Sports Teams Acquire a Cadre of Coaches

September 16, 1999

SEARCH THE GAZETTE

HARVARD GAZETTE ARCHIVES

Peter Brand

John Kerr

Mark Mazzoleni

Satinder Bajwa

Fencing, men’s ice hockey, soccer, and squash all boast new generals leading the charge this year at Harvard Athletics. And some pretty potent lieutenants have been recruited to assist in men’s ice hockey and men’s basketball. Here is a quick rundown of the new commanding officers.

Brand New Fencing Coach
Peter Brand has been named head coach of men's and women's fencing. Brand spent the past six years as the head men's and women's coach at Brown University, and previously served as an assistant coach at MIT.

Brand, a native of Israel who immigrated to the United States at age 13, replaces Ben Zivkovic, who retired after 23 seasons at Harvard.

At Brown, Brand guided a successful program that regularly sent qualifiers to the NCAA National Championships. He coached the Bears' women's team to a pair of New England championships (1994 and 1995), while the men's squad captured the 1993 New England title. Brand was the Northeast Collegiate Fencing Conference's 1994-95 Coach of the Year. Prior to his appointment at Brown, Brand spent 10 seasons as an assistant men's and women's coach at MIT.

"This is one of the highlights of my life," said Brand. "It's what I've been working toward for a long time . . ."

He takes over a Harvard program that traces its roots back to 1889 and has been among the school's more successful teams over time.

Mazzoleni Heads Men’s Hockey
Mark Mazzoleni, who has spent the past five seasons as the head coach at Miami University (Ohio) and previously led Wisconsin-Stevens Point to three straight NCAA Division III national championships, has been named the head men's ice hockey coach.

The 43-year-old Mazzoleni guided Miami to an 85-83-20 overall mark, highlighted by a 27-12-1 record in 1996-97 when the Red Hawks placed second in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) and made their second-ever NCAA Tournament appearance. For those efforts, Mazzoleni was named CCHA Coach of the Year and was a finalist for National Coach of the Year honors. During his tenure at Miami, he coached two Hobey Baker finalists, four First Team All-Americans, and four First-Team All-CCHA selections, and built the best winning percentage (.505) of any hockey coach in school history.

Said Harvard Athletic Director Bill Cleary, who chaired the selection committee and himself coached the Crimson hockey program between 1971 and 1990. "Mark's background at outstanding schools, his long track record of success, and his enthusiasm for the sport and the way it's meant to be played were key factors in his selection."

Mazzoleni replaces Ronn Tomassoni, who stepped down in May after nine seasons at the helm.

Prior to his appointment at Miami in 1994, Mazzoleni was an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator under Doug Woog at the University of Minnesota for three seasons. The Golden Gophers won two WCHA titles and made three NCAA appearances during his stay there, and advanced to the national semifinals in 1993-94. Among his recruits was 1996 Hobey Baker winner Brian Bonin.

Mazzoleni is a native of Green Bay, Wis.

Mazzoleni’s Men
Scoring assists for Mazzoleni are Ron Rolston and Nate Leaman. Rolston has served as assistant coach at defending ECAC champion Clarkson for the past three years, and Leaman was a volunteer assistant with national champion Maine last season.

Among many responsibilities, Rolston, the Crimson's top assistant, will coordinate recruiting, direct the penalty kill, work with the defensemen, and oversee the players' strength and conditioning. Leaman will assist with recruiting, work with the forwards, and be responsible for video editing.

Rolston has been instrumental to the success Clarkson has enjoyed its past three seasons. The Golden Knights won two regular-season conference titles during that time, and advanced to the NCAA Tournament all three seasons – including trips to the national quarterfinals in 1997 and 1999. In Rolston's three seasons at Clarkson, the Knights posted a combined record of 75-30-4.

In helping guide Maine to a 31-6-4 record and the 1999 NCAA Championship, Leaman's responsibilities included working with the defense and goaltenders, video analysis, on-campus recruiting, and monitoring of players' academics. Concurrently, he earned a master's degree in biological sciences from Maine. Prior to joining the Black Bears' staff, he served as associate coach for one season at Old Town High School (N.Y.).

Leaman is a 1997 graduate of Cortland State University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in biological sciences with a concentration in environmental science. He graduated as the Red Dragons' eighth all-time leading scorer, and served as team captain his junior and senior seasons. Prior to attending Cortland State, Leaman spent a season with the Enkoping Sports Klubb in Enkoping, Sweden. He also played one year with the Indianapolis Junior Ice in the North American Junior Hockey League. Leaman is a native of Centerville, Ohio.

Kerr To Coach Men’s Soccer
John Kerr, the Hermann Trophy winner who led Duke to the 1986 NCAA championship and is currently player/coach with the Boston Bulldogs of the professional A-League, has been named the Harvard men's soccer head coach.

