USD Women's Basketball 2000-2001

2000-200-f Torero Basketball TOM IANNACONE Director Of Athletics

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Tom Iannacone is in hi s thirteenth year as Director of Athl etics at the Uni versity of San Diego. He was named Di rector of Athl eti cs on September I, 1988 after holding the same position the previous fo ur years at St. Francis College of Pennsy lvani a. At USO, Iannacone directs an Athleti c Department that includes sixteen NCAA Div ision I interco ll eg iate varsi ty teams, eight men's and eight women's, plus intramu ra ls and recreati on. In the last twe lve years behind hi s direction and leadership, Torero Athl eti cs has enjoyed successes both on and off the pl ay ing fi eld. His accompli shments at USO in clude an internal reorganizati 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 educati on, academic support, and a uni versity approved plan fo r sc ho larship support and sports sponsorship. In additi on, he was instrumental in USO ga ining membership to the Pi onee r Football League, whi ch began pl ay in 1993. He has served on the I-AA Ath– leti c Directors Assoc iati on Executive Committee; and is past Cha irman of the West Coast Conference Athleti cs Directors Committee.

During Iannacone's tenure, faciliti es at the USO Sports Center, along with all athl eti c fi elds, have seen vast improvements. Improvements at the Sports Center include complete renovati ons of both the north and south wings that added offi ces fo r admini strators and coaches; add itional locker rooms fo r women's basketball, vo ll eyball and women's soccer; an athl etic department conference room; and an academ ic support room. Torero Stadium, where football , men's and women's soccer compete, was w idened to accommodate soccer, and added a state-of-the-art lighting system and scoreboard. The Softball Compl ex has benefitted w ith a new dugouts, scoreboard, batting cages and additi onal seating. Add itionall y, The Ca nyon Field rece ived li ghting and a complete renovati on fo r interco ll egiate practices and intramural use. In October of 2000, the Jenny Cra ig Pav ili on opened, a new 5, I00 seat multi-purpose fac ility whi ch is now home to USO basketball and vo ll eyball, and w ill benefit the entire uni vers ity communi ty. On the playing fi elds, USO has sent twen ty-eight teams to NCAA Tournaments since Iannacone's arriva l in the Fall of 1988. Additionall y, the schoo l has captured ten conference champi onships; twenty-seven NCAA All-Americans; eighteen CoS IDA/GTE Aca– demi c All-Ameri cans; twenty-five conference Coaches of the Year; nineteen conference Pl ayers of the Year; and four West Coast Confe r– ence Scholar-Athletes of the Year. Besides having the 1999 NCAA Nati onal Champi on in women's tenni s (Zuzana Lesenarova) , th e To rero athl eti c program came out on top of the WCC schoo ls in terms of overa ll strength in 1999 (based on an unofficial scori ng system

produced by USO eac h season). For the first time, th e 1998-99 combined men's and women's athletics programs at USO ranked first in the stand ings. Since 1988 the universi ty has been the host site fo r NCAA Tournament even ts for women's vo lleyba ll , men's soccer and women's tenn is. Prior to USO, Iann acone bui lt an impress ive list of credentials at St. Francis Co llege as Director of Ath letics between 1984-87. His major contri bu– tions inc luded the expansion of sports offerings and scholarships for both men and women, improved budgets, renovation of athletic fac ilities, the hiring of ad– ditiona l staff, and the estab li shment of a master plan fo r the futu re and cont in ua l development of athl etics. He served on several committees, most notably the Eastern Co ll eg iate Athl eti c Conference (ECAC) Infractions committee and the Northeast Confere nce committee on confe rence deve lopment. He served as ass istant Director of Athl eti cs at Fordham Univers ity be– tween 1977-84. A long with hi s admi ni strative duti es, he was ass istant football coach for the Rams. Between 1975-78, he acted as offensive coordinator and backfie ld coac h as Fordh am captured 19 victories in their fina l 24 games during th is spa n. The '77 squad was and remai ns the hi ghest scoring team in Fordham history, averag ing 34 po ints per game. In 1983 he was prese nted the prest igious Jack Coffey Awa rd by the Alumn i Assoc iat ion fo r hi s outstandi ng contrib utions to Fordham athl eti cs. He also served on various Metro Atlantic Athl eti c Confer– ence commi ttees . Prior to Fordham, Iannacone taught phys ica l education and coached track and fi e ld, and foo tba ll in Connecticut Public Schoo l Di stricts from 1964-76. He made hi s co ll egiate foo tball coac hi ng debut as an offensive backfie ld coac h at Western Connec ti cut State Uni versity in 1974 . A 1964 graduate of th e Uni versity of Conn ecticut, Iannaco ne rece ived hi s master of sc ience degree in phys ica l edu– cati on from South ern Connecti cut State Uni versity in 1973 . Tom and hi s w ife, Cynthi a, have three children: Tom Jr. , Jennifer and Eri c. All three are graduates of th e Uni versity of San Diego .