Conference names Thomas commissioner

 The North Central Conference has named Roger Thomas as commissioner.

Thomas, who succeeds Mike Marcil, has been director of athletics at North Dakota since 1999. Before joining North Dakota's athletics administration, Thomas compiled a 90-49-2 record in 13 seasons as head football coach at the school from 1986 to 1998. He also was an assistant with the program in 1978 and 1979.

Thomas formerly served as an assistant coach at Augustana (South Dakota) from 1970 to 1976, where he also spent one season in charge of the baseball program. He was head football coach at Sioux Falls College for two seasons, and also completed coaching stints with Cal State Fullerton, Minnesota and the Canadian Football League's Toronto Argonauts.

A running back and quarterback as a football student-athlete at Augustana (Illinois), Thomas earned a bachelor's degree in physical education and history in 1969. He earned a master's degree at South Dakota in 1972.

TRANSACTIONS

Directors of athletics

Jim Middleton stepped down as director of athletics at Southwest Baptist, effective at the end of March, but will continue as head women's basketball coach at the school. Middleton has been in charge of the athletics department since July of 2001 ... Middle Tennessee State's James "Boots" Donnelly stepped down as athletics director, but will remain at the school in another post. Donnelly, who has been with the school since 1979, was elevated to interim athletics director in 2000 and has fulfilled the post on a permanent basis since January 2002. The school announced Diane Turnham, associate athletics director and senior woman administrator, as interim director of athletics ... Mike McGee announced plans to retire as athletics director at South Carolina, effective June 30. McGee, formerly athletics director at Cincinnati and Southern California, has been in charge of the Gamecock athletics department since 1993 ... Iona promoted Patrick Lyons to director of athletics. Lyons, who has served as acting athletics director since August, has been with the school for eight years and most recently has been associate athletics director for external affairs.

Associate directors of athletics

San Diego State added Jim Senter as associate athletics director for major gifts. Most recently, Senter has been director of athletics at Idaho State ... Texas selected Nick Voinis as senior associate athletics director for communications. Voinis has been a director at Public Strategies, Inc., a national public affairs and corporate communications consulting firm in Austin, Texas.

Assistant directors of athletics

Rhode Island elevated Vinny Turco to assistant athletics director for operations and promoted Art Tuveson to assistant athletics director for facility management and planning. Turco has been with the school since 1996 and Tuveson joined the athletics deparment in 1980 ... Northwestern promoted Tracie Hitz to assistant director of athletics for marketing. Hitz has been with the school for eight years and most recently has served as associate director of marketing since 2002 ... Jackie Walsh was promoted to assistant athletics director for business operations at North Carolina-Greensboro. For the past 15 months, Walsh has worked as an assistant in the athletics business office.

Coaches

Baseball ­ Fordham's Dan Gallagher
retired as head coach. In 21 seasons,
Gallagher, the Rams' second-winningest coach, compiled a 518-468-10 record. The school announced associate head coach Nick Restaino as interim head coach for the 2005 season.

Baseball assistants ­ Marty Riggs was named as first base coach and outfielders coach at Duke. Riggs has worked as director of physical education in the Ada (Ohio) school system for the past 19 years and also has been assistant athletics director at Ada (Ohio) High School since 1999 ... Carthage tabbed Cory Everts as an assistant. Everts replaces Brian Mosher, who resigned in November.

Men's basketball ­ John Phillips resigned as head coach at Tulsa. Assistant coach Alvin "Pooh" Williamson was named as interim head coach ... Tim Floyd was hired as head coach at Southern California to replace Henry Bibby. Floyd formerly was head coach at Iowa State and with the NBA's Chicago Bulls and New Orleans Hornets ... Indiana/Purdue-Fort Wayne released head coach Doug Noll after more than five seasons. The school appointed associate coach Joe Pechota as interim head coach.

Women's basketball ­ William Smith elevated interim head coach Olympia Scott-Richardson to head coach. Scott-Richardson, a member of the WNBA's Charlotte Sting, has been in charge of the program since September ... Connecticut awarded head coach Geno Auriemma a five-year contract through April 15, 2009. Auriemma has guided the Huskies to NCAA Division I national championships in 1995, 2000, 2002, 2003 and 2004.

