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CoaChes & staff

Gary Pepinhead Coach27th season

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husker Coaches & staff

2007 Nebraska track and field Media & Recruiting Guide 2007 Nebraska track and field Media & Recruiting Guide

head Coach Gary Pepin

The all-time winningest track and field coach in the history of the Big 12 Conference and the former Big Eight Conference, Nebraska Head Coach Gary Pepin is entering his 27th season at NU and his 24th as head coach of both the Husker men’s and women’s track squads.

Nebraska has transferred its established record of excellence into the new millennium under Pepin’s guidance. Together, NU men’s and women’s athletes have combined to win 106 individual Big 12 and 18 individual NCAA titles since 2000. The Huskers also have experienced some of their greatest team results over that same time span, combining for just over half of the Big 12’s indoor and outdoor championships with 15 titles. On the national level, Pepin has led Nebraska to 11 top-10 NCAA finishes since 2000, including a tie for fourth place by the Husker women at the 2006 NCAA outdoor meet.

Only one year short of equaling Frank Sevinge as the longest tenured head coach in the history of the Nebraska program, Pepin is at the top of his game for coaching athletes to the highest levels of competition. Of the 16 NCAA All-America honors brought home by Huskers last season, five were personally trained by Pepin in the jumps area, including two-time NCAA long jump champion Arturs Abolins.

Abolins became the first men’s long jumper in the history of NU track and field to earn top honors at the national meet, which he accomplished during both NCAA indoor and outdoor competitions. Abolins also became the first Pepin-coached men’s jumper to sweep an event at both NCAA meets in a single season. In addition to sculpting the talents of Abolins, Pepin also guided Dusty Jonas to his fourth national finish in the men’s high jump in as many opportunities, while Aaron Plas concluded his successful Husker career with a third honor in the same event.

Pepin’s program experienced a banner year in 2005 that rivaled the success of any other in the nation. The Nebraska women swept the Big 12 Indoor and Outdoor Championships for only the second time in the nine-year history of the conference, while they also added a pair of top-10 NCAA finishes. The Husker men, who claimed their eighth Big 12 indoor title in nine years, also raced to a pair of top-18 team placings at the NCAA Championships.

Ind iv idual ly, Nebraska athletes brought home four NCAA event championships for the third straight year in 2005, including titles by former Husker Anne Shadle in the mile and 1,500-meter run events. Equally impressive was the 18 All-America honors collected by NU athletes, including five runner-up finishes. Pepin’s jumps athletes combined for five of those awards, including a silver-medal performance by Jonas, then a freshman, in the high jump at the NCAA indoor meet. Jonas later claimed the U.S. Junior and Pan American Games titles following the outdoor season.

Nebraska’s 2005 season capped a remarkable three-year run that saw the program earn five top-five NCAA team finishes and 13 individual national titles. The 2004 season alone brought a pair of third-place team finishes at both the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships, the highest finish by the NU women since the 1992 season. Both squads finished fifth at the 2003 outdoor national meet.

Overall, Pepin’s teams have dominated the indoor conference championships, winning 21 of the last 27 women’s titles, while the Husker men have won 11 of the last 13 meets. Nebraska has also fared well at the outdoor conference championships, winning 17 of the last 27 outdoor conference meets on the women’s

side, and taking six of the last 13 men’s titles.Pepin’s remarkable success has not gone unnoticed.

Pepin was named the 2005 United States Track Coaches Association Indoor Midwest Region, as well as the Men’s Outdoor Coach of the Year. He also earned Big 12 Coach-of-the-Year honors for his efforts with the men’s team (Indoor) and women’s team (Outdoor). In addition to the honors he earned in 2005, Pepin has put together quite a resume, collecting numerous conference and regional coaching honors through the years.

Pepin, who came to Nebraska following the 1980 season, has won women’s coach-of-the-year honors 15 of the 20 years since the conference began recognizing a women’s coach of the year in 1987. He also was honored as the 1995 National Indoor Track Coach of the Year by the USTCA, and earned NCAA District 5 Women’s Coach-of-the-Year honors in 1995 and 1996.

Only the fourth coach to guide the NU men’s program since World War I, Pepin has maintained the program’s stability after replacing the late Sevigne in 1984. Pepin’s men’s program has matched the women’s success, capturing 15 indoor and nine outdoor conference titles during his 21-year tenure. The 1996 outdoor title gave NU its third back-to-back outdoor crowns, including the The Pepin family (from left): Jean Ann, Lisa, Michelle, Gary and Heidi Bautch

Gary PepinHead Coach • Jumps • 27th Year

Pepin’s Coaching honors4Three Women’s Indoor National Championships (1982, 1983, 1984)

463 Big Eight/Big 12 Conference Titles in 26 Seasons

4Guided NU to 22 of its 28 Top-Five NCAA Team Finishes

41994 USTCA National Indoor Track and Field Coach of the Year

42005 Big 12 Indoor Men’s Coach of the Year

42005 Indoor Midwest Regional Men’s and Women’s Coach of the Year

42005 Outdoor Midwest Regional Men’s Coach of the Year

4282 Women’s NCAA All-Americans

4127 Men’s NCAA All-Americans

4305 Women’s Conference Champions

4170 Men’s Conference Champions

415 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans

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1989-90 championships as well as a four-year run of championships from 1939 to 1942 under Coach Ed Weir.

In 2000, both Husker teams swept the indoor and outdoor titles, which gave Nebraska its fourth sweep through the conference championships. Although the Huskers fell short of being the first team in league history to sweep the men’s and women’s indoor and outdoor titles in back-to-back seasons, NU came closer to accomplishing the feat than any other school, claiming two of four titles in 2001.

Pepin guided Nebraska to an incredible 44 Big Eight indoor/outdoor titles, more than any other coach in the history of the conference. Since joining the Big 12 Conference in 1997, Nebraska has won a league-high total of 19 indoor/outdoor titles.

Pepin’s Huskers own a reputation of excellence at the national level as well. His women’s teams won three straight national indoor titles (1982-83-84), and have placed in the top 10 at 17 of the last 25 NCAA Indoor Championships. At the 1996 NCAA indoor meet, the men’s team finished in second place with 31.5 points, its best finish under Pepin and the best in school history.

Outdoors at the NCAA Championships, the Husker women have finished in the top 10 in 16 of the last 25 meets, highlighted by third-place finishes in 1983, 1991, 1992 and 2004. The top-three finish in 2004 produced two national champions and 58 points for NU’s highest score since 1984. The Nebraska men have also made noise at the outdoor national meet, earning 10 top-20 finishes during Pepin’s tenure, including a 14th-place mark in 2006.

The Husker women have been ranked in the top five of the National Collegiate Division I Track Coaches’ Association Outdoor Dual-Meet rankings every year but one since 1983. The 1989, 1991 and 1992 squads were rated as the nation’s top dual-meet teams, and the 1994, 2000, 2004 and 2005 teams won indoor dual-meet titles. Since 1988, the men have been ranked in the top 10 in the dual-meet rankings, and in 1996 defended their top ranking in the National Collegiate Division I Track Coaches’ Association Indoor Dual-Meet Rankings. The third-place outdoor ranking in 2004 matched the highest ranking ever by the Nebraska men in the outdoor standings, matching a third-place finish during the 1989 outdoor season.

