerly coached at the high school level. Slocum, formerly an assistant at Texas A&M, Pittsburgh and Southern California, has been in private business for the past two years. Camp was linebackers coach at Oregon State for two years and Cullen most recently has been an assistant at Indiana for three seasons. Slutak was a graduate assistant for special teams at Southern California for two seasons. The school also announced that Matt Luke, tight ends coach and assistant offensive line coach at Mississippi for the past three years, will continue with the program as tight ends coach.

Men's and women's golf ­ Kevin Miller was selected as head coach at Niagara ... Southern Illinois Edwardsville hired Mark Marcuzzo as coordinator of men's and women's golf. Marcuzzo takes over for the retiring Larry Bennett.

Men's and women's golf assistant ­ Kyle Viehl was named as assistant coordinator for men's and women's golf at Southern Illinois Edwardsville.

Men's and women's lacrosse ­ Muhlenberg hired Chris Bissinger as head men's coach. For the past five seasons, Bissinger, who replaces Dave Cornell, has been an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Hampden-Sydney ... Bucknell elevated assistant head men's coach Frank Fedorjaka to head coach to succeed the retiring Sid Jamieson. Fedorjaka formerly was an assistant for the Bison in 1992 and 1993 and spent five years as head coach at Franklin & Marshall before returning to Bucknell in 1999.

Men's and women's lacrosse assistant ­ Reid Watson was appointed as an assistant women's coach at Delaware. Watson has been an assistant at Temple for 11 seasons. The program also announced Alex Kahoe will continue as an assistant with the school. Last season, Kahoe was the top assistant coach for the Blue Hens.

Men's soccer ­ Upper Iowa head coach Troy Otradovec resigned after three years. The school named Chad Leonard, head women's soccer coach at the school, as Otradovec's interim successor ... Xavier hired Dave Schureck as head coach to replace Jack Hermans, who resigned after 14 years. Since 2000, Schureck has been in charge of the program at Dayton.

Women's soccer ­ Heather Kendra was chosen as head coach at Lock Haven. For the past seven years, Kendra, who replaces interim head coach Peter Campbell, has been head coach at Carnegie Mellon.

Softball ­ West Texas A&M appointed Kevin Blaskowski as head coach. The program is scheduled to begin competition in the spring of 2006. Blaskowski, who formerly guided the programs at Southern Arkansas and Washburn, has spent the past year as head coach at Eastern New Mexico.

Softball assistant ­ Alena Gerrell was named as an assistant at Francis Marion.

Men's and women's swimming and diving ­Jason Walkow was chosen as head coach at Gannon.

Men's and women's track and field assistant ­ Southern Maine tabbed Gary Grady as an assistant women's coach. Grady, who formerly was an assistant at Bates, has been coaching at the high-school level.

Men's and women's volleyball ­ Chanteau White accepted additional responsibilities as head men's volleyball coach at Central State. The program is scheduled to begin competition in the spring. White will continue as head women's volleyball coach ... Buffalo's Sally Kus resigned as head coach. Kus has been head coach since November 2001.

Men's and women's volleyball assistants ­ Cindy Gregory was promoted to associate head women's coach at Delaware. Gregory has been with the squad for three seasons and formerly was head coach at Marymount (Virginia), Clark (Massachusetts) and MIT ... Ron Arenz was added as an assistant coach at Michigan State. For the past three years, Arenz has worked as an assistant at Western Michigan ... Liz Underwood was hired as an assistant coach at Auburn. Underwood, who replaces Matt Darling, formerly was head coach at the school from 1992 to 1997.

Wrestling ­ T.J. Jaworsky was released as head coach at Davidson. The school named assistant coach Bob Patnesky as head coach.

Staff

Academic services ­ Sandy Hafner was hired as director of academics at Nevada. Hafner, who replaces Sandie Niedergall, most recently has been with the athletics administration at Northern Illinois.

Administrative services ­ Nevada chose Meredith Montoya as director of sales for the athletics department. Most recently, Montoya has been an account executive for group/season ticket sales for MLB's Arizona Diamondbacks.

Compliance assistant ­ Wayne State (Michigan) appointed Elisabeth Johnston as an assistant compliance coordinator.

Sports information ­ Bethany (West Virginia) appointed Ernie Horn as sports information director to replace Kirk Reed, who resigned after a year to become an assistant sports information director at Saint Rose. For the past two years, Horn has been a student sports information director at Concord.

Ticketing services ­ Delaware named Raymond R. Dixson as manager of athletics season tickets and group sales. Dixson, who succeeds Jonathan Mitchell, has been with the athletics ticket office at Navy since 2001.

