Chief executive officers

Alabama A&M chose Robert R. Jennings as president. Jennings has been executive vice president and chief operating officer of Future Focus 2020, a think tank and research training center at Wake Forest … Danielle Ripich was named as president at New England. Ripich has been dean of the college of health professions at the Medical University of South Carolina … Susan C. Scrimshaw was appointed as president at Simmons, effective July 1. Scrimshaw is dean of the school of public health at Illinois-Chicago.

Directors of athletics

Forrest Karr was chosen as director of athletics and campus recreation at Alaska Fairbanks. Karr has been filling the position on an interim basis since July of 2005 and has been with the Nanook athletics staff since 2004 … Rollins promoted Pennie Parker to director of athletics. Parker, who has been with the school since 2002 and most recently has served as assistant athletics director and senior woman administrator, has been filling the post on an interim basis for seven months.

Coaches

Baseball – Millersville hired Jeff Swarr as head coach. Swarr has spent the past three seasons as an assistant at Franklin & Marshall.

Men’s basketball – Stephen Thompson was elevated to head coach at Cal State L.A. Thompson, who has been serving as interim head coach since last March, takes over for the retired Dave Yanai.

Men’s and women’s cross country – Philadelphia U. appointed Dave Thomas as head coach. Thomas was an assistant coach with the program last year and replaces Holly Stagliano, who resigned.

Football – Kutztown did not renew the contract of head coach Dave Keeny, who has been in charge of the program since 1998 … Kevin Kelly was hired as head coach at Georgetown to succeed Bob Benson. Kelly has been special teams coordinator and linebackers coach at Navy for four years … Southern Mississippi awarded head coach Jeff Bower with a two-year contract extension through the 2009 season. In 15 seasons, Bower has led the Golden Eagles to 12 straight winning campaigns and earned three Conference USA coach of the year nods … Pat Hill agreed to a contract extension through the 2010 season as head coach at Fresno State. Hill has guided the program to a 72-43 record and seven straight postseason appearances in nine seasons.

Football assistants – Macalester selected Travis Walch as an assistant coach. Walch has been offensive coordinator at Carelton for the past two years … Northern Colorado added Chad Brown as offensive coordinator, Cody Deti as defensive coordinator and Darrell Perkins as an assistant coach. Brown has been receivers coach and recruiting coordinator at Idaho for two seasons and Deti served three seasons as defensive secondary coach at Eastern Kentucky. For the past two seasons, Perkins has worked as defensive backs coach at Charleston Southern. The school also announced Keith Grable, Ahmad Lowe and Jared Wallen will continue with the program … Hamilton tabbed Mike Tracy as defensive coordinator. For the past eight years, Tracy has served as assistant head football coach and defensive coordinator at Hartwick … Stephen F. Austin added Darren Drago as defensive line coach … Major Applewhite was named as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Rice. Last season, Applewhite worked as quarterbacks coach at Syracuse … Simpson chose Paul Lounsberry as offensive coordinator. Lounsberry formerly was an assistant at South Carolina from 2000 to 2004 and most recently has been offensive line coach at Temple … Bob Toledo was selected as assistant head coach and offensive coordinator at New Mexico. Toledo formerly was head coach at UCLA … Larry Kerr was released after three years as defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at UCLA.

Men’s and women’s lacrosse – Rich Barnes assumed interim head men’s coaching responsibilities at Cortland State. Barnes, an assistant coach and defensive coordinator for the Red Dragons in 2005, succeeds Lelan Rogers, who became director of men’s lacrosse operations at Syracuse.

Men’s and women’s volleyball – Anna Tool resigned as head women’s coach at Virginia Wesleyan to become head coach at Northwest Missouri State. In three years in charge of the Virginia Wesleyan program, Tool led teams to three straight winning seasons and  two consecutive 19-win seasons. 

Staff

Academic advisor – Justin Ruffin was selected as academic advisor and Life Skills coordinator services at James Madison.

Assistant athletic trainers – Mount Olive tabbed Stephanie Burdette as assistant athletic trainer. Burdette has been head athletic trainer at Northwestern Oklahoma State University … Michael Hawkins was appointed as assistant athletic trainer at Tusculum. Since 2004, Hawkins has served as a graduate assistant athletic trainer at Troy.

