Holder selected as Oklahoma State AD

Oklahoma State announced Mike Holder as vice-president for athletics programs and director of intercollegiate athletics. Holder succeeds Harry Birdwell.

Since 1973, Holder has been in charge of the Cowboys' men's golf program. During his tenure, Oklahoma State has earned eight NCAA national championships, including the most recent title in 2000, and 25 Big Eight and Big 12 Conference championships. A member of the NCAA Golf Committee from 1992 to 1998, Holder has coached 110 all-American selections and has overseen 21 academic all-Americans, since that honor began in 1984.

Holder was a 1970 graduate of Oklahoma State, where he was a member of the golf team from 1968 to 1970. He was recognized as honorable mention all-America following his sophomore campaign and was a third-team all-American as a junior and senior. He also earned an MBA at Oklahoma State in 1973.

Elon AD White announces retirement

Long-time Elon Director of Athletics Alan White announced plans to retire at the end of the current academic year. White has been with the school for more than 35 years.

White came to Elon in 1964 as an assistant football coach. Three years later, he accepted similar responsibilities at Mississippi State. In 1974, White returned to Elon as an assistant professor and later became chair of the physical education department. He was named as director of athletics in 1979. During his tenure the school has moved from NAIA to NCAA membership and collected 53 conference championships, a dozen Southern Conference Excellence Awards and four national championships.

White, recently recognized as NCAA Division I-AA/I-AAA Southeast Athletics Director of the Year by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics, was an all-Atlantic Coast Conference football running back at Wake Forest, where he earned a bachelor's degree. He also earned a master's degree at North Carolina and a doctorate at Mississippi State.

TRANSACTIONS

Chief executive officers

Plymouth State President Donald Wharton announced plans to retire, effective at the end of the academic year ... Everette J. Freeman was named as president at Albany State. Freeman has been senior vice-president and provost at Indianapolis ... John Minahan was chosen as interim president at Western Oregon ... Minnesota-Crookston announced Charles Casey as chancellor. Casey has been dean and director of the University of Minnesota Extension Service ... Northeastern President Richard M. Freeland will step down, effective at the end of the 2005-06 academic year ... William R. Haden announced plans to retire as president at West Virginia Wesleyan ... Ervin J. Rokke stepped down as president at Moravian ... Albert Carnesale announced plans to retire as president at UCLA ... Alabama A&M chose Julian Manly Earls as president. Earls has been director of the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland ... Miami (Ohio) President James C. Garland will retire, effective next summer ... Frank Pogue, president at Edinboro, announced plans to retire, effective June 2007.

Directors of athletics

Midwestern State's Jeff Ray stepped down as athletics director to focus on responsibilities as head men's basketball coach. The school elevated Kurt Portmann, associate athletics director for business and compliance, to director of athletics ... Jerry Graybeal was chosen as director of athletics at Weber State. Graybeal, formerly head football coach at the school, has been interim athletics director since April of this year and succeeds William J. Weidner, who resigned to become deputy athletics director at Central Florida ... Seton Hall tabbed Joseph A. Quinlan, Jr. as director of athletics and recreational services. Quinlan, who replaces Jeff Fogelson, has been at Rutgers for the past seven years and most recently has been deputy athletics director ... Willie Jeffries resigned as athletics director at Grambling.

Associate directors of athletics

Clarion named Wendy J. Snodgrass as acting associate athletics director, compliance coordinator and senior woman administrator. Snodgrass most recently has been a permanent eighth grade math substitute teacher and formerly was an athletics graduate assistant at California (Pennsylvania) ... Hunter chose Carol Kashow as acting associate athletics director. Kashow has been with the school since last month and formerly was director of athletics at Saint Elizabeth ... Andy Austin was promoted to associate athletics director for business and compliance at Midwestern State. Austin has been assistant athletics director for sports information ... Brian Cockerham was selected as associate athletics director and executive director of the Seahawk Club at North Carolina-Wilmington. Cockerham has been assistant athletics director for development at Miami (Florida).

Assistant directors of athletics

Stephanie Cavaco was appointed as assistant athletics director for media relations at Oberlin. Cavaco has been a director and EVS operator with ESPN, Fox, TNT and the NBA for the past two years ... Delaware State named Andrea N. Wright as assistant director of athletics for business operations and student services. For the past three years, Wright has been with San Jose State, where she was coordinator for the men's and women's basketball teams for one year and an athletics department academic assistant for two years ... Northern Kentucky selected Chrissy Soards as assistant athletics director for compliance.

