Notables

Bowdoin named Stefanie Pemper head women's basketball coach. Pemper joins Bowdoin after spending the last three years as an assistant coach at Harvard and will become the fifth coach in the 24-year history of the women's basketball program, replacing 15-year coach Harvey Shapiro.

Pemper will take over a team that returns 10 of the 11 players from last year's 12-10 squad. In the last four years, the Polar Bears have racked up a 68-31 record with three trips to the ECAC tournament -- making the finals twice and winning the title in 1995.

"I am looking forward to the opportunity to be a head coach at a school with as much talent as Bowdoin," said Pemper. "I am thrilled with the chance to work at a NESCAC school, especially with the high caliber student-athletes that attend Bowdoin. This is an outstanding opportunity for me."

Eleven New York Division III women's basketball players traveled to England and Scotland. The squad, headed by Hartwick head women's coach Daphne Thompson, was overseas from Aug. 10-18 and played three games.

The squad consists of Elmira's Janna Cunningham; Hartwick's Wendy Lee, Corie Evans and Stephanie Winn; Union's Sara D'Arcangelo, Leah Oliveiri and Beth Perry; Nazareth's Sarah Curley and Ann Parks and twin sisters Amanda and Angela Osborn of Bridgewater (Va.).

Parks was first-team all-Empire Athletic Association, while Lee and Cunningham were second-team selections. Oliveiri was first-team all-UCAA. Curley was the EAA Rookie of the Year, and Amanda Osborn was named to the ODAC All-Tournament team.

Jim Ferry was hired to fill the Plymouth State men's head coach position vacated when Paul Hogan in June. Ferry, a seven-year assistant coach at Bentley, will also coach men's tennis.

"This is extremely exciting for me and my family," said Ferry. "It's a great opportunity at a college with an outstanding reputation in both athletics and academics, all on a great campus in a beautiful town. The basketball tradition is outstanding, and I look to keep it going."

Plymouth State was 19-8 last year and has appeared in either the ECAC or NCAA Tournament five of the last eight seasons.

Charlie Brock, a 1976 Springfield graduate, has returned to his alma mater as head men's basketball coach. Brock, who led Trinity (Texas) to the second round of the NCAA Tournament, has a 229-227 career record in 18 seasons.

Brock inherits a Springfield College team that returns three starters from last year's 26-2 squad that established the most wins in the program's 89-year history.

"I'm really looking forward to returning home," said Brock. "Springfield College has always had the foundation for winning and this team has a challenge to continue from where it left off last year."

Brock replaces Mike Theulen who resigned in May to become the director of athletics at crosstown Western New England.

Carolyn Guyton was named head women's coach at Christopher Newport, replacing ten-year head coach Cathy Parson, now interim head coach with the WNBA's Washington Mystics. Guyton, who was also named assistant to the athletic director for academic support, is the former interim head coach and assistant at Hampton and an assistant coach at Texas.

"I'm really excited about joining the winning tradition at Christopher Newport," said Guyton. "I'm ready to jump right in and continue that tradition, and maybe even go a little further. I'd love to see a national championship maybe a little further down the road."

Guyton takes over a CNU program which has made six NCAA Tournament appearances in the decade and finished 24-4 last season.

Michael Elbe is returning to Dubuque as head men's basketball coach. In an announcement almost as surprising as the one made six weeks before when Mike Elbe resigned, Dubuque athletic director Connie Bandy Hodge announced that Mike Elbe is returning.

Elbe, who had left U.D. for Rockingham Community College (N.C.), is happy to be back. "This past week convinced me I had made a mistake in my decision to leave. Professionally and personally, the University of Dubuque and the Dubuque community is the best place for me and my family."

Elbe's 1997-98 Spartan team compiled a 9-16 record.

Brett Zuver, head men's basketball coach at Colorado College, has been appointed to the same position at Emory. Zuver spent the past four seasons there as head coach.

As the only Division III school in the state, Colorado College played a schedule composed primarily of scholarship schools. Among Zuver's coaching highlights at Colorado College were the school's first win ever against an NCAA Division I school and wins against an NCAA Division II team ranked in the top 20 nationally, the No. 2 ranked NCAA Division III team in the nation and an NAIA school ranked in the top five nationally.

At the time of Zuver's 1994 appointment, he was, at 24, the youngest head coach at any NCAA school in the country. At Emory, Zuver takes over a team that returns two starters from a squad that finished 14-11 last season.

Ted Fiore, who led Division I St. Peter's to two NCAA Tournaments, was named head men's basketball coach at Montclair State. Fiore, who was 151-110 in nine seasons with the Peacocks, is the first full-time men's basketball coach in the school's history.

Last season Montclair State finished 16-12 and reached the ECAC Metro Region tournament finals under interim coach Darryl Jacobs.

Plymouth State men's coach Paul Hogan has resigned. A two-time Little East Conference Coach of the Year, Hogan will take over as athletic director at Spaulding High School in Rochester July 1.

"It was a very tough decision," said Hogan, "but it's always been a dream of mine to be an athletic director. Plymouth State has been wonderful, but I needed a full-time position, and with the PSC coaching job the only part-time post in New Hampshire and the Little East Conference, I had to make the move."

Hogan, the 1991 and 1998 LEC Coach of the Year, guided his teams to a 136-80 record for a school-best .630 winning percentage and five postseason appearances.

The UW-Platteville men's basketball team, fresh off a 30-0 season and a Division III national championship, restocked its roster with nine in-state recruits, including six selected for the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association all-star game.

Coach Bo Ryan announced the following recruits (in alphabetical order):

Mario Boyd: 6-2, guard, Whitefish Bay, 16 points, 6 rebounds per game ... helped lead Whitefish Bay to the North Shore Conference championship and its second state championship in three years ... selected to play in the WBCA All-Star game.

Tim Cummins: 6-0, guard, Cuba City, 16 points, 6 rebounds per game ... led Cuba City to the SWAL I Conference championship and the WIAA Division 3 state championship ... selected to play in the WBCA All-Star game.

Jeremy Harrison: 6-7, center, Plymouth, 15 points, 8 rebounds per game ... led the Panthers to the Eastern Wisconsin Conference championship and the sectional semifinals.

Kyle Kneser: 6-6, forward, Markesan, 20 points, 9.4 rebounds per game ... led the Hornets to the Flyway Conference championship and the state tournament for the second time in three years ... selected to play in the WBCA All-Star game.

Brian McAlister: 6-8, center, Mequon Homestead, 6.5 points, 5.4 rebounds per game ... helped the Highlanders to the North Shore Conference championship and the sectional semifinals.

Jeff Niesen: 6-3, guard, Kiel, 19 points, 7 rebounds per game ... three-time all-Eastern Wisconsin Conference first team ... led Raiders to their best finish since 1992.

Jerry Reaves: 6-4, forward, Whitefish Bay, 12.1 points, 6.3 rebounds per game ... helped lead the Blue Dukes to the North Shore Conference title and the WIAA Division 2 championship ... selected to play in the WBCA All-Star game.

Tyler Selk: 6-5, forward, Randolph ... 16.2 points and 7.6 rebounds per game ... led the Rockets to four consecutive undefeated Dual County Conference championships and the past three state title games, with championships in 1996 and 1998 ... selected to play in the WBCA All-Star game.

Bryan Stangel: 6-4, guard, Monroe ... 19.8 points and 4.8 rebounds per game ... led Monroe to its first Badger Conference title in 31 years ... selected to play in the WBCA All-Star game.

The Pioneers have the best record in all college basketball in the 1990s at 236-25. They captured the last four Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference titles and won national crowns in 1991, 1995 and 1998.