Winona, MN-

The start of the 2019-20 athletic seasons in the Minnesota College Athletic Conference (MCAC) will bring with it many new faces in coaches roles across the Conference. 

Ridgewater College announced on August 19th the hiring of Erica Smith to lead the Warrior volleyball program; Smith is a former NJCAA All-America selection at MCAC rival Central Lakes College and is active in the central Minnesota club volleyball circuit.  Read more here in this article on Ridgewater College volleyball in the West Central Tribune.  Ridgewater also has tabbed two head coaches to lead their new clay target teams on the Hutchinson and Willmar campuses; Mike Bjork and Dean Anfinson share those duties. 

Mesabi Range College has added head men's basketball coach to the plate for David Wilson, who also serves as the offensive coordinator for the Norse Football program. Wilson was featuredin this article on August 17 in the Mesabi Daily News.   Wilson has been a part of a football staff at Mesabi who have reached the MCAC post-season the past two years and played in the MCAC State Championship Football Game in 2017.  MRC basketball went 14-12 overall last year and qualified for the MCAC State Tournament with a 12-4 MCAC Northern Division mark. 

Western Technical College has a breakout year in women's basketball last winter, winning the MCAC Southern Division regular season and NJCAA Region XIII A championship. With the success, the Cavaliers advanced to the NJCAA Division III Women's Basketball National Championships; they also were crowned the top NCJAA women's basketball program in team GPA. Head coach Chad Dull has stepped down at Western Technical to accept a vice-president role at Minnesota State College-Southeast.  

Hibbing Community College has hired former Cardinal standout Kasey Palmer to lead it's women's basketball and volleyball programs.  Palmer has earned degrees from both Hibbing and MCAC-member Fond du Lac Tribal & Community College; read more at this MCAC Sports link.  In baseball, Bob DeNucci in the new Cardinals skipper, taking over for the retiring Dave Bevacqua; read more here:

Vermilion Community College hired Nicki Kosik to serve as athletic director and head coach of the VCC women's basketball and volleyball programs. Learn more about her background in a MCAC Profiles piece found at this link.

North Dakota State College of Science recently announced the addition of Clay Target and Baseball to the Wildcat athletic offerings.  Erin Johnson will serve as the head coach of the Clay Target team at NDSCS and the team will compete this fall in the MCAC; the NJCAA Division III baseball program at NDSCS will be implemented in 2020-21. Click here for the NDSCS baseball release and this link for information on Clay Target.

Northland Community & Technical College has a new head coach for it's football program, as Jeremy Richardson takes over the Pioneers; read more at this link on Coach Richardson.  Additionally, the Pioneer volleyball team will be directed by former head coach Abdul Chamma, as he serves in an interim capacity for Courtney Nordby, who is on materinity leave. 

Anoka-Ramsey Community College announced that Steve Crittenden was elevated to interim vice-president at ARCC; Steve is the NJCAA Region XIII Board reprentative and former MCAC president. Also, athletic coordinator and head softball coach Dave Alto is on sabbatical this fall; assistant women's basketball coach Jessica Pelzel serves as the interim athletic coordinator for the Golden Rams through December, 2019. 

Alexandria Technical & Community College will venture into collegiate sports this fall with their first-ever varsity Clay Target team; Scott Berger, while Gregg Raisansen serves as the ATCC administrative representative. 

Also new to the MCAC this year is Century College; the Wood Ducks will begin MCAC play with baseball this spring, under the direction of new coach Josh Threlkeld.  Century volleyball will compete as an independent team this fall under coach Jay Kam and will be a part of the MCAC Southern Division schedule in 2020.  Former baseball coach Dwight Kotilla is the athletic coordinator at Century College. 

Central Lakes College head football coach Greg Medeck is on sabbatical this fall; Robb Kolodziej is serving as the interim head coach for the Raiders. 

Itasca Community College has hired Amber Smith to lead its women's basketball team; to learn more about the former ICC Viking and College of St. Scholastica standout, go to this link. Also new to Itasca is head wrestling coach Joe Umlauf, the former NCAA Division I student-athlete takes over the Viking wrestling program. More info available here.

Fond du Lac Tribal & Community College has tabbed Robert Smith to lead it's football program this fall; Smith also is the head coach of the Thunder women's basketball team. 

Lake Superior College has hired Anthony Wood and Caitlyn Wood to lead the IceHawk men's and women's soccer programs.  

Minnesota State-Fergus Falls will have Cory Miller lead their football program this fall as they compete in the MCAC Western Division.  Learn more about the former Dakota State University defensive coordinator at this link: https://www.minnesota.edu/news/spartans-welcome-miller-new-head-football-coach

Riverland Community College has hired Frank Spaeth to coach their men's soccer team; Spaeth is also the general manager for the Rochester NPSL men's soccer team and has served as an assistant coach at the NCAA Division II and Division III levels. 

Rochester Community & Technical College former men's basketball assistant coach Jason Bonde has been tabbed as the new women's basketball coach for the Yellowjackets.  Additionally, Clark Jones will be the new head baseball coach at RCTC this year. 

St. Cloud Technical & Community College athletics is under the guidance of Nate Hiestand; the Cyclones former director Missy Majerus is at Ridgewater College this year. 

Minnesota West volleyball has a new head coach in Brittany McNab; she is a former NJCAA All-America for the Lady Jays.

Robin Hamel is the new athletic director at Southwest (WI) Technical College in Fennimore Wisconsin, Southwest Tech is a MCAC member college in Clay Target and Golf. 

The NJCAA Region XIII Women's Director position was vacated by Dan Artamentko, who left Williston State College for a role at Seward County CC.  Lake Region State College athletic director and women's basketball coach Danny Mertens is the new NJCAA Region XIII Women's Director. 

The office of the Minnesota College Athletic Conference relocated over the summer; the MCAC is now housed at the Winona campus of Minnesota State College- Southeast. Updated contact information is below; the MCAC is found at: www.mcacsports.org   Northland Community & Technical College remains the fiscal agent for the Conference. 

MINNESOTA COLLEGE ATHLETIC CONFERENCE
1250 HOMER ROAD
WINONA, MN 55987
PHONE: 507-450-0681

Executive Director, Peter Watkins

The Minnesota College Athletic Conference is the organizational body for NJCAA-affiliated two-year technical and community college athletic programs in the Minnesota State Colleges & Universities system, as well as select member colleges in North Dakota and Wisconsin.  The mission of the Minnesota College Athletic Conference is to advance intercollegiate athletics by providing an engaging and supportive environment for success of our student athletes and competition among member institutions.  The MCAC is committed to the guiding principles of encouraging the development and success of student athletes, promoting the integrity, honesty and loyalty to member schools as well as upholding the sustainability of conference athletic programs.

Be sure to follow our MCAC Facebook and Twitter feeds @MCACSports 

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