Coaches

Baseball ­ Perry Bove resigned as head coach at Saint Michael's. Bove has been in charge of the program since 1989 and is its all-time leader in career wins, games and consecutive years as head coach.

Baseball assistants ­ Ethan Ordog was tabbed as an assistant coach at Roger Williams. Ordog was a 2004 graduate of Moravian, where he was a four-year member of the baseball team ... Don Gullett Jr. was selected as an assistant baseball coach and facilities coordinator at Northern Kentucky.

Men's basketball ­ Shaw hired Robert Brickey as head coach. Brickey has been an assistant coach at James Madison ... Cal State Bakersfield's Henry Clark resigned after eight years as head coach to become vice-president of basketball operations for the Harlem Globetrotters. Clark led the team to a 163-61 mark and the 1997 NCAA Division II national championship. The school announced eight-year assistant Keith Brown as interim head coach.

Men's basketball assistants ­ Roger Williams chose Matt O' Brien as an assistant coach. O'Brien is a 2005 graduate of Elmira, where he was a four-year member and team captain of the men's basketball squad ... Gary Kornfield was named as an assistant coach at Keene State. Kornfield is in charge of the physical education department at Monadnock Regional (New Hampshire) High School and also spent six years as head girls' basketball coach at the school.

Women's basketball assistants ­ Northern Kentucky added Travece Turner as an assistant coach ... Ashley Bland was chosen as an assistant women's basketball coach and assistant sports information director at Denison. Bland formerly was head coach at Flagler College from 2001 to 2004.

Men's and women's cross country ­ Tim Ingall was announced as head men's and women's coach at Wells.

Field hockey ­ Wells tabbed Ace Dolan and Sandra Jones as co-head coaches.

Field hockey assistant ­ Delaware announced Leah Geib as a graduate assistant coach. Geib, a four-year member of the school's field hockey team, is a 2005 NCAA postgraduate scholarship recipient.

Men's and women's golf ­ Dick Costello was tabbed as head women's coach at Cortland State. Costello formerly has been head golf professional and varsity coach at Cornell.

Men's and women's golf assistant ­ Cortland State chose Sharyn Costello as an assistant women's coach.

Men's and women's ice hockey assistant ­ Phil Roy was chosen as an assistant coach at Hobart. Roy has been competing professionally in ice hockey leagues in North America and Europe hockey leagues for the past five years.

Men's and women's lacrosse assistant ­ Denison hired Curtis Gilbert as an assistant men's coach. For the past two seasons, Gilbert has served as head assistant coach at Washington (Maryland).

Men's soccer ­ Mike Paolini was appointed as head coach at Wells. Paolini formerly was head coach at LeMoyne.

Softball assistant ­ Michelle Bettles was elevated to associate head coach at C.W. Post.

Men's and women's swimming and diving ­ Mount St. Mary's appointed Neil Yost as head women's coach and director of aquatics. Since 2002, Yost has worked as head men's and women's coach at the high-school level ... Wells hired Jack Eckhardt as head men's and women's coach. Eckhardt formerly was an assistant men's coach at Cortland State.

Men's and women's swimming and diving assistant ­ Trish George was added as an assistant men's and women's coach at Wells.

Men's and women's track and field ­ Lipscomb named Karen Robichaud as head men's and women's track and field and cross country coach. Robichaud has been head cross country coach at Brentwood (Tennessee) High School since 2001 ... Mount St. Mary's head coach Jim Deegan announced plans to retire, effective June 30, 2006. Deegan, who has been at the school for 50 years, also formerly was head coach of the soccer and cross country programs.

Men's and women's track and field assistant ­ Kurt Thomas was elevated to assistant coach at Mississippi State. Thomas has been a graduate assistant at the school.

Men's and women's volleyball ­ Charlie Brittain assumed responsibilities as head men's volleyball coach and assistant women's volleyball coach at Hilbert. For the past three years, Brittain has been an assistant men's coach at Medaille.

Staff

Academic services ­ Florida International tabbed Shirelle Jackson as director of student-athlete academic support services. For the past two years, Jackson has been assistant director of student-athlete services at Bowling Green.

Administrative ­ Sam Lagana was elevated to assistant vice-chancellor for athletics at Pepperdine.

Athletic trainer ­ Brandyn Charlton was hired as head athletic trainer at Lycoming.

