GNAC Announces New Sport Chairs for 2019-20 Academic Year
Across the GNAC's 22 championship sports, a sport chair is an administrator appointed by the conference office to oversee each sport committee.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Six administrators to step
into new liaison roles
WINTHROP, Mass. – The Great Northeast Athletic Conference is pleased to announce six new sport chairs for the 2019-20 academic year, as announced by GNAC Commissioner Joe Walsh. Across the GNAC's 22 championship sports, a sport chair is an administrator appointed by the conference office to oversee each coaches' committee.
The chair is responsible for coordinating and chairing mandatory preseason and post-championship coaches' meetings or conference calls, fielding questions from championship directors, and ensuring that GNAC guidelines are adhered to.
The new sport chairs for 2019-20 are Saint Joseph's College of Maine's Brian Curtin (cross country), Regis College's Pam Roecker (women's basketball), Johnson & Wales University's Dana Garfield (field hockey), Colby-Sawyer College's Bill Foti (outdoor track & field) and University of Saint Joseph (CT)'s Amanda Devitt (women's tennis).
Commissioner Walsh will chair indoor track & field, as the GNAC will host its inaugural Men's and Women's Indoor Championships on Sunday, February 16, 2020 at Boston University's Track & Tennis Center, while running legend Josh Nemzer will serve as the meet manager.
For the complete list of GNAC sport chairs, please click the link at the top of the article.
Curtin, who also chairs men's basketball for the conference, will chair cross country and work closely with Monks head coach Tom Dann, as SJC readies itself to host the 2019 GNAC Men's and Women's Cross Country Championships for the second straight year on Saturday, November 2.
Roecker has an extensive hoop background as she takes over for former Anna Maria College athletic director Serge DeBari. Her basketball resume included assistant coaching positions at Wisconsin-Green Bay, UMass-Amherst, and Seton Hall before she was named head coach of the Wagner women's basketball team in 1990. For nearly two decades, she has also served as a television broadcaster for college basketball games on a variety of networks including ESPNU, Fox, CBS College Sports, MSG, Big East Digital Network, ESPN+, ESPN3, Comcast SportsNet and NESN.
Garfield, who was named the JWU Athletic Director over the summer, takes over for Michael Smoose, who left the Providence campus earlier this fall to serve as the JWU Denver Interim Director of Athletics. Garfield was previously the Mitchell Director of Athletics for four years and had been a part of the Mariners athletic department since 2006.
Foti will chair outdoor track & field, working closely with Colby-Sawyer head coach Lyndsay Ostler as the Chargers get set to host the one-day championship meet next spring on Sunday, April 26, 2020. Since the GNAC began sponsoring an outdoor track & field championship in 2017, Regis has hosted the past two years under the brilliant guidance of Regis Associate Athletic Director Mark Clemente, who previously served as chair.
Devitt steps into the women's tennis role for former USJ Athletic Director Bill Cardarelli, who this fall has switched roles to become the USJ inaugural Director of Internships and Sport Studies in the undergraduate Sport Management and Promotion program after serving as the Blue Jays longtime AD. Devitt most recently at Hartford since 2013, overseeing the Hawks' Academic and Student-Athlete Services department. Prior to that, she spent six years at Wentworth as the Leopards' Athletic Coordinator/Head Women's Basketball Coach.
GNAC Assistant Commissioner Michael Ghika, who in the past has handled GNAC sport chair duties for men's lacrosse, women's soccer, women's lacrosse and men's volleyball, will continue to work with all of the league's coaches' groups and sport chairs, as will Commissioner Walsh.
The Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) is an NCAA Division III association made up of 13 member institutions and over 3,000 student-athletes across the New England region. Founded in 1995, the GNAC annually sponsors and administers 22 championships, while balancing academic integrity, athletic opportunity and community involvement in an effort to enhance the student-athlete experience.
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