Women's basketball assistant ­ Lindsay Drury was promoted to assistant coach at William Smith. Drury, who is in her second season with the Herons, was an intern assistant ... Central (Iowa) appointed Jerry Nikkel as an assistant. Nikkel, who succeeds Mark Uitermarkt, has been coaching high-school basketball for 30 years.

Football ­ Tulane awarded head coach Chris Scelfo a contract extension through 2009. Scelfo has guided the Green Wave for six seasons ... Greg Robinson was hired as head coach at Syracuse to replace Paul Pasqualoni. Robinson has been co-defensive coordinator at Texas ... Aurora tabbed Rich Duncan as head coach to succeed the retired Jim Scott. For the past four seasons, Duncan has worked as offensive coordinator and offensive line coach at Loras ... Arne Ferguson was named as interim head coach at Western Oregon to succeed Duke Iverson, who will continue as an assistant with the program at least through the end of the academic year. Ferguson has been defensive coordinator for the past eight seasons ... Coastal Carolina awarded David Bennett with a contract extension through 2010. Bennett guided the Chanticleers to a 10-1 mark and the Big South Conference championship in the 2004 season ... Northern State head coach Ken Heupel resigned. Heupel spent 11 years as assistant head coach and defensive coordinator with the program and has been head coach since 1988 ... Scott Highsmith resigned after two seasons as head coach at Belhaven to become an assistant at Southeastern Louisiana ... Melvin Spears was promoted to head coach at Grambling to replace Doug Williams. Before taking over as interim head coach for the 2004 season, Spears was offensive coordinator for the Tigers for six years ... Eastern Washington awarded head coach Paul Wulff a five-year contract. Wulff, who has been with the program since 1993, was the 2001 and 2004 Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year ... Frank Haege was named as head coach at Augsburg. Haege, formerly offensive coordinator at the school from 1996 to 1998, most recently was head coach of the Arena Football League's Las Vegas Gladiators ... Southeastern Louisiana hired Dennis Roland as head coach. Roland, who replaces Hal Mumme, has been head coach and director of athletics at North Gwinnett (Georgia) High School ... Pete Adrian was chosen as head coach at Norfolk State to succeed Willie Gillus. Adrian has been defensive coordinator at Bethune-Cookman.

Football assistants ­ Jeff Choate was selected as special teams coordinator at Eastern Illinois. Choate has spent the past two years as special teams coach at Utah State ... Kevin Weston was appointed as running backs coach and strength and conditioning coordinator and Don Dover was named as offensive line coach and running game coordinator at Tusculum. Weston has served as junior varsity offensive coordinator and varsity defensive ends coach and tight ends coach at Morgan County (Georgia) High School for the past two seasons. Dover has been offensive line coach at West Alabama for the past three seasons. The school also elevated assistant head coach David Elsenrath to offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Elsenrath, who replaces Dieter Brock, has been offensive line coach for the past five years ... Illinois tabbed Mike Locksley as offensive coordinator to replace Larry Fedora. Locksley formerly was an assistant at Florida ... Utah State named Mike Santiago as offensive coordinator. Santiago formerly worked as head coach at Stephen F. Austin ... Jerry Oravitz was tabbed as director of football operations at Delaware. For the past eight years, Oravitz has worked as an athletics operations associate at the school ... Brigham Young added Brandon Doman as quarterbacks coach ... West Virginia added Butch Jones as an assistant coach for wide receivers. Jones has been offensive coordinator and running backs coach at Central Michigan for the past three years ... Gene Chizik was hired as defensive coordinator and assistant head coach at Texas. The Longhorns also hired Oscar Giles as defensive ends coach. Chizik has been an assistant at Auburn and Giles has spent the past two seasons as an assistant at Houston ... Southern Arkansas chose Jeff Byrd as defensive coordinator. For the past two years, Byrd has worked as defensive coordinator at Northwest Mississippi Community College ... Jay Hopson was tabbed as defensive coordinator and Jay Johnson was promoted to offensive coordinator at Southern Mississippi. Hopson has been defensive backs coach at Mississippi and Johnson was running backs coach in 2004 ... Gary Crowton, former head coach at BYU, was appointed as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Oregon. Crowton takes over for Andy Ludwig ... Clemson selected Vic Koenning as defensive coordinator at Clemson. For the past two seasons, Koenning has worked as defensive coordinator at Troy ... Tom Knotts resigned after one season as quarterbacks coach at Duke ... San Diego State announced Dennis McKnight as tight ends coach. McKnight has been special teams coordinator at Grossmont College since 2002.

