FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 15, 1999

Fairbanks, Alaska - Site visits have been scheduled for applicants being considered to fill the head coaching positions for the Nanook men's ice hockey program and the Nanook women's volleyball program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. The ice hockey selection committee is bringing three of the 10 semi-finalists to campus for interviews next week.

The candidates in alphabetical order are: Tim Coghlin, Head Coach, St. Norbert's College, DePere, Wisc.; Guy Gadowsky, Head Coach and Director of Hockey Operations, Fresno Falcons Hockey Club of the West Coast Hockey League in Fresno, Calif.; and Brian Hills, Assistant Hockey Coach at Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio.

Coglin has been the head coach at St. Norbert's since 1993. Prior to that, he was an assistant coach for the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and an assistant coach with the Fife Flyers hockey club in Scotland. He played professionally with the Fife Flyers in the British Premier Hockey League, with the Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League, and was a four-year starter at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, where he received his bachelor's and master's degrees.

Gadowsky has been the head coach of the Falcons since 1997. Before that, he was the head coach of the San Jose Rhinos of Roller Hockey International in 1997, and head coach of the Oklahoma Coyotes of the Roller Hockey International League in 1996. He played varsity ice hockey for four years and graduated with a bachelor's degree from Colorado College in 1989.

Hills has been the assistant coach at Bowling Green State University since 1994. Before that, he was an assistant coach with the Kassel Hockey Club in Germany and assistant coach with the Rapperswil Hockey Club in Switzerland. He was a four-year varsity player at Bowling Green State University and is a 1993 BGSU graduate.

Gadowsky will be in Fairbanks on Monday, Hills will be in town on Tuesday, and Coghlin will visit the UAF campus on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the volleyball search committee has narrowed its field of applicants to seven. They are:

Robin Davis, Head Coach, Biola University

Bob Evans, Former Interim Head Coach, Marshall University

Todd Gober, Head Coach, Belleville (IL) Area College

Jeff Grove, Assistant Coach, Kansas State University

Angela Rock, Professional Volleyball player (WPVA & FIVB)

Ibraheem Suberu, Head Coach, Saint Mary College (KS)

Brett Thomas, Assistant Coach, University of Tennessee

The committee will bring Rock and Thomas for on-campus interviews during the week of April 19.

Rock, currently residing in Encinitas, Calif., is a professional beach volleyball player and competes in the WPVA and FIVB. She played on the 1988 Olympic Team, in the 1987 Pan American Games, in the 1986 World Championships and the 1986 Goodwill Games. In 1985, she was named "Most Valuable Player" of the US National Team. She has had a variety of volleyball coaching experiences, including assistant at the University of San Diego where recruiting and team training were part of her duties, head coach of Coast Volleyball Club teams and head coach of USA Olympic Beach Volleyball Team One in the 1996 Olympics. She has 15 years of experience running camps, clinics and promotional events.

Thomas, assistant coach at the University of Tennessee, received his bachelor's degree at the University of Windsor in Ontario, Canada. He has been head coach at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, assistant coach at the University of California-San Diego and assistant coach at Lewis University in Romeoville, Ill. He has international experience as an assistant coach for the Canadian men's national team in 1997 and as a 1993 intern with the US women's national team. He has coached both boys and girls in the junior club and has extensive summer camp experience, both running his own camp and teaching at others located at Tennessee, Stanford, Ohio State, Laurier, Brock, Celtic and Olympia.

CONTACT: UAF Associate Athletic Director and Hockey Coach Search Committee Chair Kip Harmon, 907-474-7205, or UAF Associate Athletic Director and Volleyball Search Committee Chair Karen Jones, 907-474-6812.

DPD/4-15-99/99-067