Tom Farden -- Assistant Women's Gymnastics Coach, University of Utah

(as of gymnastics season 2011) Tom Farden, a regional coach of the year as the head coach at Southeast Missouri State and an assistant at Arkansas in 2010, was named an assistant coach for the University of Utah women's gymnastics team on August 18, 2010.
Farden helped lead Arkansas to the NCAA Championships for the third consecutive season and coached two All-Americans.
Before joining the Arkansas staff, Farden spent six years as the head coach at Southeast Missouri State. He compiled a 70-46 record, guided the Redhawks to NCAA Regional appearances in 2006 and 2008 and coached 14 individual regional qualifiers. Farden was named the Midwest Independent Conference Coach of the Year his last four seasons.
Farden was recognized as the NCAA South Central Region Coach of the Year in 2008. Southeast Missouri State climbed as high as No. 22 in the national polls that season and finished fifth in the NCAA South Central Regional. The Redhawks recorded the most wins in over a decade, finishing 17-9 overall. In 2009, Farden directed SEMO to a 14-3 record and an MIC championship.
Farden's SEMO teams won academic national championships in each of his last three seasons with 70 total scholastic All-America citations. Farden has been on the National Association of Collegiate Gymnastics Coaches/Women Ethics Committee since 2006.
Originally from Dayton, Minn., Farden earned his bachelor's degree from SEMO in recreation. He was an assistant coach with the Redhawks from 1999-2003 before taking over as head coach.

Rena Faust-Holden -- Assistant Women's Basketball Coach, Birmingham-Southern Panthers

(as of basketball season 2010-11) Rena joined the Birmingham-Southern women's basketball team on August 3, 2005 after two seasons (03-05) at the University of Arkansas.
Holden was at Division II West Georgia as an assistant coach starting in 1996, and during her seven seasons assisted the Gulf South Conference Eastern Division Braves to several top finishes. One of the Braves' best seasons came in 2001-02 as West Georgia went 16-10 and advanced to the GSC Tournament.
During her playing days at Southeastern Louisiana, Holden led the Lady Lions to their first consecutive 20-win seasons since the NCAA era began in 1982.
Playing two seasons at Wallace State, Holden had an immediate impact at SLU as the Lady Lions went 24-5 her junior season in 1994, and was voted to the Trans America Athletic Conference's newcomer team.
The leading scorer for SLU her senior season, she was first-team all-TAAC and all-TAAC tournament as SLU posted a 21-8 mark in 1995. She remains the SLU record holder for blocked shots in a game, and her two-year record of 23-5 was the best at the Hammond, La., university since the late 1970s.
Holden began her coaching career as a student assistant coach at Southeastern for one season before moving to Carrollton, Ga., and joining the West Georgia staff in 1996-97.

Rockey Felker -- Director of Player Personnel / High School Relations, Mississippi State University Bulldogs

(as of football season 2011) Rockey Felker joined the MSU coaching staff in February of 2002, where he was the coordinator of football operations until his promotion to running backs coach and recruiting coordinator in February 2007. Felker was the nation's youngest collegiate head coach when he was selected to guide the Mississippi State football program in 1986. He directed the Bulldogs to a 6-5 mark in his first season at the helm, the school's first winning season in five years.Felker served as State's head football coach through the 1990 season.
He came back to State as the school's head coach following 11 years as an assistant coach on the college level. Immediately prior to rejoining the MSU program, he was an assistant at Alabama from 1983-85. He served as the Crimson Tide receivers coach in 1983-84 and the offensive backfield coach in '85.
Prior to returning to the SEC, Felker worked two years each at Texas Tech (1979-80) and Memphis State (1981-82) under the guidance of the late head coach Rex Dockery.
Felker began his coaching career at Mississippi State following his playing days, working for head coach Bob Tyler. He worked with the junior varsity (1975) and the varsity receivers, quarterbacks and running backs (1976-78).
Felker's first association with Mississippi State came in December 1970, when he signed a football scholarship to play quarterback for the Bulldogs. After playing one year of junior varsity ball, he was under center for most of the next three seasons. In 1974, Felker led MSU to an 9-3 overall record, leading the SEC in total offense and directing the Bulldogs to a win over North Carolina in the Sun Bowl. He was named the Nashville Banner SEC Player of the Year and the Birmingham Post-Herald Outstanding Senior Player for his stellar final season.
Following his five years as head coach at MSU, Felker worked nine more years as an assistant football coach. He had two terms as the offensive coordinator at the University of Tulsa (1991-92 and 1997-99) and spent four years on the coaching staff at the University of Arkansas, working three seasons (1994-96) as the school's offensive coordinator.
He helped Tulsa to a 10-2 record in 1991, coaching the quarterbacks and wide receivers. That Golden Hurricane team defeated San Diego State in the Freedom Bowl during that season. He also tutored the running backs during his stay at the Western Athletic Conference school.
While at Arkansas, Felker coached the running backs in 1993, then tutored the quarterbacks the next three years. He helped the Razorbacks win the SEC Western Division title and earn a berth in the '95 SEC Championship Game. The Razorbacks concluded that season with a bid to the Carquest Bowl in Miami, Fla.

