Five Kent State Coaches Sign Contract Extensions
7/6/2016 11:32:00 AM | Field Hockey, Women's Soccer, Wrestling, Gymnastics, Men's Track & Field, Women's Track & Field
KENT, Ohio – Kent State University Director of Athletics Joel Nielsen recently announced the contract extensions of five head coaches: Jim Andrassy (wrestling), Brice Biggin (gymnastics), Bill Lawson (track & field/ cross country), Rob Marinaro (soccer) and Kathleen Wiler (field hockey). The group has a combined 74 years of experience in their current positions and has been affiliated with Kent State athletics for a total of 104 years.
"I am pleased to announce the contract extensions of these five coaches," Nielsen said. "All five coaches continue to bolster our athletic department both athletically and academically and I look for that trend to continue in the future. Their head coaching experience at Kent State alone and that continuity is a critical component to their successes."
The 2016-17 season marks Andrassy's 14th year at the helm of the Kent State wrestling program. This past season, he led the Golden Flashes to a 16th place finish at the NCAA Championships, the program's highest since 1985. Off the mats, Kent State was recognized for having the fifth-highest grade point average (3.325) in Division I. Andrassy was named MAC Coach of the Year in 2009, following the first of three regular season conference titles during his tenure.
With his extension, Biggin enters his 26th year as head coach and 37th year of association with the Kent State gymnastics program. A 10-time MAC Coach of the Year, Biggin has led the Golden Flashes to eight MAC regular season titles and eight MAC Tournament titles, along with the program's only NCAA appearance in 2011. This year, gymnastics led all Kent State teams in annual GPA at 3.661 and recorded the highest spring semester GPA in department history at 3.647.
Since taking over in 2005, Lawson has turned Kent State into a premier track & field/cross country program with 11 team MAC Championships, 153 individual MAC Champions, one individual NCAA Champion and two Olympic qualifiers. During the spring semester, Kent State's women's team had 44 student-athletes with a GPA higher than 3.0, while the men's team recorded its highest in-season GPA in program history (3.207). Lawson has earned 10 MAC Coach of the Year honors and has been named Regional Coach of the Year five times.
A two-time MAC Coach of the Year, Marinaro has tallied 137 wins with three MAC East titles in 15 seasons as head coach. Marinaro has coached six All-MAC first team athletes, along with two MAC Freshmen of the Year, one MAC Offensive Player of the year and one MAC Defensive Player of the Year. This past spring seven members of the soccer program recorded a perfect 4.0 GPA, leading to the team's third-highest team GPA (3.570) in program history.
Wiler and the Kent State field hockey program are coming off an impressive season in which they captured their second consecutive MAC Tournament title while clinching the MAC regular season title for the seventh time under Wiler's direction. A four-time MAC Coach of the Year, Wiler has produced five All-America selections, three MAC Players of the Year, and four MAC Newcomers of the Year. Since Wiler took over in 2006, Kent State has had at least nine players named to the NFHCA's National Academic Squad every season.
Kent State's 2016-17 athletic season will be on display Thursday, Aug. 11, when soccer hosts Duquesne in an exhibition.