Marketing and promotions – Duquesne hired Mark Geller as coordinator of marketing and promotions. For the past two years, Geller has worked as a marketing assistant at Dayton.

Sports information assistants – Chris Loucks was chosen as assistant director of media relations at San Diego. Loucks, who replaces Nick Mirkovich, has been a sports information graduate assistant at Gonzaga … Saint Rose named Brianna LaBrecque as assistant sports information director. LaBrecque has been director of corporate communications with The Star Group in New York, and formerly was an athletics media relations assistant at Albany.

Strength and conditioning – Justin Snyder was added as strength and conditioning coach at Simpson. Snyder has owned his own business since 2002 and was a strength and conditioning intern with the Iowa State football program in 2005.

Conferences

Rich Schepis was tabbed as media relations director at the Patriot League. For the past five years, Schepis has been at Penn serving as associate director of athletics communications and director of football operations … The Presidents’ Athletic Conference selected Joe Onderko as executive director, effective July 1. For the past 11 years, Onderko has been sports information director at Westminster (Pennsylvania) and also has been part-time sports information director for the conference for the past five years … Donna Ledwin of the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference was elected as president of the Division III Commissioners Association and Old Dominion Athletic Conference’s Brad Bankston was chosen as vice-president for the 2006-08 term.

Corrections

A list of future NCAA Convention dates and sites in the January 16 edition of The NCAA News incorrectly identified the Rosen Shingle Creek Resort as the Convention hotel for 2007. The correct property is the Gaylord Palms. The Rosen Shingle Creek Resort will host the Convention in 2014.

Notables

Northern Illinois head women’s golf coach Pam Tyska was named as recipient of the National Golf Coaches Association’s Gladys Palmer Meritorious Service Award in recognition of making significant contributions to the evolution and growth of women’s collegiate golf. Tyska has been in charge of the Huskie program for 20 years … Jan Hutchinson, head field hockey and softball coach at Bloomsburg, was named to the National Field Hockey Coaches Association Hall of Fame. Hutchinson has led Bloomsburg field hockey teams to 12 national championships and 13 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference titles in 28 years. Her 501 career field hockey victories leads the NCAA. This is Hutchinson’s second national hall of fame nod. She also was named to the National Fastpitch Coaches Association Hall of Fame. In 28 seasons in charge of the softball program, Hutchinson has guided the program to a 1,003-226-2 record, 14 conference championships and 23 straight appearances in the NCAA Division II championship tournament … Joe Paterno was announced as the 2005 American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) NCAA Division I-A coach of the year. This season, Paterno led the Nittany Lions to a 11-1 record, a share of the Big Ten Conference championship and an Orange Bowl victory over Florida State. The AFCA also honored Jerry Moore of Appalachian State, Chuck Martin of Grand Valley State and Bob Berezowitz of Wisconsin-Whitewater as coaches of the year in Divisions I-AA, II (and NAIA) and III. Moore earned his first national coach of the year honor after guiding the Mountaineers to a 12-3 record, a Southern Conference championship and the Division I-AA national title. Martin led Grand Valley State to the NCAA Division II national championship and a perfect 13-0 mark on the year. This season, Berezowitz set a school record for victories with 14 and also guided the Warhawks to an appearance in the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl … Texas’ Greg Davis was chosen as winner of the annual Broyles Award as the top assistant football coach in the nation. Davis is quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator for the national champion Longhorns.

Deaths

Former Northern Illinois football student-athlete Mark Clancy died January 6. He was 36. A four-year letter-winner, Clancy made 14 starts and caught 37 passes for 660 yards and two touchdowns in his career.

Former UC Irvine basketball student-athlete Khalid Channell died of heart failure earlier this month. He was a member of Anteater squads from 1991 to 1995, averging 8.8 points and four rebounds during his senior season. The four-time Big West Conference scholar-athlete was a member of the NCAA Student-Athlete Advisory Board.

Dave Brown, an assistant football coach at Texas Tech, died January 10. He was 52. A former three-time all-Big Ten pick and an unanimous 1974 all-America selection at Michigan, Brown had been secondary coach at Texas Tech since 2001. He formerly played for the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers, Seattle Seahawks and Green Bay Packers.

James E. Ostendarp, former head football coach at Amherst, died December 15. Ostendarp was 82.

Ursinus President Emeritus Richard P. Richter died December 16. Richter was 74.