Directors of athletics

Central Florida’s Steve Orsini was tabbed as director of athletics at SMU to replace Jim Copeland. Orsini has been athletics director at Central Florida since 2002 … Bill Elias was elevated to director of athletics at Gannon. Elias, who has been head football coach since 1999, has filled the post on an interim basis since January of this year.

Associate directors of athletics

UC Santa Barbara elevated Diane O’Brien to associate athletics director and senior woman administrator. O’Brien, who succeeds Valerie Richardson, has been with the school since 1986 and has filled the post on an interim basis since September of last year. She previously was associate director of media relations and publications coordinator at the school … Central Oklahoma’s John Keely announced plans to retire as associate athletics director, effective in June. Keely served as head women’s basketball coach and assistant athletics director at the school from 1981 to 2004, when he was elevated to his current post … Dan Gilmore was promoted to associate athletics director at Rowan. Gilmore, who has been an assistant athletics director, will continue as head men’s soccer coach … Northern Illinois named Tim McMurray as associate athletics director for development and major gifts. McMurray, who succeeds Tim Stedman, has been associate athletics director for development and communications at Texas State.

Assistant director of athletics

Penny Kempf was elevated to assistant athletics director at Rowan. Kempf will retain duties as head field hockey coach … Northern Illinois appointed Daniel White as assistant athletics director of development and annual fund director to replace Tekla Martin. White was a development associate at Mississippi.

Coaches

Men’s basketball – Iowa State released Wayne Morgan as head coach … Billy Tubbs stepped down as head men’s basketball coach at Lamar. Tubbs, who guided the program to a 46-43 record in three seasons, will continue with the school as director of athletics. He formerly was head coach at TCU for eight seasons and led Oklahoma for 14 years. Lamar promoted Steve Roccaforte to head coach as Tubbs’ successor. Roccaforte has been an assistant coach at the school for three seasons and formerly was an assistant coach at Memphis, Wyoming and Tulane … Texas-San Antonio’s Tim Carter was released as head coach and will be reassigned. Carter led the Roadrunners to a 160-152 record and two NCAA tournament appearances in 11 seasons … Idaho State tabbed Joe O’Brien as head coach. O’Brien has been head coach at Southeastern Community College for the past eight seasons, where he compiled a 213-64 record and earned three National Junior College Athletic Association national championships … Ben Jacobson was promoted to head coach at Northern Iowa to replace Greg McDermott. Jabcobson has been associate coach for the program for the past five years … Andy Kennedy was hired as head coach at Mississippi. Kennedy, who takes over for Rod Barnes, was 21-13 in one season as interim head coach at Cincinnati, where Mick Cronin was chosen to replace Kennedy and former head coach Bob Huggins. Cronin has been head coach at Murray State for the past three seasons … Weber State appointed Randy Rahe as head coach. Rahe, who takes over for Joe Cravens, was an assistant at Utah … Louis Orr was released as head coach at Seton Hall. Orr led the Pirates to an 80-69 record in five seasons … George Pfeifer was elevated to head coach at Idaho. Pfeifer, who takes over for Leonard Perry, has been an assistant for the past season and most recently was interim head coach … Missouri hired Mike Anderson as head coach. Anderson, who has guided UAB to an 89-41 record and three NCAA tournament berths in four years, succeeds Quin Snyder … Houston awarded head coach Tom Penders with a new five-year contract. This year, Penders led the Cougars to their first 20-win season since 1993 … Will Brown accepted a five-year contract extension as head coach at Albany. Brown completed his fifth season at the school and led the Great Danes to their first America East Conference regular season and tournamet titles this year … Hofstra awarded Tom Pecora with a five-year contact through 2011. Pecora took over at the school before the 2001-02 season … Morgan State head coach Butch Beard resigned … Iowa State hired Greg McDermott to be its next men’s basketball coach. The 41-year-old McDermott led Northern Iowa to three straight NCAA tournaments in his five seasons at the institution and recorded 20-plus wins in each of the past three seasons … Russ Caton has been named head basketball coach at Colorado-Colorado Springs. Caton, 30, served as an assistant last season at Adams State … Northern Iowa promoted men’s basketball associate coach Ben Jacobson to head coach. He replaced Greg McDermott, who was hired to be the head coach at Iowa State … Kansas State named Bob Huggins head men’s basketball coach. Huggins was 399-127 in 16 seasons at Cincinnati … Joe O'Brien was named the head men's basketball coach at Idaho State. O'Brien has a 313-117 career record as a head coach, including a 213-64 record over eight seasons at Southeastern Community College in Iowa … Duquesne tabbed Ron Everhart, head coach at Northeastern since 2001, as head coach. Everhart takes over for Danny Nee … Indiana hired Kelvin Sampson as head coach to replace Mike Davis. Sampson has spent the past 12 seasons guiding the program at Oklahoma … Bucknell’s Pat Flannery was awarded a contract extension. In 12 seasons at the school, Flannery has led the Bison to a 199-151 record.

