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Ninemire, assistants named National
Coaching Staff of the Year 

COLUMBIA, MO – Cal head coach Diane Ninemire, assistant coaches John Reeves and Kim Maher, and student assistant Pauline Duenas have been named the 2002 Speedline/NFCA Division I National Coaching Staff of the Year.  

Ninemire and her staff guided California to its first-ever national championship as the Golden Bears defeated defending champion Arizona 6-0 in the title game of the Women’s College World Series. The Golden Bears compiled an 8-0 record in post-season play, posting wins over Fresno State, Stanford and Cal State Fullerton at the Fresno Regional, then sweeping through the WCWS with wins over Oklahoma, Florida State, Arizona State and Arizona. California became the first Pac-10 team other than Arizona or UCLA to win the Women’s College World Series.  

The California staff was selected by its peers as the Speedline Division I Pacific Region Coaching Staff of the Year and was then placed on the national coaching staff of the year ballot. They will be recognized as the 2002 Speedline/NFCA Division I National Coaching Staff of the Year at the NFCA National Convention in St. Petersburg, Florida, in December.  

Cal assistant Miller named to USA
staff for World Championships  

California assistant coach Ed Miller was named a United States assistant coach for the 2003 IAAF World Championships in Athletics Aug. 22-31, in Paris, France.  

Miller, one of seven individuals selected to head men’s coach Bubba Thornton’s staff, will coach the throws and the multi-events.  

In 1989, Miller served as the Olympic Festival team coach in Norman, Okla., and he is currently a member of the USATF’s Men’s Track and Field and Men’s Development Committees.  

The former Golden Bear recently completed his 19th season as an assistant coach at his alma mater. He has coached a number of outstanding athletes at Cal, including 1996 and 2000 Olympian Chris Huffins and 1996 Olympian Ramon Jimenez-Gaona. 

Minnesota gets probation, avoids shutdown  

MINNEAPOLIS – The NCAA hit Minnesota with two more years of probation on Tuesday, for rule-breaking in the women’s basketball program, but spared the school harsher penalties. 

The women’s basketball team will forfeit a scholarship in each of the two seasons, and recruiting will be trimmed back. The NCAA declined to shut down the program for two years, which was a possibility under the NCAA’s repeat violator rule, and didn’t ban the Gophers from postseason play. 

Minnesota already was serving four years’ probation for academic cheating uncovered in the men’s program in 1999. Tuesday’s action extends the probation until October 2006.