Tampa soccer coach dies after cycle accident

 University of Tampa men's soccer coach Tom Fitzgerald died from injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident December 4. He was 53.

Fitzgerald led Tampa to three appearances in the NCAA Division II semifinals and the 1994 NCAA Division II national championship during a tenure that spanned from 1987 to 1996. He also guided UCLA to the NCAA Division I title in 2002 to become one of three coaches to lead teams to national championships in Division I and Division II.

Fitzgerald left Tampa in 1996 to accept an assistant coaching post with Major League Soccer's Columbus Crew. That same season, he was elevated to head coach. Fitzgerald led the Crew to a 70-67-7 record, three straight Eastern Conference finals and an appearance in the 1998 U.S. Open Cup finals.

Fitzgerald returned to the collegiate ranks in 2001 as head coach at UCLA. He led the Bruins to their first Pacific-10 Conference title and the national championship in 2002. In addition, he earned 2002 national coach-of-the-year honors from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America. After the 2003 season, Fitzgerald began a second stint as head coach at Tampa, where his overall record was 138-41-12 and included five Sunshine State Conference championships. He compiled a 176-46-16 career record in 12 years as a college coach and earned 11 NCAA tournament appearances.

Fitzgerald was a 1974 graduate of South Florida, where he played soccer for one year.

Chief executive officers

Wayne D. Andrews was named as president at Morehead State, effective January 1. Andrews has been vice-president for administration and chief operating officer at East Tennessee State ... Hollins appointed Nancy Oliver Grey as president, effective in January. Grey has been president at Converse ... Former Hastings President Thomas J. Reeves was selected as interim president at Converse, effective January 10 ... Hamline chose Linda Hanson as president. Hanson was president at the College of Santa Fe.

Directors of athletics

Idaho State Director of Athletics Jim Senter resigned, effective December 31. Senter has guided the athletics department since May 2003. The school announced Paul Bubb, senior associate athletics director, as Senter's interim successor ... Jack Lengyel, former athletics director at Navy, was chosen as interim director of athletics at Colorado, replacing Dick Tharp, who resigned ... Appalachian State announced Linda K. Robinson as interim athletics director. Robinson, who currently serves as director of the equity office at the school, takes over for Roachel Laney ... Willie Jeffries was appointed as athletics director at Grambling to succeed Al Dennis, who was released. Jeffries has been director of athletics fund-raising at South Carolina State, where he also formerly was head football coach and athletics director ... Plattsburgh State selected Chris Waterbury as interim director of athletics. Waterbury, who replaces Roy Patton, has been head men's soccer coach for 21 seasons and also serves an assistant athletics director at the school ... Wartburg's Rick Willis accepted additional responsibilities as interim director of athletics, effective January 1. Willis, head football coach since 1997 and an assistant athletics director, takes over for Gary Grace, who accepted the position of vice-president for administration at the school ... Mesa State hired Steven Nicholas Adams as director of athletics, effective January 3. Adams has been athletics director at the University of Illinois at Springfield since April 2002.

Associate director of athletics

Danny McCabe was appointed as executive associate director of athletics at Hofstra. Since 2000, McCabe has worked as associate athletics director for external relations at Providence.

Assistant director of athletics

Sam Williams was chosen as assistant athletics director for operations at UMBC. Since July 2000, Williams has worked as head equipment manager at the school ... Santa Clara elevated Fred Smith to assistant athletics director for development. Smith has been director of fund-raising and special events since August 2003 ... Lander promoted Kent Atkins to assistant athletics director for sports medicine and facilities, Bob Stoner to assistant athletics director for sports media and Cheryl Bell to assistant athletics director. Atkins has been head athletic trainer for 10 years. Stoner has been with the school for 16 years and most recently has served as sports information director. Bell, who will continue to serve as senior woman administrator, has been with the Lander athletics department for more than 30 years.

Coaches

Baseball assistant ­ Delaware hired Jim Fallers as an assistant. Fallers was an assistant coach at Wilmington (Delaware) for two seasons.

Men's basketball ­ Oliver Purnell was awarded a two-year contract extension through the 2010-11 season as head coach at Clemson ... Henry Bibby was released as head coach at Southern California. Bibby has been in charge of the program for nine seasons. The school selected assistant coach Jim Saia as interim head coach.

Women's basketball ­ Texas head coach Jody Conradt was awarded a five-year contract extension. Conradt, the second-winningest coach in women's college basketball history, guided the Longhorns to the 1986 national championship.

Field hockey ­ Denise Junkerman resigned as head coach at Philadelphia U. Junkerman has been in charge of the program since 2001. The school announced assistant coach Christy Knab as interim head coach.