Men's and women's golf ­ Floyd Kerr was hired as head women's coach at Stetson to succeed the retired Nancy Rubin-Sharff. Kerr, formerly head men's coach at North Carolina-Charlotte and Rollins, most recently has been a part of the operations staff at Stetson's home course ... Kevin Marsh was appointed as head men's and women's coach at Nova Southeastern. Marsh has been with the Academy of Golf at PGA National in Florida for the past five years ... Muhlenberg selected Rob Shutte as head men's coach to succeed Mario Bellomo.

Men's and women's lacrosse ­ Regis (Massachusetts) hired Shannon Curran as head women's coach. Curran has been head coach at West Springfield (Massachusetts) High School.

Men's and women's lacrosse assistant ­ Johns Hopkins promoted Seth Tierney to associate head men's coach. Tierney is entering his fifth season as the Blue Jays' offensive coordinator.

Men's soccer ­ Robin Chan was named as head coach at Florida Tech. Since 1997, Chan has been in charge of the boys' soccer program at Melbourne Central Catholic (Florida) High School and has led teams to state championships in 1998 and 2003.

Women's soccer ­ Eric Faulconer was hired as head coach at Armstrong Atlantic State. The program is scheduled to begin competition in the fall. Faulconer has spent the past six seasons as head coach at Thomas University ... Fitzgerald Fidgi Haig was hired as head coach at Florida Tech to replace Tammy Mazza. Haig been head girls' coach at Satellite (Florida) High school, where he guided teams to the 2002 and 2003 state championships ... Grambling's Matthew Okoh resigned. Okoh led the Lady Tigers to a 16-6 mark and the 2004 Southwestern Athletic Conference championship.

Softball ­ Teresa Wilson was named as head coach at Texas Tech. Wilson formerly was head coach at Washington ... Shenandoah chose Marlena Kotynski as head coach. For the past two years, Kotynski has been working in private softball instruction and formerly served as top assistant coach at Rutgers from 2001 to 2003.

Softball assistants ­ Laurie Erickson was tabbed as a part-time assistant coach and Kim Hudson was added as a volunteer assistant at Delaware ... Lindsay Nemenz was added as an assistant at Guilford.

Men's and women's tennis ­ Ferris State's Kevin Brandalik resigned as head men's coach. Brandalik has been in charge of the Bulldogs for three years.

Men's and women's track and field assistant ­ Wartburg appointed Melissa Norton as throwing and strength and conditioning coach for track and field. Norton succeeds Mike Koenning.

Men's and women's volleyball ­ Maxine Mehus retired as head women's coach at Emporia State. Mehus built a 484-232 mark in 17 seasons as head coach. The school announced Bing Xu as interim head coach ... Western Connecticut State head women's coach Richard Myers resigned after 17 seasons. Myers will continue with the school in the admissions office ... Drake hired Amy Farber Knowles as head women's coach. Knowles formerly was head coach at Oral Roberts.

Men's and women's volleyball assistants ­ Aaron Shepardson was chosen as an assistant coach at Winthrop to replace Rachel Harnack. Shepardson formerly was a volunteer assistant at Florida, an assistant at Denver, a volunteer assistant at Baylor and an assistant at Colorado Christian ... Nebraska selected Lee Maes as head assistant coach to replace Craig Skinner, who became head coach at Kentucky. Most recently, Maes has worked as associate head women's coach at California.

Wrestling ­ Tony Robie was named as head coach at Binghamton. The program will return in 2005-06 after being discontinued after the 2003-04 school year. Robie formerly was an assistant at Michigan.

Staff

Administration ­ Jim DeRose accepted additional responsibilities as assistant to the athletics director for special projects at Bradley. DeRose will continue as head soccer coach, a post he has held for 10 seasons.

Compliance assistant ­ San Diego State chose Jennifer Daniels as assistant director of compliance. Most recently, Daniels was director of compliance at Evansville.

Development ­ Carol Propstra was named as development officer at San Diego State. Propstra served in the same capacity with Arizona State from 1993 to 2000 ... Duke hired Thomas Coffman as director of athletics development. Coffman has been senior vice-president, endowments, at the Orthopaedic Research and Education Foundation in Illinois for the past three years.

