Trio of new coaches take over OC teams this year

Hunsinger will remain with women's tennis

Oberlin has new head coaches this year for three of its 20 varsity athletic teams.

Two of the new coaches - women's soccer coach Blake New and men's basketball coach Miguel Curl - are taking over programs for which they were assistant coaches last year. And while the third, volleyball coach Suzanne Garland, is brand new to Oberlin, she's no stranger to Division III volleyball.

The College has had a relatively high turnover rate for coaches, though Athletic Director Don Hunsigner said its situation is not unique. "Other schools have the same problems," he said.

Hunsinger changed some of the coaching positions. In the past, the women's soccer coach has also coached women's tennis.

Last year, after Mary Gibson resigned from that post, Hunsinger took over the tennis team, a position he's keeping.

Hunsinger said the realignment makes the jobs more reasonable and could help reduce the attrition rate in the department.

Also, New and Garland's contracts are for three years rather than just one.

Curl was hired as a replacement last month for a one-year position. The College will run a national search for a permanent men's basketball coach this year and Curl figures to be a candidate in that search.

Curl is a 1985 Oberlin graduate and who played on the basketball team as a student. Since then, he's taught physical education and coached several sports at the high school and college levels.

"Most athletes' dreams are to go back to be a head coach at the schools where they played," Curl said. Curl has applied for the basketball job at Oberlin before.

Last year, he was an assistant to coach Gene DeLorenzo, who left Oberlin last month to join his wife, former Oberlin field hockey and women's lacrosse coach, Katherine Perry-DeLorenzo, at Skidmore College.

Curl is also an assistant women's soccer coach.

Garland replaces Inez James as volleyball coach. Garland spent the past five years at Emory University in Atlanta. In 1994, her team went to the NCAA tournament and last year it was ranked as high as 12th in the nation.

Over the summer, Garland was a line judge for Olympic women's volleyball, including the gold medal game between Cuba and China. She was also an organizer for the ParaOlympics, a competition also held in Atlanta for athletes with disabilities.

Garland is an assistant coach for the women's lacrosse team, though she said she knows very little about that sport.

New, the women's soccer coach, played professional soccer for the Cleveland Crunch of the Major Indoor Soccer League.

He's taking over for Mary Gibson, who is now coaching soccer at St. Francis College in Pennsylvania. New has also coached at Cleveland State University, where he played soccer in college.

According to Hunsinger, New was the unanimous choice of the players who met him.

Last year, New was an assistant coach for Oberlin's women's soccer team. He came to Oberlin originally for a position at the Oberlin Golf Club.

New is also the first-ever full time assistant coach for the women's basketball team.