Presidents and chancellors

Lynn appointed Dr. Kevin McAndrew Ross as its new president, effective July 1. Ross succeeds his father, Dr. Donald E. Ross, who was Lynn’s president for the past 35 years. Kevin Ross previously served as Lynn’s chief operating officer … Janie Park was named president of Chadron State. Park previously served as provost and academic vice chancellor at Montana State-Billings … Washington selected David Hodge as its president, effective July 1. Hodge comes to Washington after serving as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Miami (Ohio) … Lester Lefton was appointed president of Kent State, effective July 1. Lefton previously served as senior vice president for academic affairs and provost at Tulane … Alice Gast was named president of Lehigh. She previously served as vice president for research and associate provost at MIT … Chicago selected Robert Zimmer as its new president. Zimmer comes from Brown, where he worked as provost.

Director of athletics

Dawn Rogers resigned from her post as Xavier director of athletics. Rogers was the first female director of athletics at Xavier and spent the past two years at the helm of the program. Rogers worked at Akron before becoming associate athletics director at Xavier in 1998 … Scott Jones has stepped down as director of athletics at Keystone to become the manager of NCAA compliance services at Bucknell. Jones joined the Keystone athletics department in September 2001 as associate director of athletics for compliance and assumed athletics director duties in May 2002 … Richard Hart has been selected as the director of athletics at Chattanooga. Previously the senior associate athletic director for external operations at Oklahoma, Hart has spent the last seven years in Norman. Hart’s father, Dave Hart, has worked as Florida State director of athletics since 1995 … Bob De Carolis has signed a five-year contract extension at Oregon State.

Associate director of athletics

Rider announced the retirement of associate athletics director and golf coach Chet Dalgewicz, effective June 30. He was Rider’s first full-time compliance officer in 1991 and has coached the golf team for 12 seasons. He was named the 2006 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference golf coach of the year … Michael Hawkins has been appointed associate athletic director for media relations and marketing at Francis Marion. Hawkins has served as the school’s sports information director for the past 21 years. He is a 1985 graduate of Francis Marion … Delaware senior associate director of athletics and recreation services Mary Ann Hitchens announced her retirement, effective June 30. Hitchens spent more than 40 years at Delaware as a student, coach and administrator. She was inducted into the Delaware Sports Museum and Hall of Fame in May 1997 and was a member of the third induction class of the Delaware Athletics Hall of Fame in 1999 … Marcia Bruggeman was hired as associate athletics director at Northern Arizona. She will serve as the department’s senior woman administrator, while coordinating special events and supervising several sports. She will also oversee the academic and media relations departments. Bruggeman spent the past seven seasons at the helm of the North Dakota women’s volleyball program, and leaves the school as the all-time winningest coach in North Central Conference play … Michelle Gober was named Kutztown’s associate director of intercollegiate athletics services. Gober spent the past six years at Gallaudet, beginning as head athletic trainer and finishing as assistant athletics director. Gober replaces Lauri Mondschein, who stepped down in December … Central Florida named David Chambers executive associate athletics director and appointed David Hansen senior associate athletics director for internal affairs. Chambers has most recently served as senior associate athletics director for external affairs at Virginia Tech and also worked as associate athletics director at Nevada. Hansen comes to Central Florida from Southern Mississippi, where he holds the position of deputy director of athletics. He previously worked at Louisiana-Monroe and Florida … Doug Walker was named associate athletics director for media relations at Alabama. Walker spent the past three years at Notre Dame as sports information director for football. He spent four years working with the Miami (Florida) football program and also worked at Texas Christian.

Assistant director of athletics

Newbury appointed Megan Duran as its assistant athletics director and head women’s basketball coach. Duran will be responsible for sports information, game management and work-study in her administrative capacity. She spent the past two years as an assistant coach at Hartwick.

