Several new hires within Athletic Department

By Ryan Donough

The beginning of the 2007-2008 athletic season brought new changes within the athletic department and among Bronco coaching staffs. Looking to build on the success achieved last season, the Broncos' front office has made many changes in hopes of regaining the West Coast Conference Commissioners's Cup champion title. New additions included four key individuals -- three coaches and one athletic department official.

Kerry Keating

Kerry Keating has taken a long journey to reach his first head coaching job. He began as a student assistant coach and video coordinator at Seton Hall under Head Coach P.J. Carlesimo, from 1990-1993. Since then, he has worked as an assistant in such prestigious programs as Wake Forest, Tennessee and, most recently, UCLA, where he was named a top 25 collegiate recruiter in the nation by Rivals.com.

Keating jumped at the opportunity to become the head coach of men's basketball at Santa Clara, an environment he feels is ideal for a successful basketball program.

"It is in a great conference, and it has high academic standards," said Keating. "When you have a school that has academic integrity with guidelines in place already that are above and beyond the NCAA's, you are going to spend less time worrying about academics and more about coaching."

As he comes into his first season as head coach, Keating hopes to continue the success that former coach Dick Davey had during his tenure here at Santa Clara.

"Obviously, from a basketball standpoint, I'm trying to bring in a new energy, and hopefully a new level of success, so that we can build on what we have done here over the past thirty years and continue to compete for West Coast Championships," Keating said.

Gregg Murphy

The women's soccer program got even stronger with the hiring of Associate Head Coach Gregg Murphy during this past offseason. Murphy joins Santa Clara after serving as head coach of the women's soccer team at Loyola Marymount for the past eleven years. During his tenure at LMU, he enjoyed eight winning seasons and two postseason appearances in the NCAA Tournament -- the first two in LMU women's soccer history. The decision to leave a program that he built was a difficult one for Murphy.

"That was a really good program down there and something I was very proud of," said Murphy. "Leaving LMU was a very difficult decision for me."

Murphy enters a different role, now sharing the duties of head coach with Jerry Smith. The goal, however, remains the same as it always has for the Broncos: winning more national championships.

"I've given up a little bit of who I am to make this change, and hopefully I can bring some of my personality and some of my ideas to help Santa Clara soccer win another championship," said Murphy.

Derek Mills

After a disappointing finish in conference play last season, it was time for a change in the men's tennis program. The Broncos added Head Coach Derek Mills after former coach George Husack left to take an assistant coaching job at the University of Illinois. Mills takes over a team that finished fourth in the WCC last season; however, he has been quite impressed with their efforts this year.

"The guys have just been outstanding so far," said Mills. "They have done everything I have asked them to do so far. I can't ask them to do anymore."

He has high hopes for this team, which is far ahead of any he has coached before. Mills started his head coaching career at Saint Louis University, where he looked over the men's and women's programs. He was put in charge of rebuilding one of the worst programs in the country at the time. Mills succeeded; during his two years at Saint Louis, Mills had three players earn All-Conference U.S.A. honors.

Mills hopes to compete for a championship this year and is excited about the strong family environment that Santa Clara already exudes, something Mills believes is essential for success.

"This team is very close, more like a family, and that is one thing I like to stress. We're all a family here."

Staci Gustafson

Staci Gustafson was named Assistant Athletics Director and will aid existing Athletic Director Dan Coonan in the drive to become the top athletic program in the conference.

"There are so many good things that Dan Coonan and the present staff are doing internally that I was just sold in being a part of that," Gustafson said.

Gustafson started her career in athletics as an assistant volleyball coach at Florida from 1995-2000 and later held the same position at Nebraska from 2000-2003. More than anything, she feels that her background as a coach will serve her best at her new position.

"My strength certainly is being a coach at a high level," said Gustafson. "What I can bring from that aspect is that I was a recruiting director and I understand that recruiting is 90 percent of the job for all of these coaches."

Gustafson's duties as assistant athletic director include overseer of women's soccer, basketball, softball and both men's and women's crew and cross country teams. One of her goals is not only to ensure the success of all programs, but also that the Santa Clara athletics brand receives more exposure.

"Our ultimate goal is to get better as far as marketing our athletic department brand," said Gustafson. "Across all of sports, I think that is something that can always be improved, is ever-changing and is vital to success of all the programs."

Other notable hirings in the athletic department include Assistant Basketball Coaches Lamont Smith and Sam Scholl; Director of Basketball Operations Dustin Kerns; Assistant Volleyball Coach Will Yuen; Assistant Women's Basketball Coaches Michelle Cozad and Anna Martin; and Assistant Baseball Coach Chad Baum. Also, the Athletic Department brought in Chelle Pell as the new facilities director, Associate Media Relations Director Sabrina Polidoro, and Academic Support Manager Zoe Segnitz.

Contact Ryan Donough at (408) 551-1918 or rdonough@scu.edu