Assistant athletic trainers ­ Lycoming added Todd Yamauchi as an assistant athletic trainer ... Mike Quinn was chosen as an assistant athletic trainer at Northern Kentucky ... Longwood added Darlene Abramovich, Jamie Messer and John Wen as assistant athletic trainers.

Compliance ­ UC Irvine named Carol Rivera as compliance coordinator. For the past year, Rivera has worked as a compliance assistant at the West Coast Conference ... Alexiss Robinson was chosen as compliance officer at Norfolk State. Robinson was a compliance intern with the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference from 2004 to 2005.

Equipment manager ­ Kenneth Broman was promoted to purchasing, equipment and event manager at Hunter.

Sports information ­ Mike Carey was hired as sports information director at Georgetown. Carey has been associate athletics director for communications at St. John's (New York) for the past six years ... Wells appointed Amanda Alnutt as sports information director ... Bill Powers was hired as sports information director at Midwestern State. Powers, who takes over for Andy Austin, most recently has been sports information director at Texas A&M-Commerce.

Sports information assistants ­ Georgetown added Ben Shove as assistant sports information director and Jim Donatelli as assistant sports information director and publications coordinator. Shove has been sports information director at Wagner since 2003 and Donatelli has assisted in the sports information office at St. John's (New York) ... Adam Prendergast was chosen as assistant director of athletics media services at Campbell. Prendergast has been sports information director at Spring Hill College for one year.

Strength and conditioning ­ Michael Bewley was named as strength and conditioning coach for basketball at Dayton. Bewley, who succeeds Daniel Shapiro, has been an assistant strength and conditioning coach at Georgia Southern since 2002.

Conferences

The Mid-Continent Conference hired Tom Douple as commissioner to succeed interim commissioner Jack Mehl, and Ron Bertovich, who resigned. Douple has been director of athletics at Southern Utah ... Joseph F. D'Antonio Jr. was selected as associate commissioner for compliance and governance at the Big East to replace Stan Wilcox, who became deputy athletics director at Notre Dame. D'Antonio has been associate athletics director for compliance and administration at Providence.

Associations

Former Division II Vice-President Nancy L. Mitchell was selected as special consultant to the NCAA Division II Conference Commissioners Association ... The AutoZone Liberty Bowl will feature teams representing the Conference USA and the Southeastern Conference, beginning in 2006.

National office

Maritza Jones was named as a coordinator of membership services at the national office. Jones has been a legal assistant at Lewis & Kappes, P.C.

Binh Nguyen was hired as an assistant director of membership services at the national office. Most recently, Nguyen has been manager of events and legislation at the Women's Basketball Coaches Association.

DEATHS

Ralph Prator, former president at San Fernando Valley State (now Cal State Northridge), died July 25. Prator was 97.

Robert H. Sigholtz, former director of athletics at Georgetown, died September 2. He was 84. Sigholtz served as athletics director for the Hoyas from 1969 to 1972.

Julia Moran, 6, daughter of University of Bridgeport Athletics Director Jay Moran, died September 24 after a life-long battle with Hurler Syndrome. Jay Moran's April 25 guest editorial in The NCAA News described his family's experiences with Julia and how they benefited from the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

David James McIntosh, a former cross country student-athlete at Francis Marion, died September 24. He was 40. McIntosh, an all-Peach Belt Conference performer, earned team MVP recognition in 1992, the same year he earned the conference championship in the 8,000 meters. He also was a two-time letter-winner in track and field at the school.

Former Northern Illinois football student-athlete Frank Bieber died September 23 at the age of 77. Bieber, a starter at right guard, was co-captian of the 1951 unbeaten Northern Illinois team that earned the Interstate Intercollegiate Athletic Con­ference championship.

Former Vanderbilt President Emmett B. Fields died September 19. Fields was 81.

Missouri Southern head football coach John Ware died September 27 of an apparent heart attack. He was 46. Ware, in his second year as head coach at the school, joined the program from Truman State, where he was head coach for nine years. He was an offensive lineman at Drake.

Shawntinice Polk, a women's basketball student-athlete at Arizona, died September 26 as a result of a pulmonary blood clot. She was 22. A three-time all-Pacific-10 Conference selection and two-time honorable mention all-American at center, the senior led the league in blocked shots and was third in rebounding last season. Polk was the 2003 conference freshman of the year.

--Compiled by Leilana McKindra