Former Marietta baseball coach dies

 Don Schaly, former longtime head baseball coach at Marietta, died March 9. He was 67.

Schaly, who retired after the 2003 season with the best record in NCAA Division III history at 1,442-329, took over the program in 1963. The Pioneers captured three national championships and turned in seven national runner-up finishes during Schaly's 40-year tenure as head coach. He also guided squads to 27 Ohio Athletic Conference championships, including a string of 13 straight from 1990 to 2002.

The namesake for the conference coach of the year award, Schaly was a 17-time winner of the honor as well as a four-time national coach of the year. Named as Collegiate Baseball's Coach of the Century in 2000, he is a 1995 inductee into the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

In addition to serving as head baseball coach at the school, Schaly also was an assistant director of athletics for more than 20 years and also spent 17 years as an assistant football coach at the school.

A 1959 graduate of Marietta with a bachelor's degree, Schaly was a baseball and football student-athlete for the Pioneers. He earned a master's degree from Penn State in 1960.

TRANSACTIONS

Chief executive officers

Simpson named John W. Byrd as president, effective in June. Byrd has been executive vice-president at Evansville ... Peter Philip Mercer was chosen as president at Ramapo, effective July 1. Mercer most recently has served as professor of law and as vice-president of administration at the University of Western Ontario ... Mount Mary President Patricia D. O'Donoghue announced plans to step down once a successor has been appointed ... Aaron M. Podolefsky was named as president at Central Missouri State, effective July 1. Podolefsky has been provost and vice-president for academic affairs at Northern Iowa ... William M. Anderson Jr. announced plans to retire as president at Mary Washington, effective June 30, 2006 ... Mark H. Erickson was selected as president at Wittenberg, effective July 1. Erickson has been vice-president for administrative and government affairs at Lehigh ... Connecticut College President Norman Fainstein announced plans to retire, effective July 1, 2006. Fainstein will continue with the school as a professor of sociology ... Frances D. Fergusson, president at Vassar, resigned, effective in June 2006 ... New England College selected Stephen Fritz as president, effective May 1 ... John T. Gibson resigned as president at Alabama A&M, but will continue as a faculty member at the school ... Long Beach State President Robert C. Maxson announced plans to step down, effective with the selection of a successor ... Robert E. Myers was chosen as president at Daniel Webster, effective July 1.

Directors of athletics

Union (New York) chose Jim McLaughlin as director of athletics. For the past four years, McLaughlin has been an associate athletics director at Brown ... Robert Carlson stepped down as athletics director at Clarion, effective August 30. Carlson has been with the school since 1987 and has been in charge of the athletics department since 1990 ... Jacksonville hired Alan Verlander as director of athletics. Verlander has been associate athletics director for external operations at Samford for the past five years ... Greg Bamberger was appointed as director of intercollegiate athletics services at Kutztown, effective May 1. Bamberger, who has been athletics director at Glenville State since January 2002, takes over for interim athletics director Jack Entriken and Clark Yeager, who resigned as director of athletics to become assistant to the provost at the school.

Senior woman administrator

Marie Scovron was hired as senior woman administrator and associate athletics director at Florida Southern. Most recently, Scovron has worked as a compliance coordinator at Eastern Michigan and formerly was senior woman administrator at Clarion.

Assistant directors of athletics

Shamaree Brown was named as assistant athletics director for compliance and student development at New Haven. Since August 2004, Brown has been with the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, where he worked in championships administration ... Albany appointed Jan Brown as assistant athletics director for compliance and student services. Brown most recently has been assistant chief of staff for Division II at the NCAA national office.

Coaches

Men's basketball ­ Cal State Los Angeles appointed Stephen Thompson as interim head coach. For the past three seasons, Thompson has worked as an assistant with the program ... Massachusetts released Steve Lappas as head coach after four seasons ... Doug Wojcik was selected as head coach at Tulsa. For the past two seasons, Wojcik has worked as an assistant at Michigan State ... Virginia head coach Pete Gillen stepped down after seven years ... Buzz Peterson was released as head coach at Tennessee. Peterson took over the program in April of 2001 ... George Nessman was tabbed as head coach at San Jose State. Nessman, who succeeds Phil Johnson, has been an assistant at California for one season ... Coastal Carolina released Pete Strickland as head coach. Strickland has guided the Chanticleers since 1998 ... Muskingum's Jim Burson announced plans to retire as head coach after a 38-year tenure, effective August 31, 2006. The school's all-time winningest basketball coach with a 542-416 mark, Burson, who is set to become president of the National Association of Basketball Coaches in April, will take a sabbatical during the 2005-06 season ... San Jose State head coach Phil Johnson re­signed after four seasons in charge ... Brian Daugherty resigned as head coach at Southern Arkansas. Daugherty has guided the program since 1998 ... Dave Yanai retired after nine seasons as head coach at Cal State Los Angeles. Yanai, who formerly was head coach at Cal State Dominguez Hills from 1977 to 1996, led Cal State Los Angeles to NCAA tournament appearances in 1998 and 2000 ... City Tech's Ray Amalbert announced his retirement after six seasons as head coach. Amalbert formerly was head coach of the program from 1973 to 1982 in addition to serving as director of athletics from 1995 to 2004.

