USD Baseball 2002

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2002 Torero Baseball

USO Athletie Department

TOM IANNACONE Dit•ector Of Athletics

Tom Iannacone is in hi s fourteenth year as Director of Athletics at the Un ivers ity of San Diego. He was named Director of Athletics on September I, 1988 after holding the same posi– tion the previous four years at St. Francis Co ll ege of Pennsylvania. At USO , Iannacone directs an Athletic Department that includes sixteen NCAA Divi– sion I interco llegiate varsity teams, eight men 's and eight women's, plus intramu ra ls and recre– ation . In the last thirteen years behind hi s direction and leadership, Torero Athletics has enjoyed successes both on and off the playing field. His accompli shmen ts at USO include an internal reorgani zation of the ath letic department, plus improvements in the major areas of per– sonne l, scholarship assistance, facilities, promotions and marketing, fund raising, drug educa– tion , academic support, and a university approved plan for sc holarship support and sports spon– sorship. In addition, he was instrumental in USO 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 lannacone's tenure, faci lities at the USO Sports Center, along with all athletic

fields , have seen vast improvements. In October of 2000, the Jenny Craig Pavilion opened, a new 5, I00 seat multi-purpose faci li ty which is now home to USO basketbal l and vo lleybal l, and wi ll benefit the entire university community. Improvements at the Sports Center include comp lete renovations of both the north and south wings that added offices for administrators and coaches; additional locker rooms for women 's basketball , voll 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 Softbal l Complex has benefitted with a new dugouts, scoreboard, batting cages and additiona l seating. Additiona ll y, The Canyon Field recei ved lighting and a complete renovation for interco ll egiate practices and intramural use. On the playing fields, USO has sent thirty teams to NCAA Tournaments since lannacone's arri va l in the Fa ll of 1988. Additiona ll y, the schoo l has captured ten conference championships; twenty-eight NCAA A ll-Americans; eighteen CoS IDA/GTE Academ ic Al l-American s; twenty-five conference Coac hes of the Year; nineteen conference Players of the Year; and four West Coast Conference Scholar-Athletes of the

Year. Besides having the 1999 NCAA National Champion in women's tennis (Zuzana Lesenarova), the Torero ath letic program came out on top of the WCC school s in terms of overall strength in 1999 (based on an unoffici al scoring system produced by USO each season). For the first time, the 1998-99 comb ined men's and women's ath letics programs at USO ranked first in the standings. Since 1988 the university has been the host site for NCAA Tournament events for women's vo ll eyball, men's soccer and women's tennis. Prior to USO, Iannacone built an impressive list of credentials at St. Francis College as Director of Athletics between 1984-87. His major contribut ions in– cluded the ex pansion of sports offerings and scho larships for both men and women , improved budgets, renovation of ath letic facilities, the hiring of additional staff, and the establi shment of a master plan for the future and continual development of ath– let ics. He served on severa l committees, most notably the Eastern Co ll egiate Ath– letic Conference (ECAC) Infractions committee and the Northeast Conference com– mittee on conference deve lopment. He served as assistant Director ofAthl etics at Fordham University between 1977-84. Along with hi s admi ni strati ve duties , he was ass istant football coach for the Rams. Between 1975-78, he acted as offensive coordinator and backfield coach as Fordham captured 19 victori es in their final 24 games during thi s span. The ' 77 squad was and remains the high est scoring team in Fordham hi story, averagin g 34 points per game. In 1983 he was presented the prestigious Jack Coffey Award by the A lumn i Association for hi s outstanding contributions to Fordham athletics. He also served on various Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference committees. Prior to Fordham, Iannacone taught physica l education and coached track and field, and footbal l in Connecticut Public School Districts from 1964-76. He made hi s collegiate footba ll coac hing debut as an offensive backfield coach at West– ern Connecticut State Universi ty in 1974. A 1964 graduate of the Un ivers ity of Connecticut, Iannacone rece ived hi s master of science degree in physical education from Southern Connecticut State Univers ity in 1973. Tom and hi s wife, Cynthia, have three children: Tom Jr. , Jenn ifer and Eric. All three are graduates of the Uni– vers ity of San Diego.