Pepin has coached women who have earned 132 indoor and 160 outdoor NCAA All-America awards and 19 indoor and 23 outdoor individual national championships. His male athletes have won 150 NCAA All-America certificates since 1984, seven indoor and five outdoor national championships and one relay NCAA title. Among the elite athletes Pepin has coached at Nebraska are eight-time Olympic medalist, world champion and world-record holder Merlene Ottey; four-time NCAA champion Rhonda Blanford; Angela Thacker, who missed a bronze medal in the long jump by one-quarter inch at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles; 1989 NCAA outdoor triple jump champion Renita Robinson; 1991 NCAA outdoor 400-meter dash champion and Olympic bronze medalist Ximena Restrepo; three-time NCAA triple jump champion Ineta Radevica; and the two-time national champion Abolins.

Known as one of the premier jumps coaches in the nation, Pepin coached former Husker Angee Henry, a 10-time All-American, to indoor and outdoor NCAA long jump titles in 1996. Under Pepin’s tutelage, former Husker Nicola Martial won the 1994 and 1995 NCAA outdoor triple jump titles and added the 1996 NCAA indoor triple jump crown. At the 1996 Olympic Games, Martial represented Guyana in the triple jump. Pepin’s top male performer prior to Abolins was four-time All-American Petar Malesev, the 1995 NCAA indoor high jump champion.

Before coaching at Nebraska, Pepin served as the women’s head coach at Kansas in 1976. He also spent nine seasons at Kansas as an assistant to Bob Timmons. During his stint with the Jayhawks, Pepin’s jumpers established Big Eight bests in every event and earned numerous Big Eight championship medals, All-America honors and Olympian status. While coaching at KU, Kansas became the first school in the country to have three men jump over 7-2 in the high jump in the same season. Before joining the Jayhawk program, he coached in the prep ranks in Missouri, and watched his teams capture several conference titles.

A native of Pittsburg, Kan., Pepin graduated from Pittsburg High School and Pittsburg State University. He received his master’s degree from Kansas in 1974. He is married to the former Jean Ann Frank of Pittsburg, and they have three daughters, Heidi Bautch, Lisa and Michelle, and one grandson, Carter.

all-time Nebraska CoachesMen

J.E. Pearson ..........................................................................................1898Clinton Barr ............................................................................................1899T.J. Hewitt ..............................................................................................1900W. Engel ................................................................................................1901S.D. Clinton ...........................................................................................1902Dr. R.G. Clapp ..............................................................................1903-1909Osmond F. Field ........................................................................... 1910-1911Guy Reed .....................................................................................1912-1916E.J. Stewart ..................................................................................1917-1918Henry F. Schulte ...........................................................................1919-1938Ed Weir Sr. ...................................................................................1939-1955Frank Sevigne ..............................................................................1956-1983Gary Pepin ............................................................................... 1984-Present

WomenRoger Capan ....................................................................................1975-76Carol Frost ........................................................................................1976-80Gary Pepin ............................................................................... 1981-Present

Winningest Big 12 Conference track and field Coaches

Coach school(s) titles 1. Gary Pepin Nebraska 63 2. Bill Easton Kansas 25 3. Bob Timmons Kansas 24 4. Henry Schulte Nebraska/Missouri 21 5. Bill Bergan Iowa State 14 6. Beverly Kearney Texas 11 7. Ed Weir Nebraska 9 Chris Murray Iowa State 9 9. Tom Botts Missouri 810. Bubba Thornton Texas 7

Note: Totals include men's and women's indoor and outdoor titles.

Under Pepin, NU has proven to be a force on the national stage. The Husker women placed fourth at the 2006 NCAA outdoor meet, the fifth time in the last eight meets they finished among the nation’s top five.

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assistant Coaches

In his 24th season as the head cross country coach at the University of Nebraska, Jay Dirksen also serves as the assistant head track and field coach and is in charge of the distance runners for both the men and women.

During the 24-year Dirksen era, there have been many outstanding cross country team and individual highlights. The women have won five conference team championships (1985, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1993), the only women’s cross country titles in school history. The men have traditionally been one of the top teams in the conference since 1983. Under Dirksen, three Huskers have run to conference titles, two for the men, Jonah Kiptarus (1996) and David Iteffa (1991), and one for the women, Fran ten Bensel (1991), in one of the toughest cross country conferences in the nation. Dirksen's teams have produced 33 top-five finishes and 19 top-three finishes in his 46 appearances at the league championships.

The Cornhusker harriers have been competitive in the NCAA qualifying championships under Dirksen. Twenty-one of his men's and women's teams have qualified for the NCAA Cross Country Championships. The 1988 Huskers won their only men’s title at the NCAA District V Championships by upsetting defending conference champion Iowa State for the win. The women won District V championships in 1988, 1989, 1991 and 1992. The 1992 team was led by individual champion Fran ten Bensel. Jeroen Broekzitter, the 1997 Midwest Region champion, and Jonah Kiptarus, the 1996 District V champion, own the only men’s NCAA qualifying individual titles. In 2003, the Husker women added a Midwest Regional title to qualify as a team for the NCAA Championships for the first time since 1999, led by a second-place finish from Ann Gaffigan.

There have been many memorable appearances by Husker teams at the NCAA cross country meet, including back-to-back third-place finishes in 1988 and 1989 by the women’s team. No women’s team had ever qualified for the national championships before Dirksen’s arrival. Sammie Resh led the 1988 team with an impressive seventh-place finish, the highest individual finish ever by a Husker female. Yvonne van der Kolk also ran a strong race to finish 16th, the first time two Nebraska harriers earned All-America status in the same season. Although no individual Huskers earned All-America recognition in 1989, a balanced team again finished third as the top five Husker runners finished within 33 seconds of each other.

Former Husker Kayte Tranel capped her cross country career in the fall of 2005 by winning NU’s first All-America honor since Theresa Stelling in 1993. Tranel placed 28th at the NCAA meet, while later becoming the first women’s athlete to represent Nebraska in the 10,000-meter run at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships since 1990.

The men have appeared at the NCAA Cross Country Championships eight times, most recently in 2001. The Huskers' highest team finishes came in 1989 and 1996. The 1989 team behind the All-American duo of Joe Kirby (13th) and Jacques van Rensburg (21st) placed eighth following runner-up finishes to eventual NCAA champion Iowa State at both the Big Eight and NCAA District V championships that same year. Van Rensburg (13th) and Kirby (34th) repeated as All-Americans in 1988 when the Huskers finished 11th as a team. The most talented Husker team in school history was the 1996 NCAA Championships squad, which finished in seventh place for the highest team finish by the Nebraska men. Kenyan standouts Jonah Kiptarus and Cleophas Boor capped an exciting racing season with the two highest finishes by Husker athletes at the NCAA Championships.

In cross country, Dirksen has coached 14 Nebraska athletes who have earned 20 NCAA Division I Cross Country All-America awards. Only one Husker male and no female runners had earned All-America

recognition before Dirksen’s arrival. Among the honored athletes are three-time All-American ten Bensel (1990-91-92) and two-time All-Americans Boor (1996-97), Kirby (1988-89), Resh (1987-88) and van Rensburg (1988-89).

