Contact: Christina Cracolici

Phone: (315) 228-6761

April 4, 2002

Hamilton, N.Y. - Colgate University athletic director Mark Murphy has announced that women's basketball coach Beth Spycher has been named the recipient of the 2002 Howard Hartman Award as the University's Coach of the Year.  

The award was established in memory of Howard N. Hartman, who was head basketball coach at Colgate between 1949-62 and also served as an assistant with the football, baseball and lacrosse programs.  The honor is awarded annually to the Colgate coach who best represents leadership, spirit, discipline and determination that Hartman exemplified. 

In her first season as head coach, Spycher was named the Patriot League Coach of the Year after guiding the Raiders to a 14-17 overall record and a 7-7 mark in the Patriot League.  She is the first Colgate women's basketball coach in the league's 12-year history to earn Coach of the Year honors.  The Raiders' 14 overall wins are the most sine the 1990-91 season (14), while their seven Patriot League wins are the most since the 1994-95 season (nine).  

Spycher, a Decatur, Ill. native, led the Raiders to a fourth place finish in the Patriot League and to the tournament semifinals after upsetting American University 79-68 in quarterfinal action. 

Spycher took over the Raider program after serving three seasons as an assistant coach, becoming the sixth head coach in Colgate history.   During her tenure, she has coordinated the Raiders recruiting effort, including the recruitment of all-Patriot League performers Frances Boone, Colleen McCaffrey, and all-rookie team selection Sarah Parks.  In 2002, three of Spycher's recruits earned all-league honors in sophomore Malissa Burke and freshmen Allison Lipinski and Milaina Lagzdins.  

Prior to arriving on the Colgate campus, Spycher served as an assistant coach at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Ill. for three seasons. 

A 1991 graduate of the University of Illinois with a degree in psychology, Spycher played Big Ten basketball for the University of Illinois.  She earned her Master's degree in Physical Education from Eastern Illinois in 1997.