President Theobald announced Monday that Pat Kraft, who currently serves as deputy director of athletics, will replace Kevin Clark as Athletic Director.

Clark was repositioned earlier Monday to the newly-created position of executive vice president and chief operations officer.

Kraft, who has worked as deputy director of athletics since 2013, was the sports administrator of the football team. Kraft was also responsible for oversight of  communications, marketing and other units in the department.

-Michael Guise

According to reports, former Temple running back Kenny Harper has signed a free agent contract with the New York Giants.

Harper, who was not selected in the 2015 NFL Draft, was a tryout at the Giants’ rookie minicamp from Thursday to Sunday and was one of three rookies from the camp to sign.

Last season, the Gainesville, Florida native tallied 307 yards rushing and five touchdowns.

Harper, who was also a team captain, rushed for a career-high 116 yards in a 16-13 loss to the University of Memphis and was the only Owl with at least one rushing and one receiving touchdown during the 2014 season.

For his career, Harper — who appeared in all 48 games during his four seasons — ran for 1,113 yards and 17 rushing touchdowns. Harper also caught 66 passes for 528 yards and four touchdowns.

The men’s golf team finished in last place at the American Athletic Conference Championship in Lecanto, Florida. Temple’s cumulative score for the event was a 906, which was 42 strokes over par and 69 shots behind the winning school, South Florida.

Even junior standout Brandon Matthews was not at his best. Matthews shot a seven-over 151 in the first two rounds of the event on day one on Sunday. While Matthews would bounce back with a four-under 68 for the final round, he was unable to crack the Top 20 in the season’s final event finishing in a tie for 22^nd at three-over.

Seniors Pat Ross and Matt Teesdale concluded their Temple careers with finishes of 37^th and 47^th respectively. Freshman Mark Farley finished between the two seniors for the Owls coming in a tie for 41^st at 16-over. Fellow freshmen Evan Thornton rounded out the field for Temple 31-over in 50^th place.

While the season may be over for the Owls, it may not be the end of Matthews’ outstanding junior campaign. He will find out on Monday if he is selected to play in the 2015 NCAA Championship.

Greg Frank can be reached at Greg.Frank@Temple.edu or on Twitter @g_frank6.

The golf team resumed play in the Furman Intercollegiate Golf Tournament on Saturday.

Junior Brandon Matthews moved up to third place in the overall individual standings by shooting a 66 on the day. The score was good enough to share a spot at the top of the single round.

After a rough first round, shooting 6 over par, Freshman Evan Notaro bounced back, finishing with a score of 71. This was good for one under par, joining Matthews as the only team members to score below par on the round.

The strong efforts from Matthews and Notaro helped push Temple up two spots in the leaderboard. Sixth place Temple now finds itself two strokes behind the next spot in the leaderboard, currently owned by West Carolina.

Freshman Mark Farley struggled out the gate going four over par on the first hole, and finished the day 11 over par.

Matthew Teesdale, who was the lone Owl to finish below par in the first round, attempted to repeat his success. Teesdale started out hot with a score of two under par through the first eight holes, but struggled at the ninth hole with a triple bogie. Teesdale was able to not let the bad hole get the best of him, and he finished with a score of three over par.

The ninth hole was an issue for his teammates Pat Ross and Even Thornton as well. Both golfers left the hole with double bogies, but like their teammate, they were able to battle through.

“If we take out just the ninth hole, we’re in second place.” Said Matthews, who believed that the team needed to focus on cleaning up there game.

Despite another double-bogie on the tenth, Ross finished one stroke over par. Thornton finished two over on the day. Both golfers did well moving forward after their poor performances. The Owls hope to continue to move forward heading into the final round of the tournament.

-Matt Rego

The Owls teed off Friday morning in Greenville, South Carolina for their second tournament of the spring season.

The Furman Intercollegiate Golf Tournament was held at Furman University’s 7,000-yard, par-72 golf course located on the campus.

The tournament held a field of 18 teams with the majority coming from the Southern Conference. Of the 18 in the field, four schools found themselves placed in the NCAA’s top 100. The most notable of these teams was Virginia Tech, the 31^st best in the nation.

The field opened with less than stellar conditions, which included mild winds, humidity, and cloudy skies. The Owls battled through the elements and closed out the match in sole possession of eighth place.

Junior Brandon Matthews started strong, but struggled at the 10^th and 13^th holes. He said he was satisfied in his own overall play Friday.

“I had a nice first stretch of holes on the start with some birdies and was able to even it back out at the end,” Matthews said.

Senior Matthew Teesdale also finished with the best score of the Owls at 1-under par.

– Matt Rego

The men’s basketball team did not receive an at-large bid in the NCAA tournament, marking the squad’s second-straight season missing the field of 68.

Despite a turnaround season where the Owls finished 23-10 (13-5 American Athletic Conference), the Owls were among the first four teams left out of the tournament. The squad also beat then-No. 10 Kansas, but fell to No. 20 Southern Methodist three times during the season.