On the track, Dirksen coached former Husker Anne Shadle to the finest season by an NU distance runner in school history during the 2005 campaign. Shadle exploded onto the national scene as a senior by winning national titles indoors in the mile and outdoors in the 1,500 meters. She also set school-record times for both events while winning NCAA gold.

Di rksen’s a th le tes have won 39 NCAA Division I Track and Field All-America awards and captured 44 conference championships, including a pair of wins by Shadle at the 2005 Big 12 Indoor and Outdoor Championships. The Nebraska team of Alex Lamme (800), Miklos Roth (400), Kiptarus (1,200) and Balazs Tolgyesi (1,600) captured the 1996 NCAA indoor title in the distance medley relay (9:32.13). Tolgyesi went on to set Hungarian national and Nebraska school records in the 1,500-meter run (3:35.57) in the semifinals of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. Ann Gaffigan ran to a fifth-place finish and All-America honors in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the 2004 NCAA Outdoor Championships. One month later, she set a then-American Record time of 9:39.35 in winning the event at the 2004 U.S.Olympic Trials.

Dirksen began his coaching career as the head men’s cross country and track and field coach at his alma mater, South Dakota State University, in 1969. In 1975, Dirksen started the women’s cross country program at South Dakota State. He coached six NCAA Division II champions and 34 NCAA Division II All-Americans during his eight years at South Dakota State. His 1973 Jackrabbit men’s cross country team won the NCAA Division II Cross Country championship.

In 1977, Dirksen left South Dakota State and spent five years as the assistant men’s track and field coach at the University of Illinois. He coached one NCAA Division I All-American during that time. Before his arrival in Lincoln, Dirksen spent the 1983 season as the head women’s track and field coach at the University of Missouri. The Tiger women placed third at the Big Eight Indoor Championships and second at the Outdoor Championships. In addition, Dirksen produced one All-American and five Big Eight champions at Missouri.

A graduate of South Dakota State University (B.S., 1968, physical education; M.S., 1969, physical education), Dirksen married Diane Stewart in 1972. They have a son, Derek, and a daughter, Kristi.

The Dirksen family (from left): Jay, Kristi, Diane and Derek.

Jay Dirksen has coached at least one runner at the NCAA Championships in 22 of his 24 seasons as the head coach of the Nebraska cross country program.

Jay DirksenAssistant Head Coach/Head Cross Country Coach • Distance • 24th Year

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assistant Coaches

Mark Colligan, a former Cornhusker standout, enters his 21st year as a member of the Nebraska track and field coaching staff. The Wisner, Neb., native competed for Coach Gary Pepin in the mid-1980s, but has had even greater success at the helm of the Husker throwing corps. Under Colligan, 34 athletes have qualified for the NCAA Championships and five of his athletes have achieved the greatest feat at the collegiate levels, winning a combined 12 national championships. The 2006 season proved to be one of the most successful in the history of Colligan’s throws program. Three elite women’s athletes combined for four bids to the NCAA Championships, including Dace Ruskule, who won only the second national discus crown in school history. Each of the three Huskers finished no lower than second at the NCAA outdoor meet, including Becky Breisch and Kayla Wilkinson, who finished as the runners-up in the shot put and javelin, respectively. A two-time NCAA champion, Breisch concluded one of the finest collegiate careers in Nebraska athletics history in 2006. In addition to tying the program record for throwing events by earning her 10th All-America honor during national competition, the Edwardsburg, Mich., native became the first woman in Big 12 history to collect three conference titles in the discus. Breisch also equaled the NU standard with nine career conference titles in all throwing events. Colligan coached four athletes to their first NCAA meet berths in 2005, including Big 12 women’s outdoor champions Ruskule (discus) and Wilkinson (javelin). Breisch won Nebraska’s first-ever national women’s discus title at the USA Championships, while later competing at the IAAF World Championships in Helsinki, Finland. Colligan’s athletes experienced tremendous success in 2004, as former Husker Carl Myerscough claimed his fourth NCAA championship in the shot put by winning the outdoor crown. He also earned the silver at the 2004 indoor NCAA meet. Breisch claimed her first-ever outdoor national title in the discus as a junior to go along with her 2003 outdoor gold in the shot put. Breisch also earned silver and bronze finishes in the indoor and outdoor shot. Both Myerscough and Breisch broke school records in the discus (213-7 and 207-1, respectively) in 2004. Throwers accounted for seven individual indoor and outdoor Big 12 Conference individual championships, including four by Myerscough, three by Breisch and one in the hammer throw by current Husker Issar Yazhbin. After serving as assistant throws coach for three seasons, Colligan was elevated to the head throws coach position in 1990. He has worked with student-athletes who have won a combined 69 conference individual titles, and his athletes have earned 64 NCAA All-America awards. Colligan-coached athletes have set one

American record, two collegiate records, four NCAA championship meet records, 14 conference records and 22 conference meet records. Colligan’s athletes had outstanding back-to-back-to-back national championship seasons in 2002, 2003 and 2004. In 2003, Colligan saw Myerscough capture both indoor and outdoor national titles in the shot put and coached Breisch to a national championship in the outdoor shot put and a bronze finish in the discus in only her second season as a Husker. Breisch claimed NCAA Midwest Regional Co-Athlete-of-the-Year honors along with fellow Husker Ineta Radevica, after claiming titles in the shot put and discus in the first regional meet in NCAA history. Breisch then went on to claim the shot put national championship. Myerscough claimed the NCAA meet record in the shot put with a throw of 70-6 1/4 at the 2003 NCAA indoor meet. He won his third national title in dramatic fashion at the outdoor championships, when he threw the shot 71-11 on his last attempt of the meet to overcome Missouri’s Christian Cantwell’s throw of 70-9. In 2002, Myerscough claimed his first NCAA title in the indoor shot put and three of Colligan’s athletes took runner-up finishes at the outdoor championships. Breisch finished second in the discus, and Melissa Price placed second in the hammer throw. Myerscough was also runner-up in the discus in 2002. Other top-eight performers on the national scene in 2002 were Artur Wszelaki (fourth in javelin) and Myerscough (eighth in shot put at the outdoor meet).

Colligan also coached Tressa Thompson to three national championships in the shot put during the 1997 and 1998 seasons. Thompson won the 1997 indoor championship with a mark of 59-0, and during the outdoor season, she took the title with a throw of 60-8 1/2. In the 1998 outdoor season, Thompson concluded her title run with a distance of 61-2 1/4 for the national championship. Thompson finished her career as a three-time national champion, 10-time All-American, six-time conference champion and two-time World Championships team member. Colligan also had the privilege of coaching the 1992 and 1993 NCAA indoor shot put champion, Kevin Coleman.

Four athletes coached by Colligan have competed in the World University Games. They include Coleman, Thompson, Andy Meyer and Melissa Price. Price was an NCAA runner-up at the 2002 NCAA outdoor meet in the hammer throw. Doreen Heldt, who competed for the Huskers from 1995 to 1999, was the first-ever Pan-Am Games junior hammer champion.

