Cathie Schweitzer Named Chair of NCAA Division III Women’s Basketball Selection Committee
SPRINGFIELD, Mass., June 16, 2004 – Dr.
Cathie Schweitzer, director of athletics at Springfield College, has been elected chair of the NCAA Division III Women’s Basketball Selection Committee for the 2004-2005 academic year.
Schweitzer will administer the selection of the 50-team NCAA championship field. She also serves as the chair of the Northeast regional committee.
“Springfield College and basketball have ties dating back over a century,” Schweitzer said. “John Bunn, Ed Steitz and Ed Bilik, all former directors of athletics here, were very influential in college basketball, so it is particularly rewarding for me to be selected as the chair of this national committee.”
Bilik is the NCAA secretary-rules editor and national interpreter of basketball, a position that Bunn and Steitz, who are both enshrined in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, previously held.
Schweitzer was named the first female director of athletics at Springfield in July of 2000. She had served as associate athletic director from 1996 to 1999 and was named acting director of athletics upon Bilik’s retirement.
Under Schweitzer's direction, Springfield College’s athletics program has maintained its well-earned reputation as one of the strongest in Division III. With Schweitzer as acting director in 1999-2000, the college finished 13th out of approximately 400 Division III institutions in the Directors' Cup ranking
of the best all-around college athletics programs. In the 2000-‘01 season, her first as director of athletics, SC ranked 26th. Springfield College again finished 26th in the ’03-’04 Directors’ Cup ranking.
While outstanding athletic performances have marked Schweitzer’s tenure, SC student-athletes have also starred in the classroom. Marisa Clapp and Ben Bristol were name First-Team Academic All-Americans in 2002-’03, the first time two SC student-athletes had earned the prestigious award in the same academic year. In fact, three of SC’s five First-Team Academic All-Americans have come with Schweitzer as director of athletics.
Schweitzer currently serves as president of the National Association of Division III Athletic Administrators (NADIIIA). In September of 2002, she was honored as Female Administrator of the Year by the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) and Jostens. A month earlier, Schweitzer was awarded the General Robert Neyland Award for contributions to college football from the All-American Football Foundation.
A graduate of the University of Akron, Schweitzer earned her master's degree in physical education from Bowling Green State University and a doctorate with a specialization in athletic administration from the University of Iowa. Before her tenure at Springfield, Schweitzer held teaching, coaching and sports administration at Albion College, Iowa, Grinnell College, University of Oklahoma and Bowling Green.
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Entering her 23rd season as head coach in 2013-14, Naomi Graves has directed her squads to an impressive 323-260 record (.554 winning percentage) since joining the Division III ranks in 1995. Graves has led the Pride to 12 post-season bids in the past 17 years, including five berths in the NCAA Division III Tournament.
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