Author Archives: Andrew Parent

Snipes named assistant director of equipment and event management

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Temple Athletics appointed Cecilia Snipes as the assistant director of equipment and event management, it was announced Thursday.

Snipes will handle the equipment managing duties for the men’s and women’s basketball teams among other various duties.

Prior to joining Temple as part of a slew of Athletics Dept. hires this fall, Snipes worked as the equipment operations coordinator at Arizona State since 2007.

A two-year women’s basketball letter-winner at Alabama A&M, she graduated cum laude at the University in 2000 and earned her master’s degree in sports administration at Northern Colorado in 2004.

 

Owls picked to finish second last in The American

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The American Athletic Conference held its inaugural women’s basketball media day Monday at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Montville, Ct.

With the day’s events came the release of the conference’s coaches’ preseason poll, which has Temple slated to finish ninth out of the conference’s 10 teams, ahead of only the University of Houston.

Defending national champion Connecticut will look to flex its status as a national powerhouse in a new conference, and was unanimously chosen by all voting coaches as the top-ranked team in the preseason poll. Louisville University, the national runner-up a season ago, came in at No. 2 in the ranking.

The American also announced the preseason All-Conference selections, Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year candidates, none of which included Temple.

Coach Tonya Cardoza and seniors Natasha Thames and Shi-Heria Shipp took part in the day’s events.

Temple will open the season against Big-5 rival La Salle University Nov. 8.

2013-14 Preseason Coaches’ Poll
                                                  Points
1.     Connecticut (9)                  81
2.     Louisville (1)                       73
3.     USF                                    59
4.     Rutgers                              57
5.     SMU                                   50
6.     Memphis                            32
7.     Cincinnati                           30
8.     UCF                                    28
9.     Temple                               25
10.   Houston                              15

 

Cross country hires new assistant

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Following an unprecedented summer of coaching hires, Temple’s track & field and cross country program has hired one more fresh face to its revamped staff in Grand Valley State University graduate Aaron Watson.

In what was an impending move for weeks, Watson has joined the staff as an assistant to distance coach James Snyder, it was announced via athletic communications Tuesday.

Watson worked as a volunteer distance coach at Grand Valley State for the past three seasons, and oversaw a women’s team that took two cross country NCAA Division II championships in 2010 and 2012 as well as back-to-back NCAA indoor titles in 2011 and 2012.

Watson was a member of Grand Valley State’s track and cross country programs briefly in 2008-09 and did not run, redshirting in all three seasons.

Watson is a USA track & field Level I Certified coach and graduated from Grand Valley State with a bachelor’s degree in sport management in 2012.

Track adds another assistant coach

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Tamara Burns has been introduced as track & field’s latest hire, joining the staff full-time as an assistant working with the men’s and women’s throwing teams, coach Eric Mobley announced Monday.

Burns’ hire marks the third addition to the program’s staff in the last three weeks, joining sprint coach Marquese Stancil and distance coach James Snyder as newly appointed full-time hires for the 2013-14 season.

Burns will join Temple after spending six years as an assistant at St. Francis University in Loretto, Pa.

Prior to joining the St. Francis staff in 2007, Burns racked up several honors during a four-year throwing career at Virginia Tech University including All-American and All-Atlantic Coast Conference honors for both the weight and hammer throws in 2005 and 2006.

Cross country hires new coach

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Temple cross country will once again introduce a new face in charge of leading the team as it gets set for a new season.

Track & field coach Eric Mobley announced Wednesday that Philadelphia-area native James Snyder is the program’s latest hire, taking the position of assistant cross country and track & field coach.

Although he will not be given the title of cross country head coach yet, Snyder will handle the day-to-day coaching responsibilities for the men’s and women’s cross country teams, as well as the distance teams come track & field season, per a Temple Athletic Communications press release.

Snyder was a multiple letter winner for George Mason’s cross country and track & field teams, and is a magna cum laude graduate in exercise science. He earned his master’s degree in exercise science from Appalachian State University while also serving as a graduate assistant with the school’s cross country and track & field programs for two years.

The Downingtown, Pa. native is coming off a season working for Florida State University’s cross country and track & field program as the operations assistant, handling various administrative duties such as planning team travel, managing equipment budgets and coordinating on-campus recruiting.

Snyder is currently a USA Track & Field level I and II endurance coach and was selected to participate in the first Coaches Mentorship Program held during the 2012 Olympic Track & Field Trials.

The press release also mentioned some of Snyder’s recent pursuits in researching sport science and distance runner performance. It said that Snyder has presented his findings before the American College of Sports Medicine and the National Strength & Conditioning Association and has circulated his findings in various publications.