After attending NU track meets as a youth, Colligan joined the Huskers in 1982. He lettered twice and received the squad’s most-improved athlete award in 1983 and 1986. As a senior in 1986, Colligan was voted team captain and won the Big Eight outdoor shot put crown with a mark of 63-2 3/4. He also qualified for the NCAA indoor and outdoor championships as a senior.

A 1986 graduate of Nebraska, Colligan earned his degree in business administration. He is married to 1988 Big Eight discus champion Jean Monter. They have an 11-year-old daughter, Jessica, and two sons, Max, 9, and Sam, 7.

Mark Colligan has coached athletes to 36 NCAA Championships appearances during his 20 years at Nebraska. His throwers have combined for 12 national titles.

Mark ColliganAssistant Coach • Throws • 21st Year

The Colligan family (from left): Sam, Jean, Jessica, Mark and Max.

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assistant Coaches

A nationally renowned sprints/hurdles coach, Billy Maxwell enters his 12th season at Nebraska. Maxwell has been a critical element to the success of the Husker track and field program over the last decade.

Maxwell coaches the men’s hurdlers and men’s and women’s middle distance runners. During his first 11 seasons at Nebraska, Maxwell coached men’s and women’s sprints/hurdles and middle distance athletes who earned 30 NCAA All-America awards, 24 individual conference titles and two national championships.

The last three seasons have proven to be an especially successful period for Maxwell’s athletes, who have combined to earn 12 All-America awards. Two were crowned NCAA champions and eight school records were broken or tied. Also, four of his former Husker athletes from that period competed in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.

Dmitrijs Milkevics became the first NU men’s athlete to win an outdoor national championship in a running event since 1967 while winning the 2005 NCAA title in the 800 meters. Milkevics also broke the collegiate record in the 600 meters, while approaching the World Record for the event, at the Frank Sevigne Husker Invite.

Priscilla Lopes capped a remarkable 2004 indoor season with her first national title in the 60-meter hurdles. Lopes claimed eight All-America honors in her three seasons training under Maxwell, while Milkevics totaled three. Both athletes concluded their careers in 2005 among NU’s all-time greats, combining for seven school records and seven individual Big 12 championships.

Maxwell also guided former Husker Mark Harrison to his first Big 12 title in his final opportunity in the 400-meter hurdles during his senior season of 2006, while Nenad Loncar claimed his first Big 12 title in the 60-meter hurdles during the 2005 indoor season.

During the summer of 2004, Lopes, Milkevics and Loncar each represented their respective countries in the Olympics. Milkevics highlighted the competition with his semifinal appearance in the 800 meters, while former Husker Egle Uljas also competed at the Games. Lopes, Milkevics and Uljas also competed at the World Championships in Helsinki, Finland, in 2005.

In 2003, Maxwell coached David Davis Jr. to a Big 12 Conference title in the 60-meter hurdles in a Big 12 Indoor meet-record time of 7.70. Davis also captured All-America honors in the 110-meter hurdles at the NCAA Outdoor Championships with his seventh-place finish. Maxwell helped develop Loncar’s talent in the hurdles, as Loncar took fourth place at the Big 12 Indoor meet and won silver at the conference outdoor championships. Loncar also won silver in the high hurdles at the NCAA Midwest Regional and earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Outdoor Championships, where he made it to the semifinals before being eliminated.

Maxwell coached the Husker men’s 4x400-meter relay team at the conference indoor championships that finished third and gave Nebraska a half-point win over Texas to retain the indoor conference crown in 2003. He also saw Danny Hill and Andy Nelson take third and seventh-place finishes in the 400-meter hurdles at the Big 12 Outdoor Championships the same season.

Maxwell came to the Husker staff after successful stints at several of the nation’s premier track and field programs. In his career, Maxwell has coached 40 athletes who have eclipsed the 14.0 mark in the 110-meter hurdles.

Before joining the Huskers in 1996, Maxwell spent four seasons coaching the sprinters, hurdlers and horizontal jumpers and helped revamp the University of Texas sprint corps. Fourteen of his Longhorn athletes earned NCAA All-America status.

Prior to coaching at Texas, he was the head coach of the men’s and women’s programs at Louisiana State University from 1982 to 1987. Maxwell transformed the Tigers from a perennial Southeastern Conference also-ran into one of the nation’s elite programs. At LSU, he developed 26 NCAA champions and 189 All-Americans, while leading the women’s team to a national championship at the 1987 NCAA Outdoor Championships and a runner-up finish in 1985. He also guided the men’s team to a fifth-place finish at the 1987 outdoor NCAAs. LSU’s men’s and women’s teams finished first in combined NCAA scoring in 1986 and 1987.

Maxwell took over the top job at LSU after a successful stint as an assistant coach at Tennessee (1970-82) under the legendary Stan Huntsman. Working with the Volunteer sprinters, jumpers and hurdlers, Maxwell coached more than 100 NCAA All-Americans, 19 NCAA champions and Olympic Gold Medalist Willie Gault. While at Tennessee, Maxwell also coached two world-record relay teams, including the men’s 880-meter relay team that set a record time of 1:21.30 in 1976, and the men’s shuttle hurdle relay team that clocked a record time of 54.40 in 1981.

A native of Cairo, Ga., Maxwell received his bachelor’s degree from Florida State University and began his coaching career at Columbia (Ga.) High School. He was named Georgia coach of the year in 1967, leading Columbia to two state titles in four seasons before moving to the collegiate ranks. Maxwell is married to the former Kay Shoemake. He is the father of two sons, Emory and Billy.

Billy Maxwell and his wife, Kay.

Billy Maxwell-coached athletes have won a pair of NCAA championships and broken or tied eight school records during the last three seasons.

Billy MaxwellAssistant Coach • Sprints/Hurdles/Middle Distance • 12th Year

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assistant Coaches

Matt Martin is entering his 11th season on Nebraska’s track and field staff, and his fifth season coaching the Husker sprinters, hurdlers and relay teams. In four years under Martin, NU’s sprinters, hurdlers and relays have combined for 12 NCAA All-America honors, 12 individual Big 12 championships and one NCAA title, placing NU athletes among college track and field’s elite during that time. The top hurdler in NU women’s history, Priscilla Lopes, concluded her outstanding career in 2006 under Martin’s watch as an eight-time All-American and five-time Big 12 champion. She placed as the national runner-up in both indoor and outdoor high hurdle events for the fourth and fifth consecutive national competitions during her final season as a Husker, while also serving the role as NU’s high-point scorer at both conference meets. Lopes led the way for the Husker women’s team in 2005 with two more silver-medal finishes in the 60- and 100-meter hurdles at the NCAA Championships only one season after claiming her first national title in the 60-meter hurdles as a freshman. On the men’s side, Dusty Stamer ended his short career in 2005 by also earning a silver-medal finish in the 60 meters at the NCAA indoor meet. In addition to former Huskers Lopes and Stamer, Martin has helped mold the skills of current two-time All-American Nate Probasco. Probasco earned his second career Big 12 crown in the men’s 200-meter dash during the 2006 outdoor season after winning his first career title in the indoor 200 meters as a sophomore in 2005. He returns for his senior campaign as the Nebraska outdoor school record-holder in the 200. Martin also has tutored former Husker and 2004 Olympian Nenad Loncar, who won a conference title in the 60-meter hurdles as a senior in 2005. NU’s sprint and hurdle relays have also benefitted from Martin’s presence. The 4x100-meter relay team of Arturs Abolins, Oliver Williams Jr., Probasco and Stamer won the Big 12 outdoor title for the second straight year in 2005, the first time in Nebraska history that the men had won the event in consecutive seasons. Meanwhile, the Huskers’ 4x110-meter shuttle hurdle relay crew of Courtney Jones and Aaron Ross, along with former Huskers Loncar and Richard Davidson Jr., broke the 13-year old Big 12 record at the Penn Relays. While Martin’s athletes have excelled on the collegiate level, they have also

