Council chair stepping down at Middlebury

John M. McCardell Jr., current chair of the Division III Presidents Council, announced he will step down as president of Middlebury College in June 2004 after 13 years in the post.

McCardell is the institution's 15th president and was only the second president chosen from the ranks of Middlebury faculty since the institution's founding in 1800. He had served on the history faculty since 1976 and also served as dean for academic development and planning, dean of faculty, provost, and vice-president for academic affairs before assuming the presidency.

The chair of the college's board of trustees, Churchill Franklin, credited McCardell's leadership and hard work with improving Middlebury's position during his tenure. "In just a dozen years, John has taken Middlebury to a position of national and international leadership among liberal arts colleges," Franklin said.

McCardell will take a one-year leave, then return to Middlebury to teach with the title of college professor beginning in July 2005. His academic specialty is United States history in the 19th century with special emphasis on the Old South and on American historiography, the study of the techniques of historical research and writing.

He plans to continue as chair of the Division III Presidents Council through its April 2004 meeting. McCardell joined the Presidents Council in 2001 and became chair this year.

GENERAL

Chief executive officers

Westfield State named Vicky L. Carwein as president. Carwein, who has been chancellor at the University of Washington at Tacoma, succeeds Frederick Woodward, who will retire this month ... Lou Hencken was selected as president at Eastern Illinois. Hencken most recently filled the position on an interim basis ... Albany (New York) President Karen Hitchcock resigned, effective at the end of the academic year ... Briar Cliff selected Beverly A. Wharton as president. Wharton most recently has served in the position on an interim basis.

Assistant director of athletics

Patricia Lehman was appointed as assistant athletics director for business and finance at UMBC. Since 1991, Lehman has served as the school's manager of cost accounting.

Coaches

Baseball -- Tennessee Tech named Matt Bragga as head coach ... Polytechnic (New York) named Arty Williams as head coach.

Baseball assistants -- Brad Serton was chosen as a volunteer assistant coach at Wentworth Institute ... McMurry promoted Dirk Saltzgaber to full-time assistant coach and elevated Christo Amarantos to junior varsity/student assistant coach to replace Jim Gerlach ... Carmine Caruso was chosen as assistant head coach at Polytechnic (New York).

Men's basketball -- Tennessee awarded head coach Buzz Peterson a one-year contract extension through the 2008-09 season. Peterson has led the program to a 32-28 mark in two seasons as head coach.

Men's basketball assistants -- John Shulman was appointed as associate head coach at Chattanooga ... Rick Walrond was chosen as associate head coach at St. Paul's ... Detroit promoted Mark Van Ameyde to associate head coach. Most recently, Van Ameyde has served as an assistant coach with the program.

Football -- Akron reassigned head coach Lee Owens to assist with fund-raising, public relations and student recruiting. Owens has been in charge of the program for nine seasons ... Jim Miceli resigned as head coach at Bryant. Miceli has led the team since the program's inception in 1997 ... Al Seagraves was released as head coach at Elon and reassigned to administrative and teaching responsibilities at the school. Seagraves has been head coach for eight years ... Southwest State's Curt Strasheim resigned after four years as head coach. The school announced Ralph Radtke, offensive coordinator, as interim head coach ... Eddie Brister, head coach at Texas A&M-Commerce for the past five years, retired ... Wayne State (Michigan) will not renew the contract of Steve Kazor, who had guided the program for four seasons ... South Carolina's Lou Holtz was awarded a one-year contract extension through 2008. Holtz has been head coach at the school since 1999 ... Prairie View A&M released head coach C.L. Whittington after one season ... Gary Pinkel, head coach at Missouri for three seasons, signed a contract extension through the 2008 season ... Tom Cable was released after four seasons as head coach at Idaho.

Football assistants -- North Carolina's Jim Fleming resigned as defensive backs coach.

Men's and women's golf assistant -- Stacy Kress was named as an assistant women's coach at Pennsylvania.

Men's and women's lacrosse -- Kevin Dugan was hired as head men's lacrosse coach and assistant sports information director at Gordon. Dugan most recently was lacrosse offensive coordinator at Wheeling Jesuit ... Katy Phillips was hired as head women's coach at Robert Morris. The program is scheduled to begin varsity competition during the 2004-05 season. Phillips was director of women's events for Three Rivers Lacrosse in Pittsburgh from 1998 to 2002.

Men's and women's lacrosse assistants -- Wellesley selected Marley Aloe as an assistant women's coach. Aloe, who has been head junior varsity field hockey coach at Loomis Chaffee School in Connecticut, is a 2003 graduate of Wesleyan (Connecticut), where she played lacrosse and field hockey ... Jeff Roberts resigned as an assistant men's coach at Mercyhurst.

Men's soccer -- Saint Leo head coach Francis X. Reidy stepped down to focus on responsibilities as director of athletics. In 16 years as head coach, Reidy was twice named Sunshine State Conference coach of the year and also served on the Division II Men's Soccer Committee from 1999 to 2002 ... Rick Bryant resigned as head men's and women's soccer coach at Teikyo Post.

Women's soccer -- Jodi Kenyon resigned as head coach at Vermont ... Montana's Betsy Duerksen resigned as head coach.

Softball -- Elizabethtown chose Kathy Staib as head coach to replace Diane Lokey. Staib has been an assistant with the program for the past two seasons.

Men's and women's tennis -- Worcester Polytechnic named Mason Astley as head men's and women's coach ... William Huang resigned as head women's coach at Polytechnic (New York) ... Birmingham-Southern chose Paul Rosne as head men's coach.

Men's and women's track and field -- Polytechnic (New York) named Rick Tomlinson as head men's and women's coach.

Men's and women's track and field assistant -- Texas A&M-Corpus Christi hired Howard Dougherty as an assistant coach. Most recently, Dougherty has been coaching at Abilene Christian and on the high- school level.

Men's and women's volleyball -- Nicole Evans resigned as head coach at Lynn ... Marilyn Nolen, head women's coach at Saint Louis for the past 10 seasons, announced plans to retire at the end of the 2003 season. Nolen formerly was head coach at Sul Ross State, New Mexico State, Utah State, Kentucky, Florida and North Florida.

Staff

Sports information -- Teikyo Post chose Tim McCaffrey as sports information director.

Sports information assistant -- Erin Whiteside was appointed as an assistant sports information director at Penn State.

Conferences

Mike Lockrem resigned as commissioner of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference to become director of media relations at Minnesota. Lockrem, a member of the NCAA Wrestling Committee, has been commissioner for the past three years ... The Patriot League announced Megan Ahrens as an administrative intern for the 2003-04 academic year ... John Collins resigned as director of football officiating for the Eastern College Athletic Conference, effective December 31. Collins has served in the position since 1998 ... The Horizon League hired Patrick Adams as assistant director of sales and marketing.

DEATHS

Former Arizona State basketball coach Ned Wulk died of cancer November 15. He was 83. Wulk was head coach of the program from 1958 to 1982 and led the Sun Devils to nine NCAA tournament appearances and a 406-272 record during his tenure.

Emanuel Sonny Senerchia, former baseball coach at Monmouth (New Jersey), died November 1. Senerchia was 72.

Former Auburn football student-athlete George Peoples died recently. He was 43. Peoples was a member of the football team and ran track at the school. He also played professionally in the NFL for three seasons.

--Compiled by Leilana McKindra