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Vikings recruit talented head coaches

As Portland State comes off its most successful year as a member of the Big Sky Conference, the Vikings look ahead for even more success in 2005-2006. Can PSU improve on last year’s school-record and conference-best championships? With the fall season already under way, coaches and athletes certainly believe so, including three new coaches.

New soccer coach Tim Bennett is charged with picking up where former coach Tara Erickson left off. After playing a non-conference schedule in September, Bennett’s team begins conference matches this month.

Erickson led PSU to a Big Sky regular season title in 2004 before leaving for University of Oregon. Bennett has seven starters and 12 letter winners returning from that team, including first team All-Big Sky forward Jamie Blakesley, who led the conference in scoring in 2004, and Newcomer of the Year Juli Edwards. Bennett was hired last spring following a successful stint as head coach at North Dakota State University. His Fighting Sioux team was 14-5-2 in 2004. Bennett spent eight years as an assistant coach at University of Kentucky prior to that.

The winter season will introduce another new head coach, Ken Bone, for men’s basketball. He, like Bennett, will lead a defending Big Sky champion team.

A veteran coach and native of the Pacific Northwest, Bone had a brilliant 13-season campaign at Seattle Pacific University, compiling a 258-118 record, winning six conference titles and making eight trips to the NCAA II playoffs. Over the past three seasons, Bone was an assistant coach at University of Washington while that team burst on the national scene, earning top-10 rankings, winning a Pac-10 title and a number-one seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Springtime brings the first new softball coach in 30 years to patrol the third-base box. Although the beloved Teri Mariani has retired from coaching after 29 seasons, Amy Hayes, a former assistant at University of Oregon (UO) and head coach at Boston University, has ably replaced her.

Hayes spent the 2005 season at UO. In the four seasons prior, she led Boston University to three America East Conference championships and two NCAA playoff appearances. Her coaching record was 121-95, including 68-18 in conference games.

Winners in 2004-05

A few of the highlights of Portland State Athletics’ outstanding 2004-2005 campaign.

• Three Big Sky Conference championships in women’s soccer, men’s basketball, women’s golf: the most in one season in school history and the most of any school in the Big Sky during the year
• Two Big Sky Conference Players of the Year: Seamus Boxley, men’s basketball; Sarah Tiller, women’s golf
• Academic All-American: Joey King, football
• Track and Field: Highest-ever finishes in the Big Sky Conference indoor and outdoor championships. PSU women won seven events in the outdoor championship, including two by Ena Shemi in the 100m and 200m.
• Soccer: Jamie Blakesley, Big Sky Golden Boot Award winner
• Volleyball: First-ever Big Sky tournament victory
• Football: 7-4 record and a victory over national runner-up Montana
• Softball: 11-8 Pacific Coast Softball Conference record
• Wrestling: Two athletes, Eddie Dahlen and Allen Kennett, earn trips to the national tournament