Lakers add new coaches to their staff

NEWS RELEASE

LAKE SUPERIOR STATE UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS

**************************

Lakers name men’s and women’s basketball assistant coaches

SAULT STE. MARIE – The Lake Superior State men’s basketball team hired former Hillsdale forward Tom Farmer as its new assistant coach, while the LSSU women’s basketball team’s new assistant coach is former Central Missouri State graduate assistant Taira Roth.

Farmer, an Olivet, Mich., native, earned All-Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference South Division First Team honors while averaging 16.8 points per game as a senior at Hillsdale College in 2003-04. While finishing his undergraduate work, he spent one season as an assistant coach under current Laker coach Steve Hettinga at MacMurray College.

Hettinga, who was named LSSU head coach in April, became acquainted with Farmer’s family when he was coaching at Olivet College. Farmer was a prep standout at Olivet High School at the time.

“Tom brings a lot of enthusiasm and determination to the job,” Hettinga said. “He’s excited to get going. I was pleased with the work he did when he coached with me at MacMurray. He earned credibility and respect from the players. We work well together and feed off each other. He’s also familiar with the GLIAC, and that’s definitely a plus.”

Roth played basketball and golf at Missouri Western State University and was named MWSU’s Female Student-Athlete of the Year in 2002-03 and 2003-04. She was also a 2004 academic all-American in golf.

Roth served as a graduate assistant in women’s basketball at Central Missouri State University from 2004-06 while earning a master’s degree in physical education/exercise and sports science. During the past year, she was an assistant golf professional at Shiloh Springs Golf Club in Platte City, Mo.

“We are extremely lucky to add Taira to the coaching staff,” said Jamie Pewinski, who is entering her second season as head coach of the LSSU women’s basketball team. “She is young and energetic, and will make an immediate impact on our returning players and the newcomers. She has a tremendous passion for basketball and the coaching profession. She understands what it takes to be successful at this level. I am really looking forward to working with her, and we will work toward getting the Lakers back into the NCAA Tournament.”

Central Missouri State and Missouri Western State are both members of the powerful Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association, and Roth has NCAA Tournament experience as a player and a coach.

Farmer and Roth replace Troy and Tethnie Forbes, who returned to Elmhurst, Ill., after Tethnie Forbes was named the Bluejays’ new women’s basketball head coach last spring.

LSSU also hired Katie Zukin of The Dalles, Ore., as its new athletic trainer for cross country, track, volleyball and basketball. Zukin earned a B.S. in athletic training at Arkansas State University in 2005 and a M.S. in sports science at the University of Idaho in 2007.

************************************************************