USD Baseball 2000

I 28

I

2000 Torero Baseball

USD Director of Athletics

Tom Iann acone is in hi s twe lvth year as Director of Athl eti cs at the Un ivers ity of San Diego. He was named Director of Athletics on Septembe r I, 1988 after holding the same position the prev ious four yea rs at St. Franc is Co ll ege of Pennsy lvan ia. At USD, Iannacone direc ts an Ath letic Department that includes sixteen NCAA Di vis ion I intercolleg iate varsity teams, e ight men's and e ight women 's, plus intramural s and rec re– a tion. In the last eleven years behind hi s direction and leade rship, Torero Ath le tics has enjoyed successes both on and off the play ing fi eld. Hi s accompli shments at USD include an internal reorga ni zation of the athletic department, plu s improvements in the maj or areas of pe rsonn el, scho larship ass istance, faci liti es, promotions and marketing, fund rai s– ing, drug education , academ ic support, and a unive rsity approved plan for sc hol arship support and sports sponsorship. In add iti on, he was in strumental in USD ga ining membe r– ship to the Pionee r Football League, which began play in 1993 . He has se rved on the I-AA Athl etic Directors Assoc iation Executive Comm ittee; and is past Chairman of the West Coast Conference Athletics Directors Committee. During Iannacone 's tenure, faciliti es at the USD Sports Center, along with all ath le tic field s, have seen vast improvemen ts. Improvements at the Sports Center include

complete renovation s of both the north and south wings th at added offices for administrators and coaches; additional locker rooms for women's basketball , volley ball and women' s soccer; an athl etic department conference room ; and an academic support room. Torero Stadium, where football , men 's and women 's soccer compete, was widened to accommodate socce r, and added a state-of-the-art li ghting system and sco re board. The Softball Complex has benefitted with a new dugouts, scoreboard , batting cages and addition al seating. Add iti onally, The Canyon Fie ld received li ghting and a complete renovati on 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 wi ll be home for USD basketball and volleyba ll , and benefit the entire university community. On the playing field s, USD has se nt twenty-four teams to NCAA Tournaments since Iannacone's a rri va l in the Fall of 1988. Addit ionally, the schoo l has captu red eight conference championships; twenty-three NCAA All-Ame ri cans; seventeen CoS IDA/GTE Academic All -Ameri can s; nine teen conference Coaches of the Year; fiftee n confere nce Players of the Year; and three West Coast Confe rence Scholar-Athletes of the Year. Bes ides having the 1999 NCAA National Champion in women 's tennis (Zuzana Lesenarova) , the Torero athl etic program came out on top of the WCC schools in te rms of overa ll strength in 1999 (based on an unofficial scoring system produced by USD each season. For the first time, the 1998-99 combined men's and women's athl etics programs at USD ranked first in the standings. Since 1988 the uni versity has bee n the host site for NCAA Tournament eve nts for women 's vo ll ey ball , men's soccer and women's tennis. Prior to USD, Iannacone built an impress ive li st of credentials at St.

Franc is Co ll ege as Director of Athl etics between 1984-87. Hi s major contribu– ti ons included the expansion of sports offe rings and scho larships fo r both men and women, improved budgets, renovation of ath le tic facilities , the hiring of additional staff, and the establi shment of a maste r plan for the future and con– tinual deve lopment of ath le tics. He served on severa l committees, most notabl y the Eastern Coll egiate Ath le tic Conference (ECAC) Infractions comm ittee and the Northeast Confe rence committee on conference development. He served as ass istant Direc tor of Ath le tics at Fordham University be– tween 1977-84. A long w ith hi s admin istrative duties, he was assistant footba ll coac h fo r the Rams. Between 1975-78, he acted as offensive coordinator and backfield coach as Fordham captured 19 victories in the ir final 24 games during this span. The '77 squ ad was and remain s the hi ghest scorin g team in Fordham hi sto ry, averaging 34 po ints pe r game. In 1983 he was presented the pres ti g iou s Jack Coffey Award by the A lumni Assoc iat ion for his outstanding contributi ons to Fordham ath le tics. He also se rved on va ri ous Metro At lanti c Athletic Confer– ence committees. Prior to Fordh am , Iann acone tau ght physica l ed ucation and coac hed track and fi e ld , and footba ll in Connec ti cut Pub Iic School Di stri cts from I964- 76. He made hi s co ll eg iate football coac hing debut as an offens ive backfie ld coach at Wes te rn Con nec ticut State Uni ve rsi ty in 1974. A 1964 graduate o f the Uni ve rsity of Conn ec ti cut, Iann acone rece ived hi s maste r of sc ience degree in ph ys ica l educat ion from Southern Connec ti cut State Uni ve rsity in 1973. Tom and hi s wife , Cynthia. have three children: Tom Jr. , Jennifer and Eric. All three are graduates or the Uni vers it y of San Diego.