Roderick Moore Jr. named strength and conditioning coach

Former University of Tennessee strength and conditioning associate head coach Roderick Moore Jr. has been tapped to handle strength and conditioning duties for the Golden Panthers.

Moore spent the last 10 years at the University of Tennessee, the greater part of which as a key member of the Volunteers’ football strength and conditioning program. Since 2004, he served as the Volunteer’s associate head coach for strength and conditioning, coordinating strength, speed and conditioning workouts for the team, assisting student-athletes in their preparation for the NFL Combine and assisting with the annual strength, speed and conditioning clinic.

He also oversaw the strength, speed and conditioning for men’s basketball and the strength program for men’s swimming & diving, in addition to assisting with the strength and conditioning for seven other Olympic sports.

Moore, who played offensive line and earned Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference All-Academic honors from 1994-‘96, was an Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholar recipient, football team captain his senior season and played in the Black College All-Star Game. In 1997, he received a bachelor’s in psychology from Morehouse College, where he earned four letters in football and three in track & field.

For more information on Moore, click here.

Volleyball team announces challenging 2007 schedule

Head coach Danijela Tomic announced her team’s 2007 schedule will feature seven matches against teams who played in last season’s NCAA Tournament, including a pair of nationally ranked squads from the final CSTV/AVCA Division I Top 25 Coaches Poll.

“Like last year, we wanted to schedule a strong preseason,” said Tomic, who directed FIU to a school record 24 wins last season en route to the Sun Belt championship match.

“The Sun Belt is getting stronger and stronger each year and we need these matches to prepare us for the conference season. With the teams getting stronger, I believe the conference will eventually be getting an at-large bid, and we need to schedule like this to put us in a position to get that bid just in case.”

The Golden Panthers will be tested early as FIU faces five of those NCAA Tournament opponents in the first seven matches of the season.

After hosting California (ranked No. 13 in the final 2006 poll) in a hard-fought match to conclude last season’s Florida International Invitational, the Golden Panthers will return the favor by traveling to Berkeley for the Cal Molten Classic to open the season on Aug. 24-25. After playing Northeastern and Idaho in the first two matches, the tournament will conclude with a showdown between the Golden Bears and the Golden Panthers.

Before returning to the Sunshine State for a pair of matches at the Stetson Invitational on Sept. 8, FIU then will travel to Columbia, Mo., for the Tiger Invitational Aug. 31-Sept. 2, where it will play Notre Dame, Florida A&M and Missouri.

Home fans will catch their first glimpse of the 2007 squad at the Pharmed Arena at University Park on Sept. 14 for the Alumni Match. FIU will host its home opener against Troy on Sept. 28.

For more information on the Golden Panthers’ upcoming schedule, click here.

To purchase tickets or for additional information, call the FIU Athletic Ticket Office toll free at 1-866-FIU-GAME or 305-348-4623 in Miami-Dade County.

FIU student-athletes make the grade

Nearly 100 FIU student-athletes were among the 1,500 honored by the Sun Belt Conference for achieving grade point averages of 3.0 or better.

Sun Belt schools combined to have more than 650 student-athletes land on the Commissioner's List, which honors all student-athletes recording a 3.5 GPA or better during the 2006-‘07 academic year. The league also had numerous standouts named to the Academic Honor Roll, which is awarded to those maintaining a 3.0-3.49 GPA.

Overall, FIU student-athletes posted a 2.87 GPA with women’s tennis (3.32) sporting the highest and men’s basketball (3.12) earning most improved honors. Six of FIU’s 15 athletic team finished the year with a 3.00 GPA or above and 11 teams had an overall 2.70 – B average – or higher.

Individually, 146 of 352 FIU student-athletes (41 percent) earned academic honors, including 11 who posted perfect 4.0 grade point averages.

Click here to find out which Golden Panthers made the grade.

Beth McClendon named head softball coach

Former University of Florida standout and accomplished collegiate assistant Beth McClendon has been named the new FIU head softball coach, thus replacing Kim Gwydir, who was released from her duties in May after a 10-year stint.

“Beth McClendon will be a great asset to FIU softball,” said Athletic Director Pete Garcia. “We are very excited to have someone with such an outstanding coaching and playing background to lead our program.”

For the last five seasons, McClendon has been at the University of Houston, helping the Cougars to a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances while concentrating on coaching a UH pitching staff that was statistically ranked as one of the best in the nation.

This past season, Houston not only won the Conference USA championship and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in three years, but the pitching staff also ranked 15th national in ERA (1.66) and 23rd in strikeouts per seven innings (7.31) en route to a 44-18 overall record.

Although the Golden Panthers finished 22-35 in 2007, since the softball program’s inception in 1998 FIU has posted a 326-295 overall record (.525) and appeared in the 2003 NCAA Regional Tournament.

“I am extremely grateful to both Pete Garcia and Julie Berg for the opportunity to coach at FIU,” McClendon said. “I am happy to return home to Florida and excited to be part of a growing athletic program. The future is bright for FIU softball.”

For more information on McClendon, click here.

Golden Panther named Freshman All-American

This summer, Tyler Townsend was named to Perfect Game's Freshman All-America team for his performance in the 2007 season.

Townsend, who started 39 games as the Golden Panthers' designated hitter, led the team in walks and posted a .477 on-base percentage.

He batted .338 with five home runs, 32 RBI, nine doubles and a team-best 26 walks. He also was second on the team in hit-by-pitches with 10 and posted a .515 slugging percentage.

Soccer-playing alumnus earns kudos

Golden Panther alumnus Mark Lewis was recently named the 2007 Arena Football League (AFL) Kicker of the Year. A member of the 1998 FIU men’s soccer squad, Lewis appeared in 15 matches that season and scored a pair of goals – one from 40 yards away – for the 11-7-0 Golden Panthers.

Lewis started his professional football career in the Arena Football 2 with the Tennessee Valley Vipers in 2003, where he connected on 10 of 16 field goal attempts and successfully converted 99 of 112 PATs. The following year he moved on to Detroit in the AFL and then played with Las Vegas in 2005-’06, where he established himself as one of the league’s elite placekickers.

In 2006, he tallied 131 points in 13 games for the Destroyers and connected on a career-high 22 of 35 field goals and 65 of 70 PATs. He was named ALF Kicker of the Month for his performance in April 2006, after totaling a career-high 17 points at Colorado on 8 of 8 PATs and drilling three field goals on three attempts, including a career-long 53-yard FG.

Going into the season, Lewis ranked first all-time in AFL history with a .588 field goal percentage. He bettered his own mark in 2007. Kicking for the Austin Wranglers this season, he completed 110 of 118 PATs (93.2 percent) and 15 of 25 (60.0 percent) field goals for a total of 155 points this season. He also was named Kicker of the Month in March and in late-June, earned All-Arena First Team honors.