Coaches

Baseball – Valdosta State’s Tommy Thomas announced plans to retire following the 2007 season … Simpson announced that John Sirianni has resigned his post as head coach after 22 years at the helm of the program. During his tenure, Sirianni compiled a 510-307-2 record while leading the Storm to six NCAA tournament appearances. Associate head coach Ben Blake will take the reigns of the program. Blake played at Simpson and also played professionally in the Cleveland Indians organization … New Haven appointed Raphael Cerrato as head coach, effective July 1. Cerrato joined the New Haven staff as an assistant in June 2005 after five years as an assistant at Brown. Cerrato replaces coaching legend Frank Vieira, who spent 44 years leading the Chargers. Vieira finishes his career with 1,127 wins and 31 postseason appearances.

Men’s basketball – Bloomsburg hired John Sanow as its new head coach. Sanow spent last season as an assistant at Vermont and has also coached at Gannon, Pittsburgh-Johnstown and St. Francis (Pennsylvania). As a collegiate player at Indiana University (Pennsylvania), Sanow earned all-conference honors in 1986 … North Dakota appointed Brian Jones as the 18th head coach in program history. Jones makes his way to Grand Forks after spending the past seven years as an assistant at Iowa. A former basketball student-athlete at Northern Iowa, Jones has coached at Missouri State and Nebraska-Omaha … Oklahoma State’s Eddie Sutton resigned as head coach. In his 36-year career, Sutton compiled a 798-315 record. He coached at Creighton, Arkansas and Kentucky before heading to Stillwater. Sutton’s son, Sean Sutton, will take over as Oklahoma State’s head coach … Illinois Wesleyan hired Ron Rose as its head coach. Rose, who spent the past five seasons as head coach at Bloomington High School, succeeds Scott Trost. Rose played at Illinois Wesleyan and was part of two conference championship teams … Reggie Witherspoon received a three-year contract extension from Buffalo. The 2003-04 MAC coach of the year has led the Bulls to three consecutive winning seasons and an NIT berth in 2004-05.

Men’s basketball assistants – Darren Kohne resigned his post as assistant at Stephen F. Austin … David Farrar has joined Wyoming’s coaching staff. Farrar was an assistant at South Alabama last season and has also coached at Idaho and Middle Tennessee State … Florida Southern named Randall Herbst as an assistant. Herbst has spent the past six seasons at North Dakota, serving as associate head coach the past two years.  Previously, Herbst was the head coach at Waldorf Junior College … Texas State appointed Russell Vanlandingham to its staff. Vanlandingham spent last season as the top assistant at McMurray after coaching four seasons at West Texas A&M. Vanlandingham played at McMurray and coached there from 1995-2001 before returning last year … Kobie Baker was hired as Alabama’s director of basketball operations. Baker served as Crimson Tide men’s basketball coach Mark Gottfried’s administrative assistant for two seasons, and served as an assistant coach at Troy State and Nicholls State … Jamon Copeland was named as an assistant at Texas State. Copeland joins the Bobcat staff after serving as an assistant at Trinity Valley Community College … Saint Louis named Jamall Walker as assistant coach. Walker spent the past two seasons as an assistant at Ball State and previously coached at Redlands Community College. Walker played for Saint Louis from 1996-1999 and ranks sixth on the school’s all-time assists list … Ben Betts resigned as head coach at South Carolina State and will join the Oklahoma staff as an assistant. In three seasons with the Bulldogs, Betts compiled a 51-39 record … Canisius announced that Rob Norris, Tim Paul and Lazare Adingono have been appointed as assistant coaches. Norris previously coached at Towson and Paul spent the past two seasons as a graduate student manager at Hofstra. Adingono was the director of basketball operations at Rhode Island last season.

