After several coaching changes, renovations and conference movement, AU Athletics is now ready to kick off the 2013-2014 athletic year.
New hires
AU will welcome four new head coaches and a new athletic director this year, a record amount of change for the University.
Billy Walker, Director of Athletics of Recreation
Walker began working as Director of Athletics and Recreation in April after former AD Keith Gill left to take the same position at The University of Richmond. Walker came to AU after working in the athletic department of the Air Force Academy. In his short time at AU, Walker has hired four new head coaches.
Mike Brennan, men’s basketball head coach
Former Head Coach Jeff Jones departed AU after heading the Eagles for 13 years to become the head coach at Old Dominion University. Brennan came to AU in april after previously serving as an assistant at Georgetown University. He was also an assistant at AU in 2007-2009, helping the two AU squads make the NCAA Tournament.
Megan Gebbia, women’s basketball head coach
Gebbia spent her last 10 seasons as an assistant at Marist College before beginning her tenure at AU. She replaced previous head coach Matt Corkery, who took a coaching job at Texas Tech University after five seasons with AU. Like Brennan, Gebbia also served as an assistant at AU for the 1995-1996 season.
Anabel Jimenez Hering, women’s soccer head coach
As a former AU player, Hering was hired to replace David Bucciero who left the program in Decemberfor undisclosed reasons. She served as an assistant at AU for the past five seasons, leading the program to its first ever Patriot League Championship in 2002.
Emma Wallace, women’s lacrosse head coach
Wallace was promoted to the Interim Head Coach last October when then Head Coach Laura Campbell stepped down. After starting out the year 0-6, the team went on to beat a ranked opponent for the first time in program history defeating then No.12 Johns Hopkins.
Facilities upgrade
AU will finish its renovations on Bender Arena by the end of September, complete with locker rooms for each varsity team. In years past, only selected teams had their own locker rooms meaning several teams shared one or two common locker rooms. AU also made improvements on the locker rooms for Jacobs Fitness Center users.
Conference changes
AU will face two new conference foes in the Patriot League this year with the addition of Boston University and Loyola University Maryland. The two schools joined the Patriot League in July, pushing the total number of schools in the conference to 10. The increase in the PL means more important conference games throughout the season.
esaltzman@theeagleonline.com
