USD Men's Basketball 1999-2000

DIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS

TOM IANNACONE Director ofAthletics

Tom Iannacone is in hi s twelvth year as Director of Ath letics at the University of San Diego. He was named Director of Athletics on September I, 1988 after holding the same position the prev ious four years at St. Francis College of Pennsy lvani a. At USD, Iannacone directs an Athletic Department that includes sixteen NCAA Di vision I interco llegiate varsity teams, e ight men's and eight women's, plus intramural s and recreation. In the last eleven years behind hi s direction and leadership, Torero Athletics has enjoyed successes both on and off the pl ay ing field. His accomp lishments at USD include an internal reorgani zation of the athletic department, plus improvements in the major areas of personnel , scholarship assistance, facilities , promotions and marketing , fund raising, drug education, academic support, and a university approved plan for schol arship support and sports sponsorship. In addition, he was instrumental in USD gai ning membership to the Pioneer Football League, which began play in 1993 . He has served on the I-AAAthletic Di rectors Association Executive Committee; and is past Chairman of the West Coast Con– ference Athletics Directors Committee. During Iannacone 's tenure, facilities at the USD Sports Center, along with all ath– letic fi elds, have seen vast improvements. Improvements at the Sports Center include complete renovations of both the north and south wings that added offices for administra– tors and coaches ; additional locker rooms for women's basketball, vo ll eyball and women's soccer; an athletic department conference room; and an academic support room. Torero

Stadium, where football, men 's and women 's soccer compete, was widened to accommodate soccer, and added a state-of-the-art lighting system and scoreboard. The Softball Complex has benefitted with a new dugouts, scoreboard, batting cages and additional seating. Additionall y, The Canyon Field received lighting and a complete renovation for intercollegiate practices and intramural use. This past spri ng ground broke on the Jenny Craig Pav ilion, a new 5,000 seat multi-purpose facility that will be home for USD basketball and volleyball , and benefit the entire uni vers ity community. On the playing field s, USD has sent twenty-four teams to NCAA Tournaments since Iannacone's arrival in the Fall of 1988. Additionally, the school has captured eight conference championships; twenty-three NCAA All-Americans; seventeen CoSIDA/GTE Academic All -Americans; nineteen conference Coaches of the Year; fifteen conference Pl ayers of the Year; and three West Coast Confer–

ence Scholar-Athletes of the Year. Besides hav ing the 1999 NCAA National Champion in women's tenni s (Zuzana Lesenarova), the Torero athletic program came out on top of the WCC schoo ls in terms of overall strength in 1999 (based on an unofficial scoring system produced by USD each season. For the first time, the 1998-99 combi ned men's and women's athletics programs at USD ranked first in the standings. Since 1988 the universi ty has been the host site for NCAA Tournament events for women 's volleyball, men 's soccer and women's tenni s. Prior to USD, Iannacone built an impressive list of crede nti als at St. Francis College as Director of Ath leti cs between 1984-87. His major contribu– tions inc luded the expansion of sports offeri ngs and sc holarships for both men and women, improved budgets, renovati on of athletic faci li ties, the hiring of additiona l staff, and the establishment of a master pl an for the future and con– tinua l deve lopment of athleti cs. He se rved on several committees, most nota– bly the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) Infractions committee and the Northeast Conference committee on conference deve lopment. He served as assistant Director of Athletics at Fordham University between 1977-84. Along with hi s admini strative duties, he was ass istant foot– ball coach for the Rams. Between 1975-78, he acted as offensive coordinator and backfield coach as Fordham captured 19 victories in their final 24 games during this span. The '77 squad was and remains the hi ghest scoring team in Fordham history, averaging 34 points per game. In 1983 he was presented the prestigious Jack Coffey Award by the Alumni Association for hi s outstanding contributions to Fordham athletics. He also served on various Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference committees. Prior to Fordham, Ian nacone taught physical education and coached track and fie ld, and football in Connecticut Public School Districts from I964- 76. He made hi s collegiate football coachi ng debut as an offensive backfield coach at Western Connecticut State Uni versity in 1974. A 1964 graduate of the Univers ity of Connecti cut, Ian nacone rece ived his master of science degree in physical educati on from Southern Connecticut State University in 1973. Tom and his wife, Cynthi a, have three children : Tom Jr. , Jenn ifer and Eric. All three are graduates of the University of San Diego.