Women’s basketball - Greg Todd was appointed head coach at Transylvania. Todd spent the past seven years at the helm of the Lexington Catholic High School program, compiling a record of 225-26 and winning three Kentucky High School Athletic Association championships … Wingate coach Johnny Jacumin announced he will retire at the completion of the 2006-07 season. In 26 seasons at Wingate, Jacumin has compiled an overall record of 568-211 … Cathy Andruzzi was named head coach at Fordham. She has prior head coaching experience at Wagner and East Carolina and served as an assistant at Seton Hall last year. Andruzzi becomes the ninth head coach in Fordham history … Georgia coach Andy Landers signed a four-year contract extension that will keep him in Athens through 2011. Landers has compiled a 657-208 record in 27 seasons at Georgia … Pat Summitt signed a six-year extension at Tennessee. Summitt leads Division I basketball coaches with 913 career victories. She has led the Volunteers to six national championships … North Carolina extended Sylvia Hatchell’s contract through 2011. Hatchell has a 445-188 record in 20 years in Chapel Hill, and led the Tar Heels to the 2006 Final Four.

Women’s basketball assistants – Kansas State named Kelly Moylan as assistant … Dayton hired Melanie Halker as an assistant. Halker served as an assistant at Indiana State for the past two seasons, and helped lead the Sycamores to a school-record 27 victories in 2005-06. Halker played collegiately at Siena, where she is the school’s second all-time leading scorer with 2,021 career points … Akron named Bob Boldon an assistant coach. Boldon spent the last two seasons as head coach at Arkansas-Monticello, where he compiled a 30-27 record. Boldon also served as an assistant at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi for two seasons, and assisted at Gannon as well. Boldon joins the Zips as part of new head coach Jodi Kest’s staff … Valparaiso tabbed Jon Cain to be associate coach. Cain spent the last 11 seasons at Marquette. Prior to that, he served at Wisconsin and Baylor.

Field hockey - Jill McGinnity was hired as head coach at Salem State.

Football – Central Florida signed George O’Leary to a 10-year contract extension, ensuring that the coach will remain in Orlando through the 2015 season. O’Leary took over the Golden Knight program in December 2003 and UCF went 0-11 in his first season. After dropping their first two games of 2005, the Golden Knights won eight of their next nine and qualified for the Hawaii Bowl.

Football assistants – Trinity (Connecticut) hired Keita Malloy as its new wide receivers coach. Malloy spent the past three seasons as an assistant at Fordham. He was an all-conference wide receiver at Delaware and played professionally in the Arena Football League … Wilkes announced the hiring of Greg Sesny as the new offensive coordinator. Sesny, who will also coach the team’s offensive line, spent the past two seasons as an assistant at Hampden-Sydney. He also spent three seasons as a graduate assistant at Maryland and two years as an assistant at Catholic … Wesleyan named Doug Mandigo as an assistant coach. Mandigo has previously coached at Middlebury and St. Anselm and spent two seasons as a graduate assistant at Boston College. Mandigo will also serve as an assistant baseball coach at Wesleyan.

Men’s and women’s gymnastics – Steve Nunno resigned as head women’s coach at Oklahoma after six years at the program’s helm. Nunno served as an assistant coach for the U.S. teams at the 1992 and 1996 Olympic Games.

Men’s and women’s soccer – Dan Magner was chosen as head coach at Minnesota-Morris. Magner spent the past five seasons as head coach at St. Bonaventure and finished his tenure with a 28-62-4 record. Magner also served as head coach at Kansas from 1997-1999 and has worked as an assistant at Wake Forest and Massachusetts … Chicago appointed Scott Wiercinski as head men’s coach, effective July 1. Wiercinski spent the past five seasons as an assistant at Brown, helping the Bears to a 41-31-13 record during that time. In 2000, Wiercinski served as an assistant at Bowdoin. He was a two-time all-Conference goalkeeper during his playing days at Middlebury. Wiercinski replaces John O'Connor, who notched a 113-74-17 (.596) record and guided the Maroons to three NCAA Division III tournament berths from 1995-2005. O'Connor accepted the head coaching position at Rhode Island in March … Clarke announced the hiring of Sean Esterhuizen as head men’s and women’s coach. Esterhuizen has spent his career coaching at the high school level, compiling an overall record of 276-81-3. In 1999, he led Pasco High School to the Washington state title. As a collegian, he played at Wisconsin-Platteville and was twice honored as an all-Wisconsin selection … George Perry is the new men’s coach at Monmouth. Perry, who will also serve as director of intramural programs, comes to Monmouth from Rockford. He was also the head coach at Rochester, St. Bonaventure and Wabash … Matt Digney was named new head men’s coach at Philadelphia U. Digney previously served as an assistant at Rowan. He replaces Greg Wilson.