Men’s basketball assistant – Chris Jones was promoted to assistant coach at Utah after serving as director of operations for the Utes for the past two years. Jones replaces Randy Rahe.

Women’s basketball – Jody Hensen resigned after three seasons as head coach at Alaska Anchorage … Southern Utah released Joe Hillock after 10 years as head coach … Wyoming awarded head coach Joe Legerski a contract extension through 2011. Legerski has been in charge of the program since 2003 … Amber Daulbaugh resigned after one season as head coach at Webster.

Men’s and women’s cross country – Bethany (West Virginia) chose Mark Swinger as head cross country coach. Swinger was head coach at Wheeling Jesuit from 1990 to 2003 … Molly Peters was named as head women’s cross country coach at Saint Michael’s. Peters, who succeeds the retired Larry Kimball, has been an assistant cross country coach as well as a sprint and hurdle coach at the high school level for the past three years. She also formerly was head men’s and women’s cross country coach at Redlands and spent five years as an assistant men’s and women’s cross country and track and field coach at Middlebury.

Football – Wisconsin-Eau Claire announced Todd Glaser will be the institution’s next football coach. Glaser, a graduate of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, will be the 15th football coach in school history. Glaser has been the head coach at Marietta College the past three seasons. Glaser guided Marietta to its first back-to-back non-losing seasons in 10 years.  He was the Ohio Athletic Conference Coach of the Year in 2004 when Marietta finished with a 6-4 mark … Franklin & Marshall College named John Troxell as its 39th head football coach. He was previously the running backs coach and recruiting coordinator at Lafayette College … Marietta College promoted offensive coordinator Curt Wiese to the head coaching position.

Football assistants – Doug Sams was added as an assistant coach at Stanford … Utah State appointed Shaun Johnson as running backs coach and Tracy Smith as tight ends coach to replace Tom McMahon and Chris Tabor. Johnson was an assistant at Brown for two years and Smith has been an offensive graduate assistant at LSU. Utah State also announced that tight ends coach Danilo Robinson will move to defensive ends coach and recruiting coordinator and work study assistant Tony Flores will take over as graduate assistant coach … North Dakota State selected Kyle Nystrom as assistant head coach and linebackers coach. For the past season, Nystrom has been assistant head coach and defensive coordinator at DePauw … Keeth Matheny was chosen as offensive coordinator, quarterbacks coach and receivers coach and Andy Thompson was chosen as running backs coach at Northern Arizona to replace J.D. Sollars and Gary Guthmiller. Matheny has been coaching at Missouri Southern for the past two seasons and Thompson was a graduate assistant at the school in charge of running backs.

Men’s and women’s golf – MaryJo McCloskey was tabbed as head women’s coach at George Fox. The program is scheduled to begin competition this fall. McCloskey has been head women’s coach at Lewis & Clark for eight years.

Women’s soccer – Bob Fuqua was named as head women’s soccer coach at Nichols. Fuqua joins the Nichols’ program from Springfield Technical Community College, where he compiled a 34-16-2 record in three seasons, and led the school to the national junior college championship this past season.

Women’s soccer assistant – Colorado College tabbed April Kater as top assistant coach. Kater, who succeeds Scott Lamphear, was head coach at Syracuse from 1995 to 2004.

