Cartwright steps down at Kent State

 The Horizon League named Nate Flannery as assistant director of communications. Flannery replaces Taylor Payne, who became director of media relations at U.S. Sychronized Swimming.

Since May 2004, Flannery has been a media relations assistant with the Indianapolis Triple-A baseball club, where his responsibilities included editing and designing the team's 2005 media guide, writing features for the team newsletter and game programs, updating the Web site and writing press releases. He served as a high school sports reporter for ESPN 950 sports radio from September to December 2004, and has worked as a part-time producer for the station this fall.

Flannery earned a bachelor of arts degree in history at Indiana in 2004.

TRANSACTIONS

Chief executive officers

Long Beach State selected F. King Alexander as president. Alexander, who succeeds the retiring Bob Maxson, has been president at Murray State since 2001 ... Baldwin-Wallace President Mark H. Collier announced plans to retire, effective at the end of the academic year ... Thomas J. Gamble was named as president at Mercyhurst. Gamble has been vice-president of academic affairs at the school ... Robert R. Lindgren was appointed as president at Randolph-Macon. Lindgren was vice-president for development and alumni relations at Johns Hopkins ... Union (New York) named Stephen C. Ainlay as president. Most recently, Ainlay has served as vice-president for academic affairs and dean of the college at Holy Cross ... West Liberty State President Richard H. Owens resigned.

Directors of athletics

Mercy hired Kevin T. McGinniss as director of intercollegiate athletics and recreation. McGinniss has been director of athletics development at Quinnipiac ... Stanford announced Bill Walsh as interim director of athletics to succeed Ted Leland. Walsh, special assistant to the athletics director at the school since 2004, formerly was head football coach there from 1977 to 1978 and from 1992 to 1994. He also guided the NFL's San Francisco 49ers to three Super Bowl titles ... Russ Reilly announced plans to retire as athletics director at Middlebury, effective June 30, 2006. Reilly, who joined the school in 1977, has been director of athletics since 1997. He also has completed coaching tenures there in men's basketball, women's soccer, men's soccer and golf. In addition, Reilly has served as intramural director, assistant athletics director and associate athletics director at the school. Before that, he spent eight years at Bates as the head athletic trainer, an assistant men's basketball coach and the intramural director.

Associate directors of athletics

Monique Holland was hired as associate director of athletics for operations at Georgia State. Holland was an assistant director of membership services at the NCAA national office ... Xavier promoted Tom Eiser to associate athletics director for media relations and elevated Greg Park to associate athletics director for business. Eiser, who has been with the school for 20 years, was an assistant athletics director and will continue as sports information director. Park joined the school as athletics business manager in 1988 and has been assistant athletics director for business since 1993.

Assistant director of athletics

Rutgers-Camden tabbed Erin Barney as an assistant athletics director.

Coaches

Baseball assistant ­ Guilford selected Tod Gross as an assistant coach. Gross has served as an assistant at Franklin & Marshall for the past three seasons.

Men's basketball assistant ­ Scott Holloway was selected as an assistant coach at Bernard Baruch.

Women's basketball ­ Amber Daulbaugh was hired as head coach at Webster. Daulbaugh has been head coach at Blackburn for the past three seasons ... Texas A&M awarded head coach Gary Blair with a three-year contract extension through 2011. Blair has been in charge of the program since 2003 ... Mark Turner resigned as head coach at Transylvania. Turner has led the Pioneers to a 312-175 record in 18 years as head coach. Jill Meiring, an assistant with the program since 2001, was announced as interim head coach.

Women's basketball assistants ­ Transylvania's Michael Fulton accepted additional responsibilities as an assistant coach. Fulton will continue as head women's soccer coach and director of intramurals at the school ... Christine Klusko and Rosheda Hopson were added as assistants at Bernard Baruch ... William Smith tabbed Alex Ivansheck as an assistant coach.

Football ­ Jim Hofher, head coach at Buffalo, was released after five seasons ... Cornell College head coach Ray Reasland resigned, effective November 23. Reasland has been in charge of the program for four seasons ... Jackson State released James Bell after more than two seasons as head coach and named Daryl Jones, quarterbacks coach, as interim head coach.

Football assistant ­ Randy Sanders resigned as offensive coordinator at Tennessee.

Men's and women's golf ­ Cindy Jacobelli was named as interim head women's coach at Transylvania to replace Mark Turner, who resigned. Jacobelli, who will continue as head volleyball coach, associate athletics director and senior woman administrator at the school, formerly was head coach of the program during the 2003-04 season ... Paul Fistori resigned after nine years as head men's golf coach at Massachusetts-Dartmouth.

Men's and women's gymnastics assistant ­ Rhode Island College chose Shannon Hughey as an assistant women's coach.