Women's basketball ­ Judy Spoelstra was released as head coach at Oregon State ... Buffalo released Cheryl Dozier as head coach after seven seasons ... Julie Goodenough resigned as head coach at Oklahoma State ... San Diego head coach Kathy Marpe stepped down as head coach. Marpe, a two-time West Coast Conference coach of the year, led the Toreros to two conference tournament championships and two appearances in the NCAA tournament during a 25-year tenure ... Tusculum's Suzanne McBride resigned after five seasons as head coach ... Carole Hammerle, head coach at Northern Illinois, retired. Hammerle has been in charge of the Huskies program for seven seasons and formerly spent 25 seasons as head coach at Wisconsin-Green Bay. The school announced Carol Owens as Hammerle's successor. Owens has been top assistant at Notre Dame ... Fresno State elevated assistant coach Adrian Wiggins to interim head coach for the 2005-06 season. Wiggins, who replaces Stacy Johnson-Klein, has been with the program for three seasons.

Men's and women's cross country ­ Luther's Betsy Emerson resigned as head women's cross country and track and field coach, effective in June. Emerson has been head coach of the squad for 17 years.

Football ­ Bob Pruett retired as head coach at Marshall. In nine years, Pruett guided the Thundering Herd to five Mid-American Conference championships and five postseason bowl wins.

Football assistants ­ Shelton Gandy was hired as running backs coach at Louisiana Tech to replace Greg Malo, who was moved to outside linebackers coach. Gandy spent the past season as offensive coordinator at Copiah-Lincoln Community College ... Delaware chose Jim Turner as offensive line coach. Turner, who replaces Kyle Food, has been an assistant at Temple for two seasons ... Bobby Rhodes stepped down as wide receivers coach and director of football operations at Tusculum. Rhodes has been with the program since 2000 ... Cornell named Len Felton as recruiting coordinator and special teams coordinator and elevated Adam Bentz to defensive coordinator. Last season, Felton served as the program's defensive backs coach. Bentz, who spent last season as defensive line coach and special teams coordinator, has been with the school for three years and takes over for Paul Reimann.

Men's and women's lacrosse ­ Erin Horan was tabbed as head women's coach at Dominican. The program is scheduled to begin varsity competition in 2006-07.

Men's soccer ­ Simpson hired Mike Wilson as head coach. For the past two seasons, Wilson has worked as an assistant at Gustavus Adolphus ... Fred Broxton resigned as head coach at Westfield State.

Women's soccer ­ Gene Smith was named as head coach at Plymouth State. Smith, who coached at Norwich this past season, succeeds Keith Scarlett ... Simpson elevated Cory Chapman to head coach. Since 2002, Chapman has worked as an assistant men's and women's coach ... Katie Poynter was selected as head coach at Sacramento State. Poynter has been with the program since 2003 and served as interim head coach during the 2004 season.

Men's and women's volleyball ­ Shepherd appointed Sarah Smith as head women's coach. Most recently, Smith has been a graduate assistant at Minnesota State Mankato ... Elizabeth Rey resigned as head women's coach at Wheaton (Massachusetts) ... Karin Harvey was chosen as head women's coach at Montclair State. Harvey, who replaces Sandy Lombeyda-Sanchez, also has been an assistant with the school's women's basketball team ... Buffalo named Jim Lodes as head women's coach to replace Sally Kus. For the past three seasons, Lodes has been an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at North Carolina ... Sia Poyer was chosen as head women's coach at Valdosta State. Poyer has been top assistant at Eastern New Mexico.

Men's and women's volleyball assistant ­ Natalie Shipp was added as an assistant coach at Lamar.

Staff

Assistant athletic trainers ­ Saint Rose tabbed Samantha Granish as an assistant athletic trainer. Granish has been a graduate assistant at the school for the past year ... Eric Chadbourne was selected as an assistant athletic trainer at New Haven to replace Megan Kavanaugh, who was promoted to director of sports medicine.

Compliance ­ Clemson appointed Jess Rigler as compliance coordinator. Most recently, Rigler has been an assistant director of membership services at the NCAA national office.

Operations ­ Brett Veach was named as supervisor of intercollegiate athletics events at Delaware. Veach, who replaces Shane Brey, has been a graduate assistant in athletics operations at the school since August 2002.

Sports information ­ Eric McDowell was named as director of sports information at Union (New York). McDowell, who takes over for George Cuttita, has been with Brockport State ... Rockhurst hired John Dodderidge as sports information director. Dodderidge formerly was director of communications for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

Conferences

Cory Blackson was named as sports information director at USA South Athletic Conference. Blackson has been an assistant sports information director at Capital for the past year.

National office

Shana Levine was named as a coordinator of membership services. Levine was a member of the 2004-05 NCAA national office intern class and worked with the enforcement group ... Tom Paskus was chosen as principal academic research scientist at the national office. Paskus, formerly a postdoctoral research fellow at the NCAA, has been an assistant professor at Denver.

Etc.

Reprimand

The NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Committee has reprimanded Aaron Lopez, men's soccer student-athlete at UCLA, for misconduct as defined in NCAA Bylaw 31.02.3 during UCLA's third-round contest versus St. John's (New York). Specifically, it was reported that Lopez intentionally head-butted an opposing player. The box score shows that Lopez received a red card at the 89:53 mark for this infraction. Per the parameters of the bylaw, the committee voted to issue a public reprimand to Lopez for his actions. The committee also voted to withhold per diem reimbursement of $105 to UCLA for Lopez's participation in this game. Had he not been a senior, the committee would have considered a one-game suspension in his next NCAA tournament.

DEATHS

Glenn Davis, the 1946 Heisman Trophy winner, died of complications from prostate cancer on March 9. He was 80. Davis, a halfback at Army, scored 50 touchdowns and collected 4,129 rushing and receiving yards during his career to help the school to national championships in 1944 and 1945 and a share of the national title with Notre Dame in 1946.

--Compiled by Leilana McKindra