Softball – Brad Bowser has signed on as head coach at LeTourneau. Bowser was also appointed director of the Solheim Center. Since 2000, Bowser has served as associate dean for student life at LeTourneau. Previously, Bowser worked as an assistant men’s basketball coach at Anderson … Shanda Ness was hired as head coach at Cornell College. She spent eight years at the helm of the Gustavus Adolphus program, compiling 164 overall victories. Ness replaces interim coach Kevin Kahler … Margaret Rebenar resigned her post as head coach at Oklahoma State. Rebenar spent 27 years on the coaching staff, including the last five at the helm. She compiled a 151-119 record during her tenure … Gretchen Loose resigned as softball coach at Wilmington (Delaware). During her four-year tenure, Loose led the Lady Wildcats to a 64-99 overall record.

Softball assistant – Erich Trautwein stepped down as assistant coach at Tusculum. Trautwein just completed his first year with the program.

Men’s and women’s swimming and diving – Rochester hired Peter Thompson to be men’s and women’s swimming coach. Thompson replaces Danielle Herring-Ianni. He spent the last three seasons as head coach at Niagara, where he was also an instructor in the counselor education and psychology departments. The Purple Eagles set 17 school records under Thompson’s tutelage and won three individual titles in the Middle Atlantic Athletic Conference. Thompson also served at Ursinus and scholastically in Pennsylvania … Jerry Jennings announced his resignation as head diving coach at UMass-Dartmouth. Jennings has led the Corsair program for the last 20 years and has led the team to eight Little East Conference championships. He will retain his positions as head women’s lacrosse coach and director of intramurals.

Men’s and women’s volleyball – Hadley Foster will assume head coaching duties of the men’s program at Quincy, following a year as an assistant for both the men’s and women’s programs. Foster previously served as head coach at Tarleton State from 2002-2004 … Jill Pape-Kramer was named an assistant of Alabama’s women’s team. Pape-Kramer previously was an assistant at Texas-San Antonio and replaces Erich Hinterstocker, now the head coach at North Dakota State.

Men’s and women’s volleyball assistant – Northern Illinois hired Michaela Franklin as an assistant women’s coach. Franklin was a three-year letter-winner for Kansas State, totaling 238 kills from 2002-04. As a freshman, she played for Northern Michigan.

Wrestling assistant – Clint Manny was hired as an assistant at Simpson. Manny worked as a student assistant for the Storm during the 2005-06 season while completing his degree in physical education. A three-time all-American at Simpson, Manny is the school’s all-time winningest wrestler with a 148-24 career record. He will also serve as the athletics department’s equipment manager. Manny replaces Rick Schweitzberger.

Staff

Academic services - Chaunté Baldwin was hired as coordinator of athletic academic services at Nova Southeastern. Baldwin joins the staff after stints at North Texas and Texas Christian.

Athletics trainer – Crystal Langston has stepped down as head athletics trainer at Mount Olive. She has worked at the school since 2002.

Compliance - Marshall named Jill Gainey assistant director of compliance. Gainey replaces Nick Ojea, who left to become assistant director of compliance at Louisville … Reyna Gilbert was promoted to compliance coordinator at Nova Southeastern. Gilbert served as the school’s coordinator of athletic academic services since August. She will continue in her capacity as the department’s CHAMPS/LifeSkills coordinator … Mercy tabbed Bill Sullivan as compliance coordinator. Sullivan adds the role to his positions as assistant athletics director for internal operations and head baseball coach.          

Equipment manager – Nova Southeastern announced the hiring of Skip Wiley as the athletics department’s new equipment manager. Wiley recently concluded his first year as an assistant coach on the baseball staff.

