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New coaches have big shoes to fill

Originally published in the September 3, 2010 issue

While students were off enjoying summer break, the Bradley Athletic Department has been busy filling in coaching vacancies in both track/cross-country and women’s golf.

Cross country coach David Beauchem and women’s golf coach Bo Ryan left Bradley after a collective 40 years on the Hilltop.

Beauchem resigned after 16 years at Bradley.

In 1998, coach Beauchem led the women’s cross-country team to a share of the Missouri Valley Conference women’s cross-country title.   Beauchem coached 35 all-conference athletes, 10 MVC track and field titles, four NCAA Championship qualifiers and one Valley Coach of-the-Year award won.

Right after last semester ended, the longest tenured coach at Bradley retired after 24 years.

Ryan had been the head women’s golf coach for the past 14 years and lead Bradley to its first women’s outright conference championship in any sport in 1999. Even more impressive is the 3.72 On July 1, Bradley announced the hiring of the reigning four-time MVC women’s cross-country Coach of the Year, Marc Burns.

The Wheeling, native graduated from Loyola University in 1991 as a two-time All-American for track. After becoming the head cross country and track coach at Loyola in 1996, he guided the men’s cross-country team to its first ever NCAA Championship berth and three Horizon League championships.

“He brings a lot of experience to the program,” senior Brian Tyne said.  “He knows the concept of being a coach and he knows his movie quotes pretty well.  He always has one ready for us at 6:15 in the morning at the start of practice.”

In four years as head coach of the women’s cross-country team and assistant of the track team, Burns helped MVC-rival Wichita State to victory over BU and all other MVC opponents by winning four consecutive women’s cross country Valley titles.

“Under Coach Burns we are going to have one of the most successful cross country programs  that Bradley’s had in a while,” senior Zach Bowling said.
With big shoes to fill and looking for someone to continue women’s golf’s recent success, Cross announced the hiring of ex-pro golfer Mary Moan as the university’s new women’s golf coach.

As a Princeton University grad, the same university where Cross was Executive Associate Director of Athletics, Moan had great success as in her undergraduate golf career. The winner of 16 collegiate tournaments, Moan also took home the 1997 Ivy League Championship and an All-American honors.

After serving as an assistant for the University of Florida for two years and helping the Gators to an 18th overall finish in the 2000 NCAA Championship, Mary became the head coach of the Yale University women’s golf team. Success followed for the next five years as the team won two Ivy League titles and won nine regular season tournaments.

Even with her success as a coach, Moan’s competitive itch came back and she left Yale to pursue a career as a professional golfer. She qualified for the Ladies’ Professional Golf Association’s Developmental Tour for the last five seasons and went on to gain four professional wins and seven top-10 finishes in various tournaments.

With two coaching mainstays gone and two new faces in, Bradley hopes for a quick adjustment period in both sports.

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