Conferences

Doreen Magee was hired as assistant commissioner for championships at the West Coast Conference. Magee, who was assistant director of championships at the Pacific-10 Conference for four years, takes over for Kim Rogowski. The league also promoted Brad Walker and Gloria Nevarez to associate commissioners. Walker and Nevarez, who will continue as senior woman administrator, have been assistant commissioners ... The Empire 8 selected Charles M. Edmondson, president at Alfred, as president of the league for a two-year term, effective July 1. Edmondson replaces Todd Hutton, president at Utica.

Etc.

School name changes

The State University of New York at Stony Brook officially changed its name to Stony Brook University.

Notables

Seattle's Bobby McAlister and Metro State's Ymara Guante were selected the 2004 National Soccer Coaches Association of America/adidas National Players of the Year for NCAA Division II. Patrick McGinnis of Colorado College and Jessica Elsen of Wheaton (Illinois) were named as the 2004 NSCAA/adidas NCAA Division III national players of the year. McAlister, who helped the Redhawks to a 22-0-1 record and their first ever NCAA Division II national championship this year, established school and Great Northwest Athletic Conference single-season records for goals (22), points (49) and game-winning goals (11). Guante, Metro State's all-time career assists leader with 29, was named as the 2004 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Player of the Year and helped the Roadrunners capture the 2004 NCAA Division II national championship. Colorado College's McGinnis led the nation in goals and points per game this season for all divisions and also surpassed school single-season records in the same two categories. He turned in 13 multigoal games including eight hat tricks during the 2004 season. Elsen was a key member of a stingy Wheaton (Illinois) defense that logged 18 shutouts, allowed just eight goals all year and helped the Thunder capture their first NCAA Division III national championship this season. Elsen was named outstanding defensive player of the Division III tournament.

Pittsburg State offensive tackle Nathan Baker earned the inaugural Gene Upshaw Division II Lineman of the Year Award. The honor, presented by the Manheim (Pennsylvania) Touchdown Club, recognizes the top junior or senior offensive or defensive lineman in Division II. Baker was a first-team all-America selection by the American Football Coaches Association, d2football.com, Daktronics and the Associated Press Little All-America team. The senior was a key part of an offense that led the nation in scoring, rushing offense and total offense. The Gorillas completed the season with a 14-1 record and earned an appearance in the national championship title game.

The award is named after the current executive director of the National Football League Players Association. Upshaw was an outstanding offensive lineman at then Texas A&I University (currently Texas A&M University-Kingsville) and went on to play for the NFL's Oakland Raiders.

DEATHS

Robert B. "Bert" Clark Jr., former head football coach at Washington State, died recently. He was 74. Clark was in charge of the Cougar program from 1964 to 1967 and also was an assistant coach at Arkansas and Washington. A two-time all-Big 8 Conference performer at linebacker for Oklahoma, Clark was a member of the Sooners' 1950 and 1951 Sugar Bowl teams.

Arkansas State track and field student-athlete Charles Chalk died at the age of 18. Chalk was a freshman high-jumper for the school.

Former Ohio State two-time football all-American Bob Ferguson died from complications with diabetes. He was 64. Ferguson, the 1961 Heisman Trophy runner up, was a standout fullback for the Buckeyes from 1959 to 1961.

Jeremy Robert Wright, a former cross country student-athlete at Wabash, was killed in military action in Afghanistan. Wright, a two-time all-American and a first-team academic all-American, was the 1993 NCAA Great Lakes Regional champion and helped the school to a third-place finish in the 1995 NCAA Division III cross country national championships.

Mark A. Wells, a former basketball student-athlete at Chaminade in the early 1980s, died January 1. Wells was 44.

Former Barton and Elon coach and athletics administrator John D. "Jack" Sanford died recently at the age of 88. Sanford served as head baseball coach at Barton, then Atlantic Christian College, in 1973 and from 1981 to 1984. He also was head baseball coach and director of men's intramurals as well as a professor and chairman of the health and physical education department at Elon from 1956 to 1966. Sanford was a four-sport student-athlete at Richmond, where he earned varsity letters in football, basketball, baseball and track before graduating in 1939.

K. Roald Bergethon, former president at Lafayette and New England, died December 17. Bergethon was 86.

Former Fitchburg State President Vincent J. Mara died December 12. Mara was 74.

Former Muhlenberg President Jonathan C. Messerli died November 28. He was 78. Messerli also served as president at Susquehanna.

--Compiled by Leilana McKindra