Sports information – Walt Riddle resigned as Saint Leo University sports information director/athletics marketing director, effective June 30. Riddle was one of the longest tenured SIDs in the Sunshine State conference. He will remain in a part-time capacity, running the athletics hall of fame and corporate sponsorships with area businesses as well as assisting with special projects … Santa Clara announced that Jed Mettee has been hired as director of media relations. Mettee comes to Santa Clara after spending the past five years as director of media relations and broadcasting for Major League Soccer’s San Jose Earthquakes … Eastern New Mexico hired Adam Pitterman to replace Robert McKinney as sports information director. Pitterman has previously served as the school’s assistant SID and will begin his new duties in early June.

Conferences

The Northern Athletics Conference appointed G. Steven Larson as its first commissioner. Larson has served as director of athletics and head men’s basketball coach at Edgewood since 1986. He is a charter member of the Edgewood Athletics Hall of Fame.

National office

Stephanie Quigg was promoted to associate director of membership services … Maritza Silva Jones was promoted to assistant director of membership services.

Notables

Washington U. in St. Louis men’s tennis coach Roger Follmer was named the Wilson/Intercollegiate Tennis Association National Coach of the Year for Division III … Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women’s coach Maxanne Retzlaff also earned the honor … Middlebury’s Brian Waldron and Amherst’s Kristen Raverta earned ITA National Senior Player of the Year honors … Michael Goodwin of Emory and William Smith’s Chelsea Rauck were both named ITA National Rookie Player of the Year … Williams’ Daniel Greenberg and Wellesley’s Jenna Mezin were selected as ITA National Players to Watch … Nathan Edmunds of Middlebury and Gustavus Adolphus’ Lindsey Palen were honored with the ITA/Arthur Ashe Award for Leadership and Sportsmanship … Penn State coach Joe Paterno and Florida State coach Bobby Bowden were named co-recipients of the National Football Foundation’s gold medal. The award, which has been presented to seven United States presidents, has been given annually since 1958 … Former Arizona State star Pat Tillman received the Foundation’s distinguished American award … South Dakota’s Dave Gottsleben and Damon Martin of Adams State were named the NCAA Division II men’s and women’s coaches of the year, as selected by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches (USTFCCCA) … Abilene Christian’s Nicodemus Naimadu was named Division II male track athlete of the year and Chris Randolph of Seattle Pacific was tabbed men’s field athlete of the year … Grand Valley State’s Mandi Zemba was chosen as Division II women’s track athlete of the year and Cal State Bakersfield’s Cecilia Barnes was named women’s field athlete of the year … In Division III, Mount Union men’s coach John Homon and Wheaton (Ill.) women’s coach Scott Bradley were named national outdoor coaches of the year … Macharia Yout of Widener was tabbed Division III men’s track athlete of the year and Matt Roberson of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps was chosen as men’s field athlete of the year … Concordia’s Amanda Cuca was selected as Division III women’s track athlete of the year and Robyn Jarocki of Wisconsin-Oshkosh was named women’s field athlete of the year.

Deaths 

Former Illinois State men’s basketball coach Jim Collie died May 1. Collie was elected to the school’s athletics hall of fame in 1976 after compiling 209 victories at the helm of the program. Collie also coached at Friends University and McKendree College before arriving at Illinois Sate in 1957 … Former Kansas State football player Harold Robinson died May 9. Robinson was the first black scholarship athlete in what would become the Big 12 Conference. Robinson earned first team all-Big Seven honors as a center in 1950, despite playing on a 1-9-1 team. He was inducted into the Kansas State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2004 … USC freshman basketball player Ryan Francis died May 13. Francis averaged more than seven points per game last season and ranked seventh in the Pac-10 in assists … George Blackburn, who was head football coach at Virginia from 1965-70, died on May 15. Blackburn compiled a 28-33 record during his tenure and was ACC coach of the year in 1968 after Virginia went 7-3. Blackburn also coached at Miami (Ohio) and Cincinnati … Mississippi Valley State assistant men’s basketball coach Cecil Dowell was killed in a car accident on Saturday, May 20. The former Mississippi player was in his first year with the Delta Devils.