In addition to over 10 years of national and international playing experience, which includes 17 U.S. National Team appearances, Kerr has coached at the youth, high school, collegiate, and professional levels in both England and the United States. He replaces Steve Locker as the Crimson's head coach.

A 1987 graduate of Duke, Kerr was a two-time First Team All-American and became the first-ever winner of the Missouri Athletic Club Collegiate Player of the Year award while also being tabbed Player of the Year by Soccer America, Adidas, and the Atlantic Coast Conference in 1986. He began playing for the U.S. National Team in 1984 as a 19-year old sophomore at Duke, and remained with the team until 1995. After graduating from college, Kerr played professionally in England, Ireland, France, Canada, and the United States. He won two major soccer league titles as a member of the San Diego Sockers in 1991 and 1992. From 1992 to 1995, he played for the Millwall Football Club in the English First Division before joining the Dallas Burn of Major League Soccer in 1996. Kerr then spent two seasons with the New England Revolution prior to serving as player/coach for the Boston Bulldogs in 1998 and again this season.

Kerr takes charge of a Harvard program whose 11 Ivy titles is second only to Brown's 14. The Crimson has made 11 appearances in the NCAA Tournament, reaching the national semifinals four times, and was most recently in the NCAAs after winning the Ivy title in 1996. Last season, Harvard was 8-6-2 and finished fourth out of eight Ivy schools with a 3-3-1 league mark.

Kerr, born in Toronto, Canada, is 34 years old and married to Tracy Kerr, a former assistant coach with the Crimson women's soccer team, who was recently named the head coach at Providence College.

Men’s and Women’s Squash Lands Bajwa
Satinder Bajwa, whose 18 years of experience with squash include playing professionally and coaching on several levels, has been named the Harvard men's and women's squash coach. Last season, Bajwa was the head men's and women's coach at Bowdoin College, and he previously coached at the U.S. Military Academy (Army). He replaces Bill Doyle, who stepped down after seven years of leading the squash teams.

Bajwa is an American citizen born in India and schooled in the United Kingdom. From 1982 to 1985, he played on the World Professional Squash Association (WPSA) tour, which is now known as the Professional Squash Association (PSA). During that time, Bajwa reached a professional ranking as high as 32.

From 1985 to 1988, Bajwa began his coaching career by serving as the head squash coach at the Army. In 1988, Bajwa returned to the United Kingdom where he was the player-coach of a professional squash team based at Stripes Health Club in London. Since 1991, he has served as managing coach and consultant to Jansher Khan, the number one ranked squash player in the world.

Between 1990 and 1998, Bajwa held various junior coaching positions, including stints with the Israeli and Indian junior teams as well as with the Wycliffe College junior squash camp in England. He has also served as the head professional at squash clubs in London; Berwyn, Pa.; and St. Paul, Minn.

Bajwa returned to United States collegiate coaching in 1998 with his appointment at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Me. He led the Polar Bears men's team to a 12-4 record and the women's squad to a 12-5 mark.

Bajwa takes the helm of a Harvard program that has a long tradition of success. The Crimson women's team was a national co-champion this past season and owns a part of 10 of the 15 national titles in history. The Harvard men's team has won eight of the last nine national championships and 31 of 55 all-time.

Crimson Star Snowden Comes Back to Men’s B’ball
Kyle Snowden, one of the top players in Harvard men's basketball history, has been named an assistant coach with the Crimson men’s basketball team.

Snowden, a four-year starting forward who graduated in 1997, is Harvard's all-time leading rebounder (908) and ranks sixth in career scoring (1,429). He was a three-time All-Ivy selection, and was twice chosen First Team All-League.

As a junior, Snowden led the Ivy League and ranked 10th in the country in rebounding at 11.1 rebounds per game (rpg) while scoring a team-high 15.1 points per game (ppr). In his senior season of 1996-97, he again led the League in rebounding (9.7 rpg) and topped the Crimson in scoring (16.4 ppg) as Harvard finished 17-9, the program's best mark in over half a century. Snowden was twice chosen team MVP and was the co-recipient of the 1997 William J. Bingham Award, presented to Harvard's outstanding senior male athlete.

For the past two seasons, the 6-foot-6-inch Snowden has played professionally in Europe. In 1998-99, he was a Luxembourg First Division player for Black Star Mersch, where he ranked second in the League in scoring at 27.8 ppg and was regarded as one of the circuit's top 10 foreign players. In 1997, Snowden was an Austrian First Division player with BK Klosterneuburg.

The opening on the Harvard staff was created when Kevin O'Brien left after eight seasons to become an assistant at Boston University. Harvard's senior assistant is Bill Holden, who is entering his third season on the staff.