Softball – Elizabeth Burris was hired as head softball coach at St. Andrews Presbyterian. Burris currently serves as an associate head coach with the team and will take over for interim head coach Stevan Hernandez at the end of the 2006 season. Most recently, she has been coaching in Austria and formerly was an assistant at Florida Gulf Coast.

Men’s and women’s swimming and diving – Keene State College announced Jack Fabian will be the head coach of its swimming and diving program.  Fabian was the assistant coach with the team the past six seasons … Kevin Mabee resigned after two seasons as head men’s and women’s coach at Webster.

Men’s and women’s swimming assistant – Keene State added Jaclyn Keys as a volunteer assistant coach. Keys is a 2005 graduate of Georgia Teach, where she was a four-year letter-winner in swimming.

Men’s and women’s volleyball – Kristen Ely was chosen as head women’s coach and intramural director at Westminster (Missouri). Ely has been an assistant coach and junior varsity coach at Elmira for two years … UC Irvine men’s volleyball assistant coach John Hawks has been named as an assistant coach with the women’s program. Hawks is currently in his fourth season as an assistant with the men’s program.

Men’s and women’s volleyball assistant – Vanessa Walby was added as an assistant coach at Wisconsin-Whitewater. Walby was a graduate assistant coach with the program in 2005 and an interim coach at the school in 2005.

Wrestling – Ohio State’s Russ Hellickson announced plans to retire as head coach. Hellickson, a two-time Big Ten coach of the year, has been in charge of the Buckeye program since 1986 and has compiled a 272-170-6 record … Cornell College named Mike Duroe the full-time wrestling coach. Previously, Duroe was the interim coach. He led Cornell to a school-record 15 dual victories this season.

Staff

Sports information – Salem tabbed J.P. Widner as sports information director, head cross country coach, wellness center director and physical education instructor, effective August 1.

Conferences

The Ivy League and Patriot League awarded Mickey Crowley, coordinator of men’s basketball officiating for both leagues since 2002, with a three-year extension through the 2008-09 season. Crowley, the Naismith College Official of the Year in 1990, has officiated NCAA Division I championship games in 1989 and 1991, more than a dozen NIT championship games as well as numerous international competitions. The league also announced the hiring of William H. (Bill) Stevens as its coordinator of volleyball officiating. He becomes the league's first full-time volleyball coordinator … The Upper Midwest Athletic Conference named Brian Curtis as director of sports information. Curtis is currently the director of sports information at Minnesota-Morris and will remain in his current role with the school while taking on the additional conference responsibilities.

Notables

This year’s Patty Kazmaier Award winner as the top women’s college hockey player is junior Sara Bauer of Wisconsin. Bauer, a forward, helped the Badgers compile the best season in program history with a 35-4-1. She also was named conference player of the year.

Correction

In the EndZone section of the March 27 NCAA News, volleyball student-athlete Anne Morrow was incorrectly identified as being from Tennessee Technological Institute rather than Tennessee Technological University.

Deaths

William Hartman, former Georgia football student-athlete, died March 16. He was 90. An all-American fullback, Hartman captained the 1937 Bulldog team and later served as backfield coach from 1939 to 1956. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1984.

Evansville men’s basketball student-athlete Eric Ottens died in an automobile crash. He was 23. Ottens, a forward, averaged 6.0 points and 2.2 rebounds for the Purple Aces this past seaon.

Former Central (Iowa) head football coach and athletics administrator Ron Schipper died March 26. He was 77. As head coach at the school from 1961 to 1996, he guided the program to a 287-67-3 record that included 36 straight winning seasons and the 1974 NCAA Division III national championship. Schipper, a 2000 inductee into the College Football Hall of Fame and former American Football Coaches Association president, also was director of athletics at Central from 1964 to 1996. He was a three-sport standout at Hope in football, baseball and tennis before graduating in 1952.

Mary Kaufman, associate athletics director and senior woman administrator at Central Florida, died March 27. She was 68. Kaufman spent nine years as an associate athletics director and also was an assistant athletics director for administrator and women’s sports at the school.