USD Football 1999

Director ofAthletics =--=-~~-----~~ 37 TOM IANNACONE Director Of Athletics

Tom Iannacone begi ns hi s twelvth year as Director of Athletics at the University of San Diego. He was named Director of Athletics on September l , 1988 after holding the same position the previous four years at St. Francis College of Pennsylvani a. At USD, Iannacone directs an Athletic Department that includes sixteen NCAA Di vision I intercollegiate varsity teams, eight men 's and eight women 's, plus intramurals and recreation. In the last eleven years behind hi s direction and leadership, Torero Athletics has enj oyed successes both on and off the playing field . His accomplishments 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 uni vers ity approved pl an for scholarship support and sports sponsorship. In addition , he was instrumental in USD gaining membership to the Pioneer Football League, which began play in 1993. He has served on the I-AA Athletic Directors Association Executive Committee; and is past Chairman of the West Coast Conference Athletics Directors Committee.

During Iannacone' s tenure, facilities at the USD Sports Center, along with all athletic fields, have seen vast improvements. Improvements at the Sports Center include complete renovations of both the north and south wings that added offices for admi ni strators and coaches; additional locker rooms for women's basketball , volleyball 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. Additionally, The Canyon Field received lighti ng and a complete renovation for intercollegiate practices and intramural use. This past spring ground broke on the Jenny Craig Pavilion, a new 5,000 seat multi-purpose fac ility that will be home for USD basketball and volleyball , and benefit the entire university community. On the playing field s, USD has sent twenty-four teams to NCAA Tournaments sincelannacone'sarrival in the Fall of 1988. Additionall y, the school has captured eight conference championships; twenty-three NCAA All-Americans; seventeen CoSIDA/ GTE Academic All-Americans ; nineteen confere nce Coaches of the Year; fiftee n conference Players of the Year; and three West Coast Conference Scholar-Athletes of the Year. Besides having the 1999 NCAA National Champion in women's tenni s (Zuzana

Lesenarova), the Torero athleti c program came out on top of the WCC schools in terms of overall strength in 1999 (based on an unofficial scoring system produced by USO each season. For the first time, the 1998-99 combined men's and women's athletics programs at USD ranked first in the standings. Since 1988 the university has been the host site for NCAA Tournament events for women's volleyball, men 's soccer and women 's tennis. Prior to USD, Iannacone built an impressive list of credenti als at St. Francis College as Director of Athletics between 1984-87. His major contributions included the expansion of sports offeri ngs and scholarships for both men and women, improved budgets, renovation of athletic faci lities, the hiri ng of additional staff, and the establishment of a master plan for the future and continual development of ath letics. He served on several committees, most notably the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) Infractions com– mittee and the Northeast Conference committee on confere nce development. He served as assistant Director of Ath letics at Fordham University between 1977-84. Along with hi s administrative duties, he was assistant footba ll coach for the Rams. Between 1975-78, he acted as offensive coordi– nator and backfield coach as Fordham captured 19 victories in their final 24 games during thi s span. The ' 77 squad was and remains the hi ghest scoring team in Fordham hi story, averaging 34 points per game. In 1983 he was presented the prestigious Jack Coffey Award by the Alumni Association for his outstanding contributions to Fordham athl eti cs. He also served on various Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference committees. Prior to Fordham, Iannacone taught physical educati on and coached track and field, and football in Connecticut Public School Di stricts from I964- 76. He made hi s collegiate football coaching debut as an offensive backfield coach at Western Connecticut State University in 1974. A 1964 graduate of the University of Connecticut, Iannacone received hi s master of science degree in physical education from Southern Connecticut State University in 1973. Tom and hi s wife, Cynthia, have three children: Tom Jr. , Jennifer and Eric. All three are graduates of the University of San Diego.