MEDIA ADVISORY

TO:                      News Directors and Sports Editors

FROM:                 UAF Student Services

SUBJECT:            Basketball Coach Search Committee Named

LOCATION:          UAF Main Campus

DATE & TIME:     May 3, 1996

A search committee has been named to look for a new coach to head the UAF men's basketball program. Current Nanook coach George Roderick announced last month that he would retire at the end of this semester. He'll remain with UAF's Athletics and Campus Recreation Department, but will devote his time to planning the premiere next fall of the new Top of the World Classic Basketball Tournament. Roderick has been with the Nanook basketball program for 19 years and was head coach of the men's team for the past 11 years.

Nanook search committee chair Mike Sfraga, coordinator of student services and a UAF alumni, said the goal is to have a new coach named by the end of the summer. A nationwide search has begun. The position will be open until May 17.

Committee members are: student representative to the UA Board of Regents and outgoing UAF student body president Joe Hayes; former Nanook ice hockey captain and recently named Outstanding Scholar Athlete and Outstanding 1996 Graduating Senior Man Greg Milles; head of UAF's physical education and exercise science department Richard Farley; UAF professor of zoology Gerald Shields; National Bank of Alaska executive and UAF alumni Bart Lebon; Anchorage businessman and UAF alumni Kent Taylor; Women's Basketball Coach Jenny Benson; NCAA Compliance Officer and UAF Athletic Academic Adviser Rick Goeb; former UAF men's basketball player Daryl Lewis; Fairbanks North Star Borough School Board President and assistant to the director of UAF's School of Education Sue Wilken; and, assistant director of UAF Student Support Services Greg Owens.

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CONTACT: Search Committee Chair Mike Sfraga, (907) 474-7317.

DPD/5-2-96/96-75med.adv.