During Julie Farlow's 14 seasons as assistant and associate head coach, she helped make Big Red softball a power in the Ivy League. Farlow '97 now is the Jan Rock Zubrow '77 Head Coach of Softball, replacing Cornell Athletics Hall of Famer Dick Blood, the all-time winningest softball coach in Ivy League history.
Five assistant coaches take head spots with Big Red teams
Wes Newman '09, left, and Mike Smit smile after they see their final times in the 500-yard freestyle at the 2007 EISL championships in Princeton, N.J. The duo, who combined for more than a dozen Big Red records, tied for first with a 4:24.07 in helping Cornell to a best-ever third-place finish. Newman is now the Philip H. Bartels '71 Head Coach of Men's Swimming.
Spring and summer brings renewed life to campus and five new varsity head coaches whose career seeds were planted in Ithaca will be in full bloom when student-athletes return to campus this fall.
The new Big Red head coaches slid their boxes across the floor to their new desks after spending the 2014-15 school year as assistant coaches. Two, Julie Farlow '97 (the Jan Rock Zubrow '77 Head Coach of Softball) and Wes Newman '09 (the Philip H. Bartels '71 Head Coach of Men's Swimming) will lead programs in which they competed as undergraduates.
Joining Farlow and Newman as first-year head coaches will be Adrian Durant (the George Heekin '29 Head Coach of Men's Track and Field and Cross Country), Patrick Gallagher (Women's Swimming and Diving) and Trudy Vande Berg (the Wendy Schaenen '79 Head Coach Of Volleyball).
Trudy Vande Berg is now the Wendy Schaenen '79 Head Coach of Volleyball.
Farlow replaces Cornell Athletics Hall of Famer Dick Blood, the all-time winningest softball coach in Ivy League history. During her 14 seasons as an assistant and associate head coach, she has helped make Cornell softball a power in the Ivy League. The Big Red has posted a 396-236-2 overall record and a 155-78 mark in Ivy play with three NCAA tournament appearances and Ivy League titles, and four South Division crowns.
Newman and Gallagher also took over from a legendary head coach in Joe Lucia, splitting up the men's and women's swimming programs.
Wes Newman '09
Newman has been an assistant coach for the last six seasons. The Canadian Olympic Trials participant and NCAA qualifier rewrote the Big Red record book during his four-year varsity career, graduating as one of the school's most decorated swimmers. A three-time Eastern champion, Newman still holds five individual and four school relay records. Newman qualified for the NCAAs in 2007 and 2009 in the 200 free, and finished in the top five in two events at the 2008 Canadian Olympic Trials (fourth in the 400 free, fifth in the 100 butterfly). A two-year team captain and the winner of the 2008 Richie Moran Award at Cornell, he was voted the team's most valuable performer in each of his four seasons.
Patrick Gallagher
Gallagher, the all-time winningest coach at St. Francis (Pa.) University prior to returning to Cornell a year ago, guided the Red Flash to four consecutive Northeast Conference titles (2010-13). The two-time league Coach of the Year helped guide three teams that matched school records with 10 dual meet wins in a season. Gallagher recruited or coached 12 relay and 18 individual conference champions, as well as competitors that set eight league records and 180 all-time top 10 school performances. He was an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Cornell 2001-03.
Adrian Durant
Durant, who has worked primarily with one of the nation's top sprinting units at Cornell over his three years as an assistant, has been part of three Heptagonal championship teams and three runner-up squads. Student-athletes he has worked with have won 17 individual Heps and nine relay crowns and have been named NCAA All-Americans six times (three individual, three relay). Before his coaching days, Durant was a highly successful sprinter himself. As a member and captain of the U.S. Virgin Islands national team, he made multiple appearances on the world stage and holds multiple junior and senior records. Durant competed at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens and served as head coach of the U.S. Virgin Islands national teams at the 2015 Pan American Games.
Trudy Vande Berg
In three seasons as an assistant, Vande Berg helped the Big Red volleyball team improve its win total overall and in league play, and it defeated 19-win Pittsburgh in its own tournament in 2013 and perennial NCAA qualifier Albany in 2014. Natasha Rowland '15 was named Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year in 2014, one of six All-Ivy League selections during Vande Berg's time on East Hill.