Bobby Field -- Associate Athletic Director - Sports & Administration, UCLA Bruins

(as of school year 2010-11) Bobby Field left coaching in 2001 to become an assistant athletic director at UCLA. Prior to his switch to administration, Field spent 22 seasons with the UCLA football team as an assistant coach. He was the assistant head coach during his final five seasons (1996-2000) and served as defensive coordinator for 16 seasons (1982-95 and 1999-00) while tutoring outside linebackers, place kickers, and the secondary at various times in his career.
He began his coaching career under the legendary Bear Bryant at Alabama (1971-72) and moved to Mississippi State in 1973. During his five-year tenure at MSU, he coached the secondary, served as defensive coordinator and, in his final year, was the Bulldog assistant head coach. Field earned a Bachelor's degree in Science Education at Arkansas in 1971 and was named to the All-Southwest Conference Academic Team his senior year. He was a three-year letterman (1968-70) and two-year starter in the defensive backfield. In his three varisty seasons, the Razorbacks were 28-5 with two Sugar Bowl appearances.

Rob Flaska -- Assistant Men's Basketball Coach, Texas State University Bobcats

(as of basketball season 2010-11) Rob Flaska was named to the Texas State staff for the 2009-10 season on June 5, 2009.
Flaska comes to Texas State after serving 11 years as a collegiate head coach and 15 years as an assistant coach with 12 of those years as an assistant coming at the Division I level.
Last season, Flaska was an assistant coach at Texas Southern after serving the three previous years as the head coach at Centenary, three years as an assistant coach at Arkansas and four seasons at TCU under Billy Tubbs.
While at Arkansas, he was named the school's recruiting coordinator and helped sign a pair of classes that were nationally-ranked fourth in 2003 and 11th in 2004. He also helped guide the Horned Frogs to a pair of 20-win seasons, and TCU ranked among the Top two scoring teams and had the top recruiting class in the WAC each of the four years he was at the school.
Flaska went to TCU after serving as the head coach at Florida Community College, where he compiled a 64-31 record over three seasons. He also was an assistant coach at Trinity Valley Community College in Texas and was the head coach at Mott College in Michigan, where he posted a five-year record of 121-44. He began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Indiana State in 1982-84, followed by a two-year stint at the University of Detroit from 1984-86.
Flaska played basketball at Glenn Lake High School in Maple City, Mich., where he earned All-State honors after leading his team to the 1977 state championship. He played at Michigan Tech, and led the team to its first four winning seasons in school history and set school records for assists and steals.

Edrick Floreal -- Director of Track & Field / Cross Country, Stanford University Cardinal

(as of track & field season 2009-10) Edrick Floreal began his career with the Cardinal track & field program in 1999 and during his brief tenure on The Farm, he coached several athletes to championships and new school records. He was named the head women's coach in August of 2003 and was promoted to Director of Track & Field/Cross Country in August of 2005.
Prior to his stint at Stanford, Edrick produced 13 All-Americans and five Southeastern Conference champions in three seasons at the University of Kentucky. Coach Floreal also enjoyed successful coaching stints at Georgia Tech where Yellow Jacket sprinters, hurdlers and jumpers won six Atlantic Coast Conference championships from 1993-96. Edrick began his coaching career at the University of Nebraska.
Floreal also sports an impressive athletic record. As a world class triple jumper, Edrick has represented Canada in the IAAF World Championships and made the Olympic Team in 1988 and 1992. In 1989, Floreal was ranked 9th in the world in the triple jump.
A 1990 graduate of the University of Arkansas, Floreal helped the Razorbacks win four NCAA team titles during his career. He also made history by becoming the first athlete in NCAA history to win three consecutive NCAA triple jump titles. All totaled, Floreal won five NCAA jump titles both indoors and outdoors.
Floreal is married to LaVonna Martin-Floreal, the 1992 Olympic silver medalist in the 100 meter hurdles. The Floreals reside in Palo Alto, CA.

Samuel Freas -- Head Swimming & Diving Coach, Oklahoma Baptist University

(as of swimming season 2011-12) Oklahoma Baptist added former Olympic and NCAA Division I swim coach Samuel Freas as its first swimming and diving coach in March 2011.
Dr. Freas, who coached the Republic of South Africa's swim team in the Olympics, has been the head coach at Arkansas, Hawaii and Louisiana State, as well as SUNY-Potsdam and Allegheny College.
He was 64-12 at Allegheny