USD Football 2000

Director ofAthletics

37 IANNACONE

TOM

Director Of Athletics Tom Iannacone begins hi s thirteenth year as Director of Athl eti cs at the Uni versity of San Di ego. He was named Director of Athl eti cs on September I, 1988 after holding the same pos ition the previous fo ur yea rs at St. Francis Co ll ege of Pennsy lvani a. At USD, Iannacone directs an Athl eti c Department that includes sixteen NCAA Di vision I interco ll egiate va rsity teams, eight men 's and eight women 's, plus intramura ls and recreati on. In the last twe lve years behind hi s di recti on and leadership , Torero Athl eti cs has enj oyed successes both on and off the play ing fi eld . Hi s accompli shments at US D include an internal reo rgani zati on of the athl etic department, plus improvements in the maj or areas of personnel, scho larship ass istance, fac ilities, promotions and marketing, fund ra ising, drug education, academi c support, and a uni versity approved plan fo r scho larship support and sports sponso rship. In additi on, he was instrumental in US D ga ining membership to the Pioneer Football League, whi ch began play in 1993 . He has served on the I-AA Athl eti c Directors Assoc iati on Executive Committee; and is past

Chai nnan of the West Coast Confe rence Athl eti cs Directors Committee. During Iannacone's tent.i re, fac iliti es at the USD Sports Center, along with all athl eti c fi elds, have seen vast improvements. Improvements at the Sports Center include compl ete renovati ons of both the north and south wings that added offi ces fo r admini strators and coaches; additional locker rooms fo r women 's bas ketball , vo ll eyball and women 's soccer; an athl eti c dcpa1t ment confe rence room; and an academi c support room. Torero Stadium, where foo tball , men's and women 's soccer compete, was widened to accommodate soccer, and added a state-of-the-a rt li ghting system and scoreboard . The Softball Compl ex has benefitted w ith new dugouts, scoreboard , batting cages and additi onal seating. Additi onall y, The Canyon Field rece ived lighti ng and a complete renovati on for interco ll egiate practi ces and intramu ra l use. This fa ll the Jenny Crai g Pav ili on, a new 5, I00 scat multi-purpose facility, w ill open and be home for USD bas ketball and vo ll eyball , and benefit the entire uni versity community. On the play ing fi elds, USD has sent twenty-eight teams to NCAA Tournaments s ince Iannacone's arri va l in the Fa ll of 1988. Additi onally, the schoo l has captured ten confe rence champi onships; twenty-seven NCAA All-Ameri cans; eighteen CoSLDA/GTE Academi c All-Americans; twenty-fi ve confe rence Coaches of the Year; nineteen confe rence Players of the Year; and fo ur West Coast Confe rence Scho lar-Athl etes of the Year. Besides hav ing the 1999 NCAA ati onal Champi on in women's

tennis (Zuzana Lesenarova), the Torero athl eti c program came out on top of the WCC schools in terms of overall strength in 1999 (based on an unoffi c ial scoring system produced by USD each season. For the first time, the 1998-99 comb ined men's and women's athl e tics programs at USD ranked first in the standings. Since 1988 the uni versity has been the host site for NCAA Tourna– ment events for women's vo ll eyball, men's and women's soccer, and women's tennis. Prior to USO, Iannacone built an impress ive list of credenti als at St. Franc is Coll ege as Director of Athl eti cs between 1984-87 . His maj or contributi ons included the expansion of sports offerings and scho larships fo r both men and women, improved budgets, renova ti on of athl eti c fac ilities, the hiring of additi onal staff, and the establishment of a maste r pl an fo r the fu ture and continual deve lopment ofathl eti cs. He se rved on several committees, most notabl y the Eastern Coll eg iate Athl eti c Confere nce (ECAC) Infrac ti ons com– mittee and the Northeast Confe rence committee on confe rence deve lopment. He served as ass istant Director of A thl eti cs at Fordham Uni vers ity between 1977-84 . Along w ith hi s admi nistra ti ve duti es, he was ass istant footba ll coach fo r the Rams. Between 1975-78, he acted as offensive coordi– nator and backfi eld coach as Fordham captured 19 victori es in their fin al 24 games during thi s span. The ' 77 squad was and rema ins th.e hi ghest sco ring team in Fo rdham hi story, averag ing 34 po ints per game. In 1983 he was presented the prestig ious Jack Co ffey Award by the Alumni Assoc iation fo r his outsta nding contributi ons to Fordham athl eti cs. He also served on va ri ous Metro Atl anti c Athl eti c Confe rence committees. Pri or to Fo rdham, Iannacone taught phys ica l educa ti on and coached trac k and fie ld, and foo tball in Connecticut Publi c Schoo l Distri cts from I964- 76. He made hi s co ll eg iate foo tball coaching debut as an offensive back fi eld coach at Western Connecti cut State Uni versity in 1974. A 1964 graduate of the Univers ity ofConnecti cut, Iannacone rece ived hi s maste r of sc ience degree in phys ica l educati on from Southern Connec ti cut State Uni ve rsity in 1973 . Tom and hi s wife , Cynthi a, have three children: Tom Jr. , Jenni fe r and Eri c. All three a re graduates of the Uni ve rs ity of San Diego.