Men's soccer ­ Tim Kaleita will not return as head coach at Saint Michael's ... Assumption head coach Joe Walejko resigned after two years.

Women's soccer ­ Ken Kline resigned as head coach at Connecticut College. Kline, who will continue at the school as an associate athletics director and adjunct professor of physical education and athletics, led the program to a 170-125-1 record in 21 years.

Softball ­ Webster added Brett Swip as head coach. For the past five years, Swip has been an assistant at Washington U. in St. Louis.

Softball assistant ­ Holy Cross hired Nancy LeBlanc as an assistant coach. Most recently, LeBlanc was an assistant coach at Hartwick during the 2005 season and currently is head coach of the Massachusetts Invasion 12-and-under Junior Olympic softball team.

Men's and women's swimming and diving ­ Massachusetts-Dartmouth promoted Cathy Motta to aquatics director and summer programs coordinator. Motta will retain responsibilities as head men's and women's swimming coach.

Swimming and diving assistant ­ Erika Sokolowski was added as an assistant men's and women's coach at Niagara.

Men's and women's tennis ­ Shane Wood was selected as head men's and women's coach at Morehead State. Since 1999, Wood has been in charge of the men's and women's programs at Piedmont.

Men's and women's track and field assistant ­ John Rafail accepted responsibilities as an assistant men's and women's coach at Rhode Island College. Rafail has been an assistant coach at Willcox (Arizona) High School since 2003.

Men's and women's volleyball ­ Rowan hired Libby Ranero as head women's coach. Ranero was head volleyball coach and a teacher at Westminster Christian School in Florida from 1999 to 2004, and formerly was head coach at Rowan during 1995-98.

Staff

Academic services ­ Jon Hird was elevated to academic coordinator of student-athletes at Massachusetts-Dartmouth. Hird will continue as head cross country coach at the school, but will relinquish duties as indoor and outdoor track and field coach, effective with the selection of a successor.

Athletic trainer ­ Massachusetts-Dartmouth chose Jamie-Lynn Arundel as an assistant athletic trainer. Arundel is a 2005 graduate of Northeastern and has formerly been a student athletic trainer at Eastern Nazarene, Northeastern and at the high school level.

Sports information ­ Drew appointed Alex Langlois as interim sports information director to succeed Jennifer Brauner, who resigned after 12 years. Langlois most recently has been an athletics communications intern at Columbia.

Strength and conditioning ­ Mike Siener was awarded additional responsibilities as strength and conditioning coach at Webster. Siener will continue as head men's and women's tennis coach and assistant men's basketball coach.

Ticketing services ­ Longwood named Jeff Foster as ticket and athletics events manager. Foster has been an athletics compliance assistant at Southern Illinois since 2003.

Conferences

The Big East Conference awarded Commissioner Mike Tranghese a five-year contract extension through 2010. Tranghese has been in charge of the league since 1990. The conference also hired Jennifer Condaras as assistant commissioner for compliance, effective December 5. Condaras has been at Georgia Tech since 1999 and most recently has served as director of compliance at the school.

National office

Kimberli Bowman and Dan Calandro were selected as assistant directors of membership services at the national office. Bowman has been an assistant athletics director at Wayne State (Michigan). Calandro has been director of athletics at Knox.

The national office named Michelle Vaughn as membership database administrator in membership services. Vaughn has been a certified legal video specialist.

Jeff Jarnecke was hired as manager of signage and creative services at the national office. Jarnecke most recently has been with Indiana/Purdue-Indianapolis Sports Complex since 2003.

DEATHS

Former Wichita State football coach Ralph M. Graham died October 21. He was 95. Graham also coached tennis, football and basketball at Kansas State.

Lou Rossini, former head basketball coach at New York University and Columbia, died October 21. Rossini was 84.

Jay Simon, former sports information director at Kansas, died October 14. He was 88.

Former Eckerd President Billy O. Wireman died July 16. Wireman was 72.

Bradley Mosley, a men's basketball student-athlete at South Florida, died of cancer October 29 at the age of 22. Mosley, who joined the Bulls in 2003 after two seasons at Daytona Beach (Florida) Community College, started every game of the 2003-04 season and was second on the team in scoring at 14.6 points per game.

Tony Jackson, a two-time men's basketball consensus all-American at St. John's (New York), died October 28. He was 62. Jackson was a three-time letter-winner in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Lester Brown, former football student-athlete at Louisiana Tech, died in a automobile accident. He was 23. Brown was a two-year starter at offensive lineman for the Bulldogs.

Former Eastern New Mexico head football coach Harold "Bud" Elliott died November 1. He was 73. Elliott, Eastern New Mexico's all-time winningest football coach, guided the Greyhounds to a 68-49-2 record in 11 seasons from 1994 to his retirement in 2004.

--Compiled by Leilana McKindra