Thursday, July 25, 2002

Johnson City, Tenn. (July 25, 2002) - East Tennessee State University has begun an immediate search for the vacant position of head softball coach. Former head coach Stephanie DeFeo announced her resignation earlier this week and has accepted the head coaching position at UNC Greensboro. ETSU Director of Athletics Todd Stansbury said he is actively moving forward in a national search process and would like to have DeFeo's replacement named by the time school begins on August 26. "My goal is to move the search process along as quickly as possible," Stansbury said. "We expect to continue to move the program forward so that we may compete at the highest level possible in the Southern Conference, and we are excited about the prospects for this upcoming season." Last season the Buccaneers garnered a team record 25 wins and will return 11 players from the 2002 roster, including standout outfielder/pitcher Tiffany McVay (formerly Tiffany Vandergriff) of Soddy-Daisy, Tenn., and freshmen sensations Danielle Spetar (Knoxville, Tenn.) and Lindsay Lane (Erwin, Tenn.). McVay had a breakthrough season in 2002 setting single-season marks for runs scored (32), hits (48), total bases (77), walks (24) and stolen bases (16). Spetar was named All-Southern Conference after smashing a Buc record eight home runs while Lane set the new team RBIs record with 29.