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<strong>2010</strong> Charger Football<br />
Athletic Director<br />
Don Brubacher<br />
On July 30, 2008, Don Brubacher<br />
was named the fifth athletic director in<br />
the past 54 years at Hillsdale College.<br />
Following the strong character and<br />
tradition established by people like<br />
Jack McAvoy and Dr. Mike Kovalchik<br />
is no small task, but it’s one Brubacher<br />
has fully embraced entering his second<br />
year on the job.<br />
“I’ve been extremely impressed with<br />
the quality of coaches, athletes and staff<br />
we have here at Hillsdale. They have<br />
made this a very easy transition for<br />
me,” Brubacher said. “I not only want<br />
to maintain the great athletic tradition we have here, but to help<br />
our coaches achieve greater success in the future.”<br />
Brubacher knew plenty of success in his nine-year stint as athletic<br />
director at Tabor College, an NAIA school located in Hillsboro,<br />
Kansas. An alumn of the school, Brubacher coached men’s and<br />
women’s basketball at Tabor, as well as men’s and women’s soccer<br />
during a career that saw him spend nearly 30 years on the field of<br />
play. He takes a lot of pride in his classroom teaching experience<br />
as well, and draws many parallels between the experience a college<br />
student has in the classroom compared to that on the athletic field.<br />
“Our national search has produced an individual with an<br />
impressive understanding of the role that athletics plays in the<br />
formation of student character and how character development is<br />
essential to the mission of our institution,” said Hillsdale College<br />
President Dr. Larry Arnn. “In addition, we have found a man<br />
with a long, proven record of success in leading a college athletic<br />
program. Don Brubacher will be a perfect fit here.”<br />
Brubacher’s coaching career saw him earn many Coach of the Year<br />
accolades, and he led his men’s basketball teams to 12 conference<br />
championships. His women’s soccer teams also won a regular<br />
season conference championship, and a postseason tournament<br />
conference title.<br />
Brubacher started his college career at Heston College in Kansas,<br />
where he played soccer. He then moved on to Tabor College and<br />
played soccer and basketball, and was a First-Team All-Conference<br />
selection in basketball before his graduation in 1975.<br />
Associate A.D.<br />
Claudette Charney<br />
Claudette Charney is entering her<br />
ninth season with the Hillsdale College<br />
athletic department, filling the roles of<br />
both head women’s basketball coach<br />
and associate athletic director.<br />
Charney handles all of the NCAA<br />
clearinghouse and compliance issues<br />
for Hillsdale College, in addition to her<br />
coaching duties. She is also the school’s<br />
senior woman administrator.<br />
She is coming off the finest season of<br />
her 20-plus year coaching career, guiding<br />
the Chargers to the 2008-09 GLIAC<br />
championship. She also coached Katie<br />
Cezat to highest honors in all of Division II in 2008-09. Cezat was<br />
named the national player of the year by every organization and<br />
website that covered Division II women’s basketball last year.<br />
Charney is Hillsdale College’s all-time leader in women’s basketball<br />
coaching wins with 137, and three GLIAC South Division titles<br />
in her seven-year tenure. She also coached Hillsdale’s only other<br />
All-American player, Stephanie Heid, in 2002-03.<br />
She also served as the head coach at Grand Valley State, and is<br />
still the all-time winningest women’s basketball coach at Saginaw<br />
Valley State. Charney and her husband, Dr. Mark Kosciuszko, reside<br />
in Hillsdale.<br />
Head Athletic Trainer<br />
Lynne Neukom<br />
Lynne Neukom is entering her second full athletic year as Hillsdale<br />
College’s Head Athletic Trainer in <strong>2010</strong>-11. She served in that<br />
role on an interim basis in 2008-09.<br />
A lifelong resident of Hillsdale County, Neukom graduated<br />
from Hillsdale High School in 1987, and enrolled in Hillsdale<br />
College that fall. She graduated in 1991 with a degree in Health<br />
and Physical Education. She worked as a graduate assistant for<br />
longtime head athletic trainer Paul Beachler, and went on to earn a<br />
master’s degree in health education – with an emphasis in athletic<br />
training – from Western Michigan University in 1993.<br />
Her husband, Jake is a physical therapist and a certified athletic<br />
trainer working for the Hillsdale Community Health Center. He<br />
regularly assists with the care of the athletes. Their children are<br />
Hannah (9), Jacob (7), and Keturah (5). They reside in Hillsdale.<br />
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