Development assistant ­ Don Fowler was elevated to associate director of athletics development at Duke. For the past five years, Fowler has worked as assistant director of development/major gifts director

Marketing/promotions ­ San Diego State chose Robin Neptune as a corporate fulfillment coordinator. Neptune most recently has been with the San Diego Padres' corporate relations operations staff.

Marketing and promotions assistants ­ Brian VanAcker was elevated to assistant director of marketing and Beth Cunningham was promoted to marketing assistant at Northwestern. VanAcker has been with the school since July 2002, and Cunningham joined the athletics department in August 2004.

Operations ­ Delaware announced Jennifer Chapman as director of athletics operations to succeed Jim Oravitz, who became director of football operations for the Blue Hens. Chapman most recently has been program director for the Bear-Glasgow Family YMCA in Newark, Delaware.

Sports information assistants ­ Nova Southeastern selected Nicole Dupes as sports information assistant and Kim Carbo was appointed as coordinator of marketing and special events at the school ... Julie Dunn was tabbed as assistant director of athletics media services and publications coordinator at Northwestern to replace Kimberly Gardner. Dunn was a project coordinator/public relations assistant for Teamworks Media in the fall of last year and formerly was an intern with the Big Ten Conference.

Conferences

Steve Cirri was named as administrative fellow for championships and marketing at the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.

Correction

The president who was quoted in the article, "Division II votes to retain equivalency limits in football," which appeared in the January 17 issue of The NCAA News, was misidentified. Richard Weuste, president at Adams State College, was quoted in the story.

School name changes

The State University of West Georgia officially changed its name to the University of West Georgia.

Notables

Gene Chizik, who was defensive coordinator at Auburn before most recently being named assistant head coach and defensive coordinator at Texas, was announced as the Broyles Award winner as college football's top assistant coach.

The American Football Coaches Association named Tommy Tuberville, head coach at Auburn, as the 2004 national coach of the year. Mickey Matthews of James Madison was selected as Division
I-AA coach of the year and Chris Hatcher, head coach at Valdosta State, was recognized as the Division II coach of the year. Jay Locey of Linfield earned Division III coach of the year honors.

Steve Jennings of American, Bloomsburg's Jan Hutchinson and Dawn Chamberlin of Salisbury were announced as the 2004 Dita/National Field Hockey Coaches Association's NCAA Divisions I, II and III national coaches of the year.

DEATHS

Northwest Missouri State track and field student-athlete Ashley Nally died in a automobile collision January 14. She was 21. The junior competed in the long jump and 100-meter hurdles for the Bearcats.

Cory Stanton, a redshirt freshman football student-athlete at Northwest Missouri State, died in an automobile accident on December 22. Stanton was a defensive lineman.

Former Northwest Missouri State head women's basketball coach Wayne Winstead died January 17. Winstead, in charge of the Bearcat program from 1979 to 1999, was the winningest coach in school history with 311 career victories. He was named Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association coach of the year in 1984 and 1990.

Kwame Doster, a football student-athlete at Vanderbilt, died December 26. He was 21. Doster, a junior running back, became the Commodores first Southeastern Conference freshman of the year in 2002 and rushed for 427 yards and one touchdown this past season.

William Thomas "Bud" Brooks, former Arkansas football student-athlete, died recently. He was 74. The 1954 Outland Trophy winner, Brooks was an all-American defensive lineman for the Razorbacks.

Susan K. Hofacre, director of athletics at Robert Morris, died of cancer January 8. She was 54. Hofacre joined the school in 1989 as senior woman administrator and served as athletics director for five years.

Harry Burrell, Iowa State's first sports information director, died January 10. He was 93. Burrell served as the first sports information at Northern Iowa from 1934 to 1941 before moving to Iowa State, where he worked in the same capacity from 1941 to 1978.

Former Shippensburg athletics coach and administrator C. William Knerr died January 11. He was 68. Knerr was an assistant men's and women's basketball coach at the school and also was faculty athletics representative.

Former Whitman men's basketball coach James S. Mastin died January 9. He was 73. Mastin, who was a basketball student-athlete at San Francisco, took over the Whitman program in the 1979-80 academic year and remained in charge for 15 seasons and was a three-time Northwest Conference Coach of the Year. He also served as head men's golf coach and in 18 seasons, guided the school to three conference titles and was named as conference coach of the year three times.

--Compiled by Leilana McKindra