USD Men's Basketball 1996-1997

DIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS

TOM IANNACONE Director of Athletics

Tom Iannacone is in hi s ninth yea r as the Unive rs ity of San Di– ego Direc tor of Ath leti cs. He assumed the position September 1, 1988 afte r a nationwide sea rch. The 55-yea r-o ld Iannacone has made grea t strides in hi s first eight years. Hi s accomp li shments at USO include an intern al reo rga ni za ti on of the athl eti c department, plus improvements in th e major areas of person– nel, scho larship assistance, facilit ies, promotions and marketing, fund rais– in g, dru g educa ti on, academi c support, and a new uni vers it y approved plan for scho larship suppo rt and sports sponsorship. In addition, he was instrumental in USO ga ining membership to the Pi oneer Footba ll League, whi ch began play in 1993. Iannacone came to the Un ivers it y of San Diego with an impress ive li st of creden ti als and a thorough knowledge of intercoll egiate ath leti cs. Prior to USO he was Direc tor of At hl etics for four years at St. Francis College in Loretto, Pennsylvan ia. Hard work, loya lt y and dedication are ju st some of the words that eas ily describe Iann acone. Hi s major co ntributio ns at St. Francis included the expa nsio n of spo rt s offe rin gs and scho larships for both men and women, improved budgets, renova ti on of athl eti c fa cili ties, the hiring of additio nal staff, and the es tabli shment of a master plan for th e future and

cont inual development of athl eti cs. He served on severa l committees, most notabl y the Eastern Co ll egiate Ath letic Co nference (ECAC) Infractions committee and the Northeas t Conference committee on conference development. Iannacone also served as a consul tant to the NCAA I-AAA Foot- ball Comm ittee.

Now that USO football is competing at the I-AA level, he is a member of the I-AA Ath letic Directors Association Executive Comm ittee . He is also the Chairman of the W est Coast Confer– ence Athletics Directo rs Committee . Prior to hi s tenure at St. Francis, Iannacone se rved as assis– tant athl eti c d irec tor at Fordham Univers it y from 1977-84. A long wi th hi s adm inistrative duti es at Fo rdh am, he was an assistant footba ll coach for the Rams. From 1975-78, he acted as offen– sive coo rdin ator and backfield coach as Fordham captured 19 victories in their fin al 24 games during th is span. The 1977 squad was and remains the hi ghest scoring team in Fordham hi sto ry, ave ragin g 34 points per game. In 1983 Iannacone was presented th e presti gious Jack Coffey Award by the Alumni Association for outstanding contributi o ns to Fordham athl eti cs. He also se rved on various M etro Atla ntic Ath leti c Confe rence comm ittees. Prior to Fordham, Iannaco ne taught phys ica l edu ca tio n and coached track and foo tba ll in the Norwalk, Ridgefield and New M ilford (CT) school distri cts from 1964-76 . He made hi s co ll e– giate football coach ing debut as an offens ive backfield coach at Wes tern Connect icut State University in 1974. A 1964 graduate of th e Un iversity of Connecticut, Iannacone rece ived his mas ter of sc ience degree in ph ysica l edu cation from Southern Connec ticut State University in 1973. Tom and hi s w ife, Cynthia, have thr·ee ch il dren: Tom Jr·., Jen– nifer and Eric. A ll three are recen t gradu ates oi th e Uni versi ty of San Di ego.