Football ­ Indiana released head coach Gerry DiNardo after three seasons ... John Lyons was released as head coach at Dartmouth. Lyons guided the program to two Ivy Group championships in 13 seasons ... Mississippi's David Cutcliffe was released as head coach after six seasons ... Becker chose David Dunn as head coach. The program is scheduled to begin varsity competition in 2005. Dunn most recently has been running backs coach at Florida Atlantic and formerly was an assistant coach at San Diego, Harvard and Indiana State ... Brad Smith resigned as head football coach at Chadron State, effective January 1, but will continue as director of athletics at the school. Smith has fulfilled the dual role for the past 18 years. Bill O'Boyle, an assistant football coach for the past 14 years, was named as interim head coach ... Brigham Young head coach Gary Crowton resigned after four seasons ... Skip Holtz was named as head coach at East Carolina to replace John Thompson. Holtz most recently has worked as an assistant coach at South Carolina ... Florida hired Urban Meyer as head coach to succeed Ron Zook. In two years as head coach at Utah, Meyer has guided the Utes to a 21-2 mark and back-to-back Mountain West Conference championships ... Mike Sanford was named as head coach at UNLV. Sanford, who succeeds the retired John Robinson, has been offensive coordinator at Utah for the past two years ... Augustana (South Dakota) promoted offensive coordinator Brad Salem to head coach to succeed Jim Heinitz, who retired after guiding the Vikings for a total of 17 seasons (1984 to 1992 and 1995 to 2004). Heinitz, Augustana's all-time winningest coach, will continue with the school as director of development ... Illinois tabbed Ron Zook as head coach to succeed Ron Turner. Zook most recently was released after two seasons as head coach at Florida ... Jeff Tedford, head coach at California, was awarded a contract extension through 2009 ... Bill Cubit was hired as head coach at Western Michigan to replace Gary Darnell. Cubit was quarterbacks coach at Stanford in 2003 and fulfilled additional responsibilities as the Cardinal's offensive coordinator this season ... Boise State awarded head coach Dan Hawkins a five-year contract extension through 2009. Hawkins has guided the Broncos to three straight Western Athletic Conference championships in four years as head coach ... Utah elevated Kyle Whittingham to head coach to replace Urban Meyer. Whittingham has served as defensive coordinator for the Utes for the past 10 seasons ... Dominic Livedoti was named as head coach at Olivet to succeed Irv Sigler, who retired after three years in charge of the program. Livedoti, who formerly was head coach at the school from 1988 to 1992, has been assistant head football coach and defensive coordinator for three years ... Utah State tabbed Brent Guy as head coach to replace Mick Dennehy. Guy, a former Utah State assistant from 1992 to 1994, has been defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Arizona State for the past four seasons.

Football assistants ­ Dave Wommack was released as defensive coordinator at Arkansas. Wommack has been with the Razorbacks in 2001 ... South Dakota State defensive line coach Kris Roberts resigned ... Mark Hutson was promoted to assistant head coach at Eastern Illinois. Hutson will continue to serve as offensive line coach, a position he has held for the past two seasons ... Turner Gill resigned as an assistant coach at Nebraska ... Arkansas tabbed Reggie Herring as defensive coordinator. Herring, who has been defensive coordinator at North Carolina State, takes over for Dave Wommack ... John Latina was appointed as offensive line coach at South Carolina. For the past six seasons, Latina has been an assistant at Mississippi, including the last five as offensive coordinator ... Kentucky elevated Joker Phillips to offensive coordinator to replace Rod Hudson, who resigned. Phillips will relinquish responsibilities as recruiting coordinator for the Wildcats, but will continue as receivers coach ... Clemson released Mike O'Cain as offensive coordinator, John Lovett as defensive coordinator and Thielen Smith as linebackers coach ... Donnie Thompson was named as assistant head coach and defensive line coach at East Carolina. For the past four seasons, Thompson has worked as defensive line coach at Illinois ... Gary Andersen was promoted to defensive coordinator and Jay Hill was elevated to secondary coach at Utah. Andersen has been defensive line coach and Hill was a graduate assistant with the program ... East Carolina selected Phil Petty as an assistant coach. Most recently, Petty has served as a graduate assistant at South Carolina ... Greg Mattison was hired as co-defensive coordinator at Florida. For the past five seasons, Mattison has worked as defensive line coach at Notre Dame.

Men's soccer ­ Manhattan's Billy Walsh resigned after four years as head coach.

Women's soccer ­ Samford awarded head coach Todd Yelton a four-year contract extension through 2007. Yelton, who has been in charge of the program for three seasons, has guided the Bulldogs to back-to-back Ohio Valley Conference regular-season championships ... John Sanchez resigned as head coach at Manhattan, but will continue with the school as the athletics coordinator. Sanchez guided the program for eight years ... Bobby Lessentine was chosen as head coach at Rhodes to replace Laura Whiteley, who became head coach at Kalamazoo. Lessentine, who has served as an assistant with the program for the past two seasons, will continue as coordinator of recreational services.

Men's and women's swimming and diving assistant ­ Kristen Nardozzi was added as an assistant men's and women's coach at Trinity (Connecticut). Nardozzi was a spring 2004 graduate of New Hampshire, where she was a member of the swimming team.

Men's and women's tennis ­ Seton Hall hired Ilene Weintraub as head women's coach. Since 2002, Weintraub has been an assistant coach at Columbia ... Chris Young was named as director of tennis at Wichita State. Young has been in charge of the women's program at the school since last July.

