October 23, 2014
Around Friartown: Press Box
• Six Friar teams were honored for being among the top 10 percent in their respective sports when it comes to Academic Progress Rate (APR), the NCAA’s annual measurement of academic achievement by Division I teams. Teams singled out for 2013-14 were men’s swimming and diving, women’s cross-country (which also won the NCAA Division I Championship), women’s swimming and diving, women’s indoor track, women’s outdoor track, and women’s volleyball.
• The women’s volleyball team is back in the BIG EAST Conference, where the program had considerable success during the conference’s first two decades. Before leaving the conference in 2001, the Friars had 16 winning seasons and won three BIG EAST championships. Coach Margot Royer-Johnson’s team opened conference play on Sept. 24 at Seton Hall.
• A total of 163 PC student-athletes were named to the 2013-14 BIG EAST All-Academic Team. Nominees must have competed in a BIG EAST-sponsored sport, attained a minimum grade-point average of 3.00 for the preceding academic year, and completed a minimum of two consecutive semesters of academic work, with a total of 18 semester credits.
• Friar men’s basketball coach Ed Cooley teamed up with Head Coach Billy Donovan ’87 to lead the USA Men’s U18 National Team to a 2014 FIBA Americas Championship gold medal. Team USA beat Canada in the championship game to finish 5-0 in the June tournament, held in Colorado. Donovan is the coach of the University of Florida, where he’s led the Gators to two NCAA championships.
• The Boston Bruins named former Friar hockey player John Ferguson ’89 executive director of player personnel, bringing the long-time NHL executive back to his New England home. Ferguson, who spent the last six years as a San Jose Sharks executive, is also the former general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
• Los Angeles Kings star Justin Williams, who won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the 2014 NHL playoffs’ most valuable player, has a family connection to PC hockey. His granduncle, the late Zellio Toppazzini, coached the Friars from 1964-68. Mr. Toppazzini’s sons, Mike ’81 and Hugh ’83, skated for Coach Lou Lamoriello ’63 & ’01Hon. Williams recorded nine goals and 16 assists during the playoffs, leading the Kings to the Stanley Cup Championship.
