As the academic year kicks off, so does a new athletic season. For the 2024–25 season, six teams — men’s cross-country, men’s track and field, volleyball, sculling, women’s rowing and women’s tennis — have a new head coach. In addition, four teams — men’s basketball, men’s rowing, sculling and women’s rowing —have new assistant coaches.
Susan Bassett ’79, associate vice president and director of intercollegiate athletics, said she is looking forward to seeing where these new promotions and hirings can take Ithaca College athletics.
“It’s almost like a whole infusion of new energy and I’m really excited about this year and all the people we’ve hired,” Bassett said.
Volleyball:
During Spring 2024, the volleyball team saw long-time head coach Johan Dulfer announce his retirement after seven seasons with the program. Replacing him is Tara Stilwell ’19, who was an assistant coach with the Bombers from 2019 to 2021 and an assistant coach with Cornell University volleyball for the 2023 season. Stilwell also spent three seasons as a star player on the Bomber’s volleyball squad. She emphasized how much Dulfer impacted volleyball at the college, but said the team is entering a new era.
“I learned a lot from coach Dulfer,” Stilwell said. “He is one of my mentors. He is one of my friends. I love him dearly. … But what I’ve tried to tell a lot of people is this is a new team. This is not coach Dulfer’s team anymore, this is now my team. This is a new program. While there’s always going to be leftovers, it is new, and it’s a new era, and we’re trying to change things just as the game develops and we’re just going to continue to get better.”
Women’s Rowing and Sculling:
Head coach Becky Robinson ’88 retired over the summer marking the end of a long career at Ithaca College. Robinson left a lasting impact on the college’s women’s rowing and sculling program, spending 30 years as head coach of the program. Beth Greene ’00, who was a four-year athlete at the college and has been the assistant coach for 14 years, has replaced Robinson. Greene said she is going to try to replicate some of Robinson’s strategies in her own work.
“She’s been one of the most important mentors in my whole life,” Greene said. “Both as an athlete — she was my coach — and as a coworker. I think some of the biggest things that I’ve learned that I always wanted to absorb from her are: don’t be afraid to be the one speaking up and being the squeaky wheel, find people’s positives, find what people are doing right and emphasize and celebrate what people are doing.”
Joining Greene as assistant coach for both women’s rowing and sculling is Greg Siez ’23, who has served as co-captain as a student and competed in the men’s program’s first varsity eight for his entire rowing career at the college. He was selected to the 2023 Liberty League First Team. Seiz will primarily work with the novices to bring them up to speed, while Greene works with the varsity squad. Greene said some of the goals she has in mind are to upgrade the recruiting and bring more attention to detail to the program.
“The trickiest part is trying to figure out something new that I want to do [because] what we’ve been doing works,” Greene said. “So even though I just said I will forever value the walk-on program, to be competitive we’re going to step up our recruiting game a little bit. I think that this is an opportunity with the new coaching staff to [change] some of the patterns, even when it’s like the warmup that we do, to tweak it a little bit so it’s a chance to get people paying more attention to detail.”
Men’s Cross Country and Track and Field:
Erin Dinan, the women’s cross-country head coach, has taken over for Jim Nichols, who retired after spending 37 years on South Hill, as the head coach of the men’s cross-country team and will now coach both teams. Dinan, who is now working full-time with the college, said she is looking forward to the opportunity to coach the men’s squad and also the opportunity to get closer with the Bombers’ staff.
“I’m really excited to be here and be here more than I was in the past [and] to be able to work with both of these teams,” Dinan said. “Another thing I’m really excited about is really getting to know the rest of the coaching staff, not just in cross-country [and] track and field.”
In addition to this, senior cross-country and track and field member James Hughes said Nichols’ retirement pushed the team to take on more responsibility.
“With [Nichols’] retirement, I think it just took a lot more accountability from us, especially the seniors and captains and leadership group, in terms of stepping up and making sure that we can transition as smoothly as we can and just making sure that everyone’s on the same page,” Hughes said.
To fill in the vacancy for the men’s track and field head coach position is Stargell Williams. Williams was at Ursinus College for six years, holding numerous positions like associate head coach, throws coach and recruiting coordinator. Williams also has experience as an elite student-athlete, becoming a two-time All-American at Coffeyville Community College and a three-time national champion thrower at Florida State University, where he graduated in 2015. Williams said his goal is to get everyone to put in their best effort and focus on personal improvement.
“My coaching philosophy is not anything complex,” Williams said. “I just want to help each kid reach their full potential or be the best they can be. That looks different for every kid. … So wherever you’re on that spectrum, I want to help you reach your best.
Women’s Tennis:
After spending one year as the assistant coach, Mari Mitchell was promoted to women’s tennis head coach as head coach Tom Rishcoff will only be coaching men’s tennis this season. Mitchell has 30 years of experience coaching tennis, most notably at Cornell University and Ithaca High School. She was named ESPN Ithaca Coach of the Year after her 2020 season as head tennis coach at Ithaca High School. In her promotion announcement, Mitchell said she is looking forward to the promotion.
“I am thrilled for the promotion to head coach of the women’s tennis program, and excited for the support we have received from the athletic department,” Mitchell said in the announcement.
Men’s Basketball:
The men’s basketball team has brought in assistant coach Mike Sasso, who spent the past eight years at Division I Rutgers University. From 2016–20, Sasso worked as a student assistant at Rutgers. From 2020–22, he served as a graduate assistant for two years, which prepared him to become a video coordinator for the previous two seasons. Sasso said he is eager to get to work and wants to leave a mark on the program.
“I’m really excited for this opportunity and probably one of the best pieces of advice [Rutgers head] coach [Steve] Pikiell gave me is in order to reach the ultimate goal, you must be where your two feet are and do an unbelievable job at where you’re at,” Sasso said. “I just got here to Ithaca, and the way I’ve kind of aligned things with me and my other half is, like, we plan on being here for years on end. And coach [Waleed] Farid’s ultimate goal of building this program into a national powerhouse at the Division III level—I want to be a part of that.”
Men’s Rowing:
On the men’s rowing team, Jake Lentz ’23 has been brought in as the assistant coach after Crista Shopis stepped down. During his time with the college, Lentz was a two-time co-captain in his junior and senior seasons and in 2023 he was selected to the Second Team IRCA All-American and the Liberty League First Team. In his hiring announcement, Lentz said he is excited to get started.
“I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to be returning to the Ithaca men’s rowing program,” Lentz said in the announcement. “I had such memorable experiences as a student-athlete and can’t wait to give back.”
Bassett said the college will always try to bring in new coaches that are experts in their sport and well-fit for the school.
“Anytime anybody leaves, we’re sad to see them go, but we’re always going to recruit with the idea that we’re going to hire an excellent professional who’s knowledgeable in their sport, has a track record of success, has good communication skills and strong values that we feel fit within our program,” Bassett said.