Snyder will be the third Temple coach to handle the cross country coaching duties in three seasons despite being the first to not hold the official title as cross country head coach.

A 2013 schedule release for cross country is still pending.

An updated version of this story can be found here.

Former track star advances in track and field championships

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On Friday, Travis Mahoney certainly proved he can perform on the big stage.

The former Temple cross country and track & field member advanced to the final of the 3,000-meter steeplechase in the USA Track and Field Championships in Des Moines, IO, crossing with a mark of 8:38.67 and a sixth place finish overall. Mahoney placed top-5 in his heat, giving him the nod for a spot in the final on Sunday.

After a four-plus year running career as a Temple standout, Mahoney took his talents to the national stage this past year, running for the NJ/NY track & field club and other various track & field events around the country.

Mahoney racked up numerous individual awards in a Temple jersey, including seven Atlantic-10 Conference individual championships, three A-10 three A-10 Outstanding Performer of the Year awards, Mid-Atlantic Athlete of the Year and three NCAA All-American titles.

The steeplechase final will represent Mahoney’s first crack at a USA track & field championship race, and will start Sunday at 4:55 p.m. ET

Frain named ice hockey head coach

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Ryan Frain will once again be the face of Temple ice hockey, only this time in a different capacity.

The former standout player turned assistant coach has been named the new head coach of Temple’s ice hockey club, it was announced Monday.

Seniors Joe Pisko, Kurt Noce, Nick McMahon and Chris Mullen headed a search committee and made the decision for the club, which finished 17-12 overall last season and missed the American Collegiate Hockey Association Regional Tournament for the second consecutive season.

Frain was a standout on the ice for five seasons (2006-11) and stands as the club’s all-time leader in goals, assists, points and games played. He spent two years as an assistant under former coach Jerry Roberts, who resigned in Feburary.

Frain will get his first taste of head coaching when the team reassembles for tryouts in early September.

Roberts resigns as ice hockey coach

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Citing personal reasons, Jerry Roberts has resigned as Temple ice hockey head coach last week, Roberts confirmed Tuesday.

Roberts said via text message Tuesday night that he gave up the job he held for four seasons in order to “spend more time being a dad.” Roberts said he will stay on with the team in an administrative capacity moving forward.

Roberts has spent the better part of a decade with the team both as a player and coach since 2002. After taking over as head coach in 2009, Roberts guided the Owls to American Collegiate Hockey Association Regional Tournament berths in 2009-10 and 2010-11, along with Temple’s first appearance in the ACHA National Tournament in the Spring 2011.

Per the team’s website, the Owls are currently in the process of finding a head coach for the 2013-14 season.

Bray resigns to take job at Pittsburgh

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Adam Bray has resigned from his positions as head coach of the cross country team and assistant coach to the men’s and women’s track & field teams, coach Eric Mobley said Sunday.

Formerly the Owls’ distance coach, Bray left Temple after accepting a full-time distance coaching position with the University of Pittsburgh in January.

The position will remain vacated for the remainder of the spring season.

“He was only part-time here,” Mobley said. “I’m coaching them right now, and we’ll open the search up for the fall at the end of outdoor season.”

Bray’s departure marked the second distance coaching change in roughly four months for Mobley’s Owls after former distance coach Matt Jelley also left Temple for greener pastures in August, accepting a full-time distance coaching position with the University of Maryland.

“[The distance team] has undergone the most changes with losing their coach in the fall and losing another coach in the middle of the indoor season,” Mobley said. “They’ve done very well with the coaching changes. They’ve really gotten together and focused on the running and not worrying about the stuff that was outside of their control. “

-Andrew Parent

Owls miss ACHA tournament

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For Temple ice hockey, lightning has officially struck twice.

The Owls (17-12, 5-5 MACHA North) have missed out on the American Collegiate Hockey Association Division II regional tournament for the second consecutive season, placing 11th with 95 points in a rankings system in which the Top 10 teams with the lowest cumulative ranking score make the regional tournament.

Temple finished just shy of the 94-point mark from 10th place University of Maryland (8-8-2, 5-3 MACHA South), while also placing 11th in the regional standings for the second year in a row.

The Owls swapped places with Maryland in the final rankings after Temple held the 10th spot in the December version, while the Terrapins sat on the outside looking in at 11th.

The Owls will play out their final weekend of the season in Abington, Md. for the Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Hockey Association tournament with the fourth seed in the MACHA North, and will open the tournament with No. 1 Penn State (20-4-1, 9-0 MACHA North) Friday.

The Ice Lions have swept the Owls in two regular season games thus far, and will look to end Temple’s season for the second consecutive year after bouncing the Owls from the MACHA Tournament’s semifinal round this time last year.

Game time is set to start at 8:30 p.m.