Author Archives: Owen McCue

Foley leaves for Lafayette

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Kristen Foley has been named an assistant coach for the Lafayette College women’s basketball team.

Foley, the former Senior Associate Athletic Director who supervised women’s basketball, crew, rowing and women’s volleyball, is being sued — alongside the university and former track & field coach Eric Mobley — by former athlete, Ebony Moore for $10 million in damages on charges of harassment, sexual harassment and gender-based discrimination.

Moore, competed as a discuss thrower for the women’s track and field team from 2009-2011. During her time with the Owls she claims she was subject to bullying, sexual harassment and neglect which led to a near suicide attempt. These issues were ignored by the administration when Moore brought them to Foley.

A 2014 investigation by The Temple News into the university’s men’s and women’s track & field teams found that Mobley, who coached men’s and women’s track & field until his resignation in June 2014, was accused of verbal abuse, intimidation and dereliction of his coaching duties.

The report also found that Foley was informed of student complaints on multiple occasions, but Mobley remained in his position until June 2014.

Before the allegations, Foley, who coached the women’s basketball team from 1995 to 2000, oversaw the track & field team. But on July 1, 2014, she was removed from the role and was replaced by Senior Associate Athletic Director Joe Giunta as the department’s track & field administrator.

Foley will coach at Lafayette alongside coach Theresa Grentz, who she played for at Rutgers University while leading the Lady Knights to consecutive NCAA Elite Eight appearances in 1986 and 1987.

Following her playing career, Foley was an assistant coach at Rutgers under Grentz for three years.

Temple Alum Harvey Pollack Died on Tuesday

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This past Tuesday, Naismith Hall of Fame basketball statistician and Temple alum Harvey Pollack died at the age of 93.

Pollack, who received a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Temple in 1943, had been hospitalized since he suffered injuries in a car accident on New Year’s Day.

During his time as a student at Temple, Pollack worked as a manager for several Temple athletic teams including basketball. After graduation Pollack worked as Temple’s official football scorer until 2010. He was inducted into the Temple Athletics Hall of Fame in 2001.

Pollack is the only statistician inducted into the basketball Hall of Fame. His most impactful contribution to the sport may be the introduction of statistics such as minutes played, rebounds, steals, turnovers and blocked shots.

Field Hockey’s Challenging Schedule Released for Upcoming Season

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Temple’s 2015 season schedule will be headlined by six nationally-ranked teams, pitting them against some of the top talent the nation has to offer.

Trying to improve on a 14-7 season that saw them lose to eventual national champion the University of Connecticut in the Big East title game, the Owls will start the season on Aug. 28 in the annual Conference Cup tournament against the University of Maryland, the No. 2 team in last season’s final National Field Hockey Coaches Association poll.

Temple’s September schedule will see the team travel to Penn State University to play the Nittany Lions, who were No. 6 in last season’s final NFHCA poll, and on Sept. 20, the Owls will host Northwestern — No. 7 in last season’s final NFHCA poll.

The Owls will also face nationally-ranked Old Dominion University on Oct. 2 to kick off conference play and a rematch of last season’s Big East title game with UConn will take place seven days later on Oct. 9.

Temple’s regular season will end with a conference game at Villanova University on Halloween, one week before the four-team Big East tournament on Friday, Nov. 6 and Sunday, Nov. 8 at Old Dominion in Norfolk, Virginia.

Men’s Crew looks to compete at IRA National Championship this weekend

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The men’s crew team is set to compete in the Intercollegiate Rowing Association National Championship this weekend on Mercer Lake in West Windsor, New Jersey.

The Owls will enter two boats in this year’s competition after the Varsity Lightweight 4 and Varsity Heavyweight 4 both qualified.

The Varsity Lightweight 4 received an automatic bid into the event and the No. 1 seed in their race after winning the grand finals at the Dad Vail Regatta on May 9.

The Varsity Heavyweight 4, which placed sixth in the quarterfinals at the Dad Vail Regatta, did not receive an automatic bid and had to apply to compete at the IRA National Championship.

The boat was voted in by the IRA committee, but the Owls will use a different lineup at this weekend’s event from the one that competed for the team throughout the season.

After two weeks of competition to determine the fastest rowers, the new Owls competing for the Varsity Heavyweight 4 this weekend will be sophomore coxswain Dante Romeo, junior stroke man Tom Robbins, junior Charles Anderson in seat-3, freshman Collin McKinney in seat-2 and junior bowman Ryan Dartnell.

“We took the best guys out of the second Varsity 8 and all the guys out of the Varsity 8 and lump them altogether into one selection group and try to find the best four guys,” Perkins said.

At the IRA National Championship, Temple will face-off against qualifying crews from teams around the country, such as Drexel University, Yale University, Oklahoma City University, Harvard University, the University of California, Berkeley, and the 2014 IRA National Champions — the University of Washington.

Despite the Varsity Lightweight 4 boat’s success this season, White said it will not be easy for the team to secure a victory.

“Hopefully, the Lightweight can win but it is going to be tough,” White said.

The IRA begins Thursday, but the Varsity Heavyweight 4 does not begin competition until Friday. The Lightweight 4 begins competition on Saturday.

Danielle Nelson can be reached at danielle.nelson@temple.edu or on twitter @Dan_Nels.

Owls make WNIT tournament

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The women’s basketball team was included among the 64-team field selected for the Women’s National Invitation Tournament, which was announced Monday night.

The team’s inclusion in the tournament marks the first time it will take part in postseason play since the 2011-12 season.

Temple needed to win five of its last six games of the regular season in order to guarantee itself a .500 record and become qualified for postseason play.

The Owls’ first-round loss in the American Athletic Conference tournament put some anxiety in the team as a win over the Pirates would have put them in a more favorable postseason situation.

Sitting at a 16-16 overall record, the team was unsure if it would receive an invite to the WNIT.

The last time the team reached postseason play was in Williams’ freshman year when it also played in the WNIT. The Owls, then in the Atlantic 10 conference, finished with a 23-10 record that season.

They advanced two rounds in the tournament with wins over Quinnipiac University and Harvard University before losing to Syracuse University.