participated on the world stage. Lopes and Loncar each represented their home nations in the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece, while Lopes followed with a berth in the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki, Finland. She reached the semifinals of the 100-meter hurdles at the competition. Martin helped several athletes reach new heights at both the national and conference levels in 2004, only his second season as a coach. The North Platte, Neb., nat ive coached Lopes to her first-ever national championship in the indoor 60-meter hurdles, as well as

two other All-America honors in the 60-meter dash and outdoor 100-meter hurdles. His 4x100-meter relay team of Shelldon Simpson, Williams, Probasco and Stamer also earned All-America status by placing eighth at the NCAA outdoor meet. At the 2004 Big 12 Indoor and Outdoor meets, Martin’s athletes earned several accolades. His 4x100-meter relay claimed an outdoor conference title, while the duo of male hurdlers Loncar and Jones grabbed the silver and bronze medals in both the indoor 60-meter hurdles and the outdoor 110-meter hurdles. Stamer also earned silver indoors in the 60-meter dash, while Williams added a bronze outdoors in the 100 meters. Martin made an outstanding debut in 2003, coaching three athletes and a relay team at the NCAA outdoor meet, as well as two athletes in the NCAA indoor meet. He coached David Davis Jr. to a Big 12 Indoor Championship in the 60-meter hurdles. Davis clocked a Big 12 meet-record time of 7.70 to win the conference title and went on to compete at the NCAA Indoor Championships for the first time in his career. During the outdoor season, Davis collected All-America honors with a seventh-place finish in the 100-meter hurdles at the NCAA outdoor meet. Martin served solely as Nebraska’s recruiting coordinator during his first six years on the Husker staff and continues those responsibilities in addition to his coaching duties. Under Martin’s supervision, Nebraska’s recruiting classes have a combined 13 Big 12 Conference titles, including nine men’s championships and four women’s crowns. Nebraska’s 2000 men’s and women’s recruiting classes were also ranked in the nation’s top 10 by Track and Field News. A former sprinter/jumper for the Huskers from 1990 to 1993, Martin was an undergraduate coach for Nebraska in 1994 and was a graduate administrative assistant for Nebraska in 1995 and 1996. As an undergraduate coach, Martin helped Gary Pepin coach Nicola Martial to an NCAA Outdoor title and a runner-up finish at the 1994 NCAA Indoor Championship. During that same time, he also helped coach Angee Henry to All-America honors as a freshman and a U.S. Junior National Championship in the long jump. Martin, who graduated from Nebraska with a degree in business administration in May 1994, completed his master’s degree in athletic administration in August 1999. His father, Doug Martin, was the former head track and field coach at North Platte High School for 23 years, and is on the Husker staff as the administrative assistant. Martin is married to the former Michelle Delka of Lincoln, and the couple has two daughters, Jocelyn, who is five years old, and Reese, who is two years old.

The Martin family (clockwise from top left): Michelle, Matt, Reese and Jocelyn.

Matt MartinAssistant Coach • Sprints/Hurdles/Relays • 11th Year

Matt Martin has coached athletes to 12 All-America finishes in only four seasons as an assistant coach, including one national title and six NCAA runner-up honors.

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assistant Coaches and staff

T.J. Pierce returns for his second year as a member of the Nebraska track and field staff as the program’s director of operations. In addition to serving as the Husker meet director for all home competitions, his duties include serving as a recruiting coordinator and an office administrator. Pierce returned to his alma mater in 2005 after serving as a specialty coach

Kris Grimes experienced an incredibly successful first season at Nebraska in 2006 after joining the Huskers as a specialty coach in charge of the pole vault and multi-events during the fall. Grimes’ athletes combined to earn five NCAA All-America honors in his first year while helping the men’s and women’s squads place among the top 20 at both NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships.

One of the top story lines of his inaugural campaign was the transformation of Sara Jane Baker, twice a runner-up during Big 12 combined events competitions, into a conference champion and two-time All-American. Baker won her first Big 12 heptathlon in four chances during the 2006 outdoor season before adding a sixth-place finish at the NCAA outdoor meet. She also was the eighth American finisher in the high jump during national indoor competition.

In addition to Baker, Grimes helped two-time All-American Jenny Green return to the top of the conference in the women’s pole vault during the indoor season following a near-18-month layoff, while also guiding her to both NCAA Championships.

Grimes aided former Husker Ray Scotten to a successful conclusion to his brilliant career with All-America honors at both NCAA meets, while 2005 NCAA champion Ashley Selig earned another Big 12 championship and top-five national finish in the pentathlon indoors before redshirting during the outdoor season.

A native of Jefferson City, Mo., Grimes has helped several athletes flourish on

the national level during his 18 years of coaching, as his resume boasts 13 NCAA All-America athletes who have earned 19 individual honors. Included among the group is two-time NCAA champion Sevatheda Fynes, who Grimes coached to national wins in the 100- and 200-meter dash events while at Michigan State.

Grimes brought a wealth of recruiting and coaching experience on the NCAA Division I level with him to Nebraska. He previously served as an assistant coach responsible for the development of the Washington State men’s and women’s jump groups for eight seasons. While with WSU, Grimes tutored pole vaulters Tamara Diles and Tyson Byers to NCAA All-America careers. Matt Mason set an indoor school record of 26-6 1/4 on his way to a sixth-place finish at the NCAA indoor meet in 2004, and Demetrius Murray claimed silver-medal honors in the triple jump at the 2000 NCAA outdoor meet.

Prior to his post with WSU, Grimes served as interim head women’s track coach at Michigan State for one season in 1996, before being named the Spartans’ interim Director of Women’s Track and Field and Cross Country. He remained in his interim post with MSU until 1998, when he was hired by Washington State. In his first season with the Spartans, Grimes coached an NCAA champion and three All-Americans.

A three-time NCAA All-American pole vaulter at Abilene Christian University, Grimes was a key contributor on four Division II national championship teams. After exhausting his eligibility, he served as an assistant coach for the Wildcats in 1989. Grimes later coached in a graduate assistant role at Missouri from 1990 to 1991. Between his time at Missouri and Michigan State, he spent five years (1992-96) as an assistant in charge of jumps and combined events at Louisiana-Monroe.

Grimes is a United States Track and Field Coaching Education Certified Level II Instructor who earned 2005 West Region Women’s Assistant Coach-of-the-Year honors from the USTCCA. He is currently pursuing his Level III certification.