Men's and women's track and field ­ Victor Lopez, head women's track and field coach at Rice for the past 25 years, announced plans to retire after the 2005 outdoor track season. Lopez, a seven-time Western Athletic Conference coach of the year, has guided the Owls to four outdoor and three indoor conference championships, in addition to two league cross country crowns.

Men's and women's track and field assistant ­ Franklin & Marshall added Jen Rautzhan as an assistant men's and women's coach. Rautzhan is a 2004 graduate of DeSales, where she earned two Middle Atlantic Conference championships in the hammer throw and one in the discus.

Men's and women's volleyball ­ Chuck Erbe retired as head women's coach at Michigan State. In 12 seasons as head coach of the Spartan program, Erbe compiled a 244-140 record and led the Spartans to their first NCAA tournament appearance in 1994 and their first Big Ten Conference championship in 1995 ... Oregon's Carl Ferreira resigned after five seasons as head women's coach ... Wichita State awarded head women's coach Chris Lamb a contract extension through 2010. Lamb, the 2004 Missouri Valley Conference coach of the year, guided the Shockers to their first regular-season and conference tournament championships and their first NCAA tournament appearance this year.

Wrestling assistant ­ Franklin & Marshall appointed Michael Rush as an assistant coach.

Staff

Sports information ­ Birmingham-Southern named Will Chandler as director of athletics media relations.

Sports information assistants ­ Sarah Barbee and Fred Sington were added as assistant directors of athletics media relations at Birmingham-Southern.

Conferences

The Patriot League named Joanna Kreps as assistant executive director for sport management and governance. Kreps, who currently serves on the NCAA Sportsmanship and Ethical Conduct Committee, has been assistant commissioner for compliance and business operations and senior woman administrator at the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.

Corrections

The names of three Saint Leo University student-athletes listed in the Briefly in the News section of the December 6 issue were misspelled. Ray Horal, Wendy Geer and Denyve Duncan, along with John Semeraro, contacted 400 alumni, parents and friends as part of a university outreach program.

Notables

Derrick Johnson, a senior football linebacker at Texas, was named as the Bronko Nagurski Trophy winner as the nation's top defensive college football player. He also earned recognition as the Butkus Award winner as the best linebacker in the country. Johnson's eight forced fumbles this season tied an NCAA record. He also compiled 128 tackles, including 78 solo and 19 for a loss, and one interception. Johnson, the Big 12 Conference defensive player of the year, is the first Texas player to win the honor ... David Pollack, a football defensive end at Georgia, was named as the winner of the Lombardi Trophy as the nation's top college football lineman. Pollack also was the Bednarik Award winner as the best defensive player in the country... Michigan's Braylon Edwards was honored as the nation's top receiver as winner of the Biletnikoff Award ... Mike Nugent, a kicker at Ohio State, was chosen as the Lou Groza Award winner as the best collegiate placekicker in the nation ... Baylor's Daniel Sepulveda was named as the Ray Guy Award honoree as the nation's best punter ... Heath Miller of Virginia was recognized as the best tight end in college football as the winner of the John Mackey Award ... Jason White, quarterback at Oklahoma, was chosen as the Maxwell Award winner and Davey O'Brien Trophy winner. The Maxwell is presented to the nation's outstanding player of the year and the Davey O'Brien Award recognizes the top quarterback in the country. White also was chosen as the recipient of the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award as the nation's top senior quarterback. Last year's Heisman Trophy winner, White guided the Sooners to a 12-0 mark this season and a chance to compete for the national championship at the FedEx Orange Bowl on January 4 ... Jammal Brown of Oklahoma won the Outland Trophy as the best collegiate interior offensive or defensive lineman in the nation ... The Jim Thorpe Award was presented to Auburn's Carlos Rogers as the top defensive back in the nation ... Texas' Cedric Benson collected the Doak Walker Award as the best collegiate running back ... Urban Meyer, who led Utah to a perfect record this season before recently being named head coach at Florida, was honored as the Home Depot coach of the year.

DEATHS

N. Edd Miller, former president at Nevada and at Southern Maine, died November 13. Miller was 84.

Bill Gathright, sports information director at Massachusetts-Dartmouth, died November 23. He was 54. Gathright, a 1973 graduate of Boston U., where he was a three-time football letter-winner, also served as a women's basketball official in the Big East Conference and was a softball official.

Former Duquesne director of athletics Clair N. Brown died November 10. Brown was 80.

Ronald J. Sawatsky, former president at Messiah, died November 27 at the age of 60.

Former Lake Forest coach and athletics administrator Nick Wasylik died of cancer December 4. He was 88. Wasylik was a three-sport standout at Ohio State, earning letters in football, basketball and baseball. He joined Lake Forest as head football coach in 1958 and was in charge of the program for eight seasons. In addition, he was head baseball coach. Wasylik, who also coached and taught at Colgate and Lafayette, served as director of athletics at Lake Forest from 1959 to 1973.

--Compiled by Leilana McKindra