Grimes received his master’s degree in education with concentrations in sport psychology/biomechanics from Missouri in 1992 and his bachelor’s in education from Abilene Christian in 1989, concentrating on psychology/physical education. He is married to Tami Micham Grimes, a former distance runner at ULM. They have two sons, Kristofer James and James Harrison, and a daughter, Anna Kay.The Grimes family (from left): Anna, Kris, Kristofer, James and Tami.

Kris GrimesAssistant Coach • Pole Vault/Multi-Events • Second Year

Kris Grimes coached athletes who earned five of Nebraska’s 16 NCAA All-America awards in 2006, his first season at Nebraska coaching the pole vault and combined events.

t.J. PierceDirector of Operations • Second Year

focusing on the horizontal jumps and pole vault at Kent State for four years before joining Nebraska. While at Kent State, he guided athletes to four NCAA All-America awards, including pole vaulter Jackie Rodgers, a two-time honoree who currently works on the Husker staff as an administrative assistant. The Golden Flashes won four MAC titles during Pierce’s four seasons. Prior to joining Kent State, Pierce served one season as the sprint, hurdle, vertical jumps and multi-event coach at Central Florida, while also working as the team’s recruiting coordinator. His Golden Knight athletes set 11 school records and earned 12 all-conference honors during his only season in Orlando. After completing a five-year career as a Husker pole vaulter in 1997, Pierce spent three seasons as an assistant recruiting coordinator at NU. The Fairbury, Neb., native was responsible for the recruitment of several athletes, including 2003 NCAA pole vault champion Eric Eshbach. A three time academic All-Big Eight/12 selection, Pierce received his bachelor’s degree in mathematics education from Nebraska in 1996.

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support staff

Brian KmittaGraduate Assistant

Strength Coach

Lisa GrzeskowiakAssistant Athletic Trainer

Ben PoeStudent Manager

Jackie RodgersAdministrative Assistant

Matt JamesStudent Manager

Jeff hawksVolunteer Assistant Coach

Ann GaffiganVolunteer Assistant Coach

Kevin GeddesVolunteer Assistant Coach

Marcus LindHuskerVision

Chris RichardsonVolunteer Assistant Coach

Mark harrisonStudent Assistant Coach

Pat NorrisEquipment Manager

D.J. hubbardStudent Manager

amy seilersMassage Therapist

Doug MartinVolunteer Assistant Coach

Mark DevenneyVolunteer Assistant Coach

Da’Nell earlAssistant Recruiting

Coordinator

Nick McLaughlinStudent Manager

alvin BanksAcademic Counselor

Leann BoeremaVolunteer Assistant Coach

Mike arthurStrength Coach

Drew MillerStudent Manager

ervin WilliamsEvent Specialist

Jody MooreGraduate Assistant Trainer

oliver Williams Jr.Student Assistant Coach

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administration

Harvey Perlman was named the 19th Chancellor of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln on April 1, 2001. He had served as Interim Chancellor of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln since July 16, 2000.

A former dean of the University of Nebraska College of Law (1983-98), Perlman has also served as interim senior vice chancellor for academic affairs at UNL (1995-96).

Perlman, a Nebraska native, was raised in York, Neb., and earned a bachelor of arts in history and a juris doctorate from the University of Nebraska. During his law school years, he was editor in chief of the Nebraska Law Review and was elected to the Order of the Coif, a law honors society.

He joined the NU law faculty in 1967 after spending a year as a Bigelow Teaching Fellow at the University of Chicago Law School. He served on the Nebraska law faculty until 1974 when he joined the faculty at the University of Virginia Law School. He returned to Nebraska in 1983 when he accepted the deanship of the Nebraska Law College, a post he held until 1998 when he returned to the professoriate. He has also served as a visiting professor at Florida State University College of Law, the University of Puget Sound School of Law and the University of Iowa College of Law.

His area of legal expertise lies in torts and intellectual property. He is a member of the Nebraska State and American Bar Associations. He is a member of the Council of the American Law Institute. He is a commissioner of the National Conference of

Commissioners on Uniform State Laws. He is co-author of ‘Intellectual Property and Unfair Competition’ (5th edition, 1998) and co-reporter for the ‘Restatement of Unfair Competition’ (1994). In February 2002, Perlman was named a Life Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. Fellow status denotes an individual who has demonstrated outstanding dedication to the welfare of his or her community and is committed to the highest principles of the legal profession. Only the top one-third of one percent of the legal profession is eligible for nomination as a Fellow.

At the University of Nebraska, he was chair of the search advisory committee for chancellor in 1991, chairs the Nebraska Bioethics Advisory Panel, and is a member of the Nebraska State Fair Board and the Bowl Championship Series Presidential Oversight Committee.

Perlman and his wife, Susan, an NU alumna, are the parents of two daughters. Anne, who earned degrees from UNL and the University of Nebraska Medical Center, practices medicine in Lincoln. Amie, who graduated from UNL in May 2002, attends law school at Nebraska. He and Susan enjoy the company of two grandchildren, Will and Ava.

Josephine (Jo) R. Potuto, the Richard H. Larson Professor of Constitutional Law, has been Nebraska’s faculty representative to the NCAA and Big 12 Conference since May 15, 1997.

In January 2003, Potuto was appointed to hold one of the Big 12 Conference’s three seats on the NCAA Division I Management Council, the chief administrative and legislative body of Division I. She is also in her seventh year as a member of the Division I Committee on Infractions (COI) and serves as the committee vice chair. The COI meets six times annually to conduct hearings, make findings of culpability and impose sanctions on institutions for violations of NCAA bylaws. Potuto also serves as a member of the executive committee of the Division I-A Faculty Athletics Representatives and has been appointed by the NCAA president to serve on a committee to review NCAA rules governing enforcement and waiver processes. Among her Big 12 Conference committee responsibilities, Potuto served on the Big 12 Conference Commissioner Search Committee and on the conference strategic planning committee. She is the conference liaison to the Faculty Athletics Representatives Association (FARA), where she also served as the Division I representative on the executive committee. In 2002, Potuto was named Outstanding Faculty Athletics Representative by the All-American Football Foundation.

Potuto is an expert on issues related to gender equity in collegiate sports and generally on the NCAA enforcement and infractions process. In Fall 2004 Potuto testified before the House Subcommittee on the Constitution regarding due process in NCAA infractions hearings. With regard to other current issues in sports, Potuto

is a past adviser to the Uniform Law Commissioners Committee to draft a sports agent statute, and she also drafted rules governing search and seizure and hearings for the Nebraska Racing Commission.

At Nebraska, Potuto is an ex officio member of the academic senate’s intercollegiate athletics committee and of the subcommittee to evaluate academic support services. She also was vice chairwoman of the rules governance committee of Nebraska’s NCAA site certification committee. Potuto was project director and a drafter of the Uniform Law Commissioners Sentencing and Corrections Act, as well as the drafter for the Nebraska Supreme Court Committee to Draft Criminal Jury Instructions. She is the author of three books and numerous articles.

Potuto teaches constitutional, procedural and criminal law as well as a course in sports law. She joined the Nebraska law faculty as an assistant professor in 1974 and was named to the Larson professorship in 1988. Potuto has been a visiting professor of law at the University of Arizona, Rutgers University, the Cardozo College of Law at New York’s Yeshiva University, the University of Oregon, the University of North Carolina, and Seton Hall University. While on sabbatical during the 1983-84 academic year, Potuto was an assistant prosecutor in the Essex County (Newark, N.J.) prosecutor’s office. She also spent five summers working in the prosecutor’s office in Morris County, N.J.

Potuto earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism at Rutgers’ Douglass College and her master’s degree in English literature at Seton Hall in 1971. She received her juris doctorate at the Rutgers Law College in 1974. She is a member of the bar of the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and the U.S. District Courts for Nebraska and New Jersey.

Nebraska's Chancellors1871-1876 — Allen R. Benton 1876-1882 — Edmund B. Farfield 1884-1889 — Irvin J. Manatt1891-1895 — James H. Canfield 1895-1899 — George E. MacLean 1900-1908 — E. Benjamin Andrews1908-1927 — Samuel Avery1927-1938 — E.A. Burnett1938-1946 — Chauncey S. Boucher1947-1953 — R.G. Gustavson1953-1954 — John K. Selleck1954-1968 — Clifford Hardin1968-1971 — Joseph Soshnik

1972-1975 — James H. Zumberge1975-1976 — Adam C. Breckenridge1976-1980 — Roy A. Young1980-1981 — Robert H. Rutford1981-1991 — Martin A. Massengale1991-1991 — Jack Goebel1991-1995 — Graham B. Spanier1995-1996 — Joan R. Leitzel*1996-2000 — James Moeser2000-2001 — Harvey S. Perlman*2001-present — Harvey S. Perlman* Interim Chancellor

Nebraska's faculty Reps1931-1946 — T.J. Thompson 1947-1958 — Earl Fullbrook1959-1964 — Charles S. Miller1965-1968 — Merk Hobson1969-1970 — John R. Davis

1971-1982 — Keith L. Broman1982-1997 — James O'Hanlon1997-present — Josephine Potuto

harvey Perlman, J.D.University Chancellor • Sixth Year

Josephine Potuto, J.D.Institutional Representative • Ninth Year

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athletic Director

Tradition, Teamwork, Integrity. These are the core values of the Husker Nation and the principles of champions. Steve Pederson was named his alma mater's 12th athletic director on Dec. 20, 2002, and quickly established these ideals as the driving force to guide Nebraska back to the pinnacle of collegiate athletics.

Pederson's first priority was improving Nebraska's facilities, an important step in providing NU with another way to attract the best student-athletes in the country. In November of 2003, Pederson announced the Husker Nation Championship Drive, a $50 million fund-raising project to support the creation of the Tom and Nancy Osborne Athletic Complex, which opened in August 2006. The project includes the Hawks Championship Center and new outdoor practice fields to benefit each of NU's 23 varsity programs, along with an expansion of Memorial Stadium that lifted capacity above 80,000 for the first time in the building's history.

Pederson's vision has made the Osborne Athletic Complex the showcase piece of the project. The complex benefits all Nebraska student-athletes, as it includes state-of-the-art training, sports nutrition and athletic medicine facilities in the Charles and Romona Myers Performance Center.

With the improvements, Pederson has also ensured the Husker Nation a fan-friendly environment at Memorial Stadium. New fan amenities include more concession areas and restrooms, improved seating options for the disabled and a concourse-level connector that brings the North Stadium together with the East and West. Fans can also enjoy one of the nation's largest big screens during the Tunnel Walk, one of college football's grandest entrances.

The new facilities will benefit some of the top athletic squads in the country. During the 2005-06 seasons, 15 of Nebraska's 23 varsity sports finished the year ranked in the national top 25.

The Huskers' nationally renowned volleyball team led the way, as it reached the NCAA title match for the fifth time in school history. The volleyball team's runner-up finish tied the rifle program for the best national team placing on the year, while the women's outdoor track and field (fourth) and women's gymnastics (fifth) teams each finished in the top five. Individually, Nebraska student-athletes have flourished in recent years, including 37 Huskers earning 48 All-America certificates last season.

Pederson has pushed the Huskers to uphold their unparalleled tradition and remain at the forefront in the classroom as well as on the field. Last year, 11 Cornhuskers earned CoSIDA Academic All-America honors, while Nebraska raised its NCAA-leading total to 235 earlier this season. Over two semesters in 2005-06, 479 student-athletes earned Big 12 Commissioner's Honor Roll accolades with a 3.0 or better grade-point average, while 126 Huskers claimed academic All-Big 12 honors and 111 earned their degrees.

Pederson is an award-winning athletic director with experience at four prominent Division I schools. He has implemented his vision for the future of Nebraska, which includes three vital components to success: a staff that will outwork the competition; enhancing facilities in order to attract the nation’s best student-athletes; and a unified approach to enable student-athletes to succeed in all facets of life.

Nebraska's championship tradition has been built by outstanding student-athletes and coaches over the years, but Pederson believes the foundation of NU's success is its fans – not only the 1.7 million people who call the state home, but also fans who support NU from around the nation.

Since December 2002, Pederson has worked hard to integrate Husker fans into the NU athletic program. He declared the 2003-04 season the “Year of the Fan” and conceptualized the first Husker Nation Tour. He also developed the Husker Nation Pavilion for fans to enjoy a family-friendly atmosphere before home football games.

From creating the nation's first comprehensive strength program to its nationally renowned academic support system, Nebraska has always been at the forefront in providing unmatched resources for its student-athletes. Pederson is continuing that tradition by showing the foresight and vision needed to ensure long-term success for

athletic programs, both at Pittsburgh and Nebraska. Pederson’s efforts have the interests of the student-athletes in mind. He

has implemented support programs to aid student-athlete’s academic, athletic, personal and professional development. In order to assist student-athletes with their postgraduation pursuits, he worked with Assistant Athletic Director for Student Life Keith Zimmer to enhance Nebraska's nationally recognized Life Skills program. They created the Life Skills Award for the team that demonstrated the strongest commitment to all phases of the life skills program, including outreach, education and leadership.

A firm believer in the philosophy that hard work pays off, Pederson was given his first chance at leading a Division I program when he was hired as athletic director at the University of Pittsburgh in 1996. A young and relatively unknown commodity at the time, Pederson returned the Panthers to the national spotlight in just six years. As a result of his hard work and effective leadership style, Pederson was named the recipient of the 2002 General Robert R. Neyland Athletic Director Award, annually presented by the All-American Football Foundation for outstanding administrative achievement.

Pederson helped construct several new facilities at Pittsburgh, including shaping the vision of the Petersen Events Center, a convocation center that provided Pittsburgh with one of the finest college basketball arenas in the country. Behind Pederson’s efforts, the Panther football team was blessed with the Duratz Athletic Complex and the UPMC Sports Performance Complex, a practice venue that opened in 2000. In 2001, the Panthers debuted Heinz Field, a new facility the football team shares with the Steelers. Pederson also oversaw major upgrades to several Olympic sport facilities.

During his tenure at Pittsburgh, Pederson hired six coaches who combined to earn Big East Coach-of-the-Year honors in football, men’s basketball, women's basketball, volleyball, baseball and track and field. Under Pederson's head coaching hires, the football team made three straight bowl appearances, including two victories, while the men’s basketball team went on to gain back-to-back Sweet 16 berths.

Pederson and his wife, Tami, both earned degrees from the University of Nebraska. Steve earned his bachelor’s degree from Nebraska in business administration in 1980 and began his career at Nebraska, first as a sports information assistant (1980-81) and then as football recruiting coordinator (1982 to 1986). He returned as the associate athletic director for football operations from 1994 to 1996.

Pederson left the state in 1988 to serve as Ohio State’s recruiting coordinator until 1991, then moved on to the University of Tennessee to devote three years as the athletic administrator for football. He was promoted from recruiting coordinator to assistant athletic director for recruiting in 1992, and then was elevated to associate athletic director for football operations in 1993.

A native of North Platte, Neb., Pederson has experience in the non-athletic business sector, spending one year as Ak-Sar-Ben’s Public Relations Director (1981-82), and two years in private business in Nebraska (1986 to 1988), before returning to college football in 1988 at Ohio State.

Pederson and his wife Tami Osborne Pederson have three children: Mark (23), Kari (20) and Kristin (17).

The Pederson family (from left): Steve, Mark, Kristin, Kari and Tami.

steve PedersonAthletic Director • Fifth Year

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athletic administration

Bob Burton joined the Nebraska athletic department in 1998 and has been a senior associate athletic director since 2001. He spent three years as associate athletic director for compliance/sports administration before being named to his current position.

Burton is responsible for ensuring that operating principles of conduct for the NU athletic department are in compliance with NCAA and Big 12 Conference rules and regulations. In addition to overseeing Nebraska’s compliance programs, Burton also helps set policy, develops short- and long-term goals and objectives, and assists in creating strategic plans for the athletic department. Since 2005, Burton has expanded his responsibilities by assisting the development office in areas of fundraising and building relationships with athletic department supporters.

Burton also provides direct administrative supervision to the sports of golf, tennis, gymnastics, track and field, cross country, soccer, bowling, rifle, softball, wrestling and swimming and diving. He oversees the operation of Haymarket Park and equipment issues.

Burton filled a similar position at Oklahoma State as the assistant athletic director for sports administration and compliance from 1993 to 1997. He oversaw OSU’s Olympic sports programs as well as the training and strength and conditioning, wrestling, men’s and women’s track and field and men’s and women’s tennis programs.

Burton came to Nebraska from Texas Tech, where he served as an associate athletic director for compliance for one year. While at Texas Tech, Burton helped complete the NCAA investigation into the Red Raider athletic department and analyzed the entire compliance system at the institution. He also helped identify and implement financial aid and eligibility systems, including changes in personnel and restructuring of the compliance department.

Burton, who was a member of the NCAA Division I women’s soccer committee for three years and currently is a member of the NCAA Division I bowling committee, served as a legislative administrator for the NCAA from 1989 to 1993. At the NCAA, he was involved in the development of legislation, interpretation of regulations and reviewed legal issues related to the application of the association’s regulations. He served as an NCAA liaison to committees and conducted comprehensive education to several intercollegiate athletic conferences. He has served on the National Association of Athletic Compliance Coordinators Executive Committee and the subcommittee of Big 12 Directors of Compliance.

He received his bachelor’s degree in finance from Nebraska in 1985 and his juris doctorate from the Nebraska College of Law in 1989. A native of Falls City, Neb., Burton and his wife, Krista, have a daughter, Elly, and sons Robert Falk, McClain John, Abram and Lawslo.

One of the most highly respected softball coaches in the nation, Rhonda Revelle will enter her second year as Nebraska's senior woman administrator in 2007, after taking on her new role on Jan. 1, 2006. Revelle continues in her role as the head softball coach for the perennial national power Husker softball program.

In her role as senior woman administrator, Revelle represents the Nebraska athletic department on the national level, while attending senior administrative meetings within the athletic department.

Along with her role as Nebraska's senior woman administrator, Revelle is entering her 15th season as the Huskers' softball coach. In 2005, Revelle became the first female coach in Nebraska history to record 500 victories. In 2006, she guided the Husker program to its 1,000th softball victory, the first women's sport to reach that mark at Nebraska. The softball program also endowed its second softball scholarship in 2006, the only two fully endowed women's scholarships at Nebraska.

A two-time Big 12 Conference Coach of the Year (1998, 2001), Revelle demonstrated her administrative expertise on the national level by serving as the President of the National Fastpitch Softball Coaches Association (NFCA) from 1999 to 2002. She resumed her role as NFCA President in the fall of 2005.

Revelle also served as the second vice-president of the NFCA from 1995 through 1998, after serving on the NFCA All-American Committee (1989-92, 1993-94).

Revelle led Nebraska to the 2002 NCAA Women's College World Series while earning 2002 NFCA Midwest Regional Coach-of-the-Year honors.

With Revelle at the helm, Nebraska has produced 14 NFCA All-Americans and eight CoSIDA Academic All-Americans.

The Husker softball team has won at least 35 games in each of the past nine years and is one of only nine teams to advance to each of the last 12 NCAA Tournaments. Revelle has also guided the Huskers to Big 12 Conference titles, including a sweep of the 2004 Big 12 regular-season and tournament crowns.

She also led the Huskers to Big 12 Tournament titles in 1998 and 2000, along with regular-season league crowns in 1998 and 2001.

Along with her softball coaching success, Revelle has also demonstrated her commitment to the Lincoln community. In 2003, Revelle was named the Downtown YMCA Co-Volunteer of the Year after serving as the co-chair of the 2003 YMCA Cycle-a-Thon for Strong Kids Campaign.

In 2004, she was named the honorary chairperson of the United Way Combined Campaign, after serving as the honorary co-chairperson of the 2002 Lincoln Youth Council "Let 'Em Play" Campaign.

A member of the University of Nebraska's Cather Circle, Revelle also served as an instructor in Nebraska's Emerging Leaders program in 2001.

A 1984 graduate of the University of Nebraska, Revelle helped the Huskers to the 1982 NCAA Women's College World Series and a Big Eight Conference title in 1982, while earning All-Big Eight honors on the field. She was also a five-time Amateur Softball Association All-American as a player.

Revelle began her career as an assistant coach at Nebraska Wesleyan in 1986, before being promoted to the head coaching position at Wesleyan in 1987. In 1988, Revelle served as an assistant coach at Cal State-Hayward before accepting an assistant coaching position at San Jose State from 1988 through 1992.

In 1993, she returned to her alma mater to begin one of the most dominant eras in Nebraska softball history. After establishing the foundation for success in 1993 and 1994, Revelle led a resurgence in the Husker softball program in 1995, finishing with a 43-20 record and a third-place finish in the Big Eight standings. In 1995, Revelle led the Huskers to their first of 12 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances.

After leading the Huskers to their first Big 12 title with a perfect 16-0 league record in 1998, Revelle guided NU to three consecutive 50-plus victory seasons from 2000 to 2002, culminating with Nebraska's appearance in the College World Series in 2002.

Bob BurtonSenior Associate Athletic Director • Ninth Year

Rhonda RevelleSenior Woman Administrator • Second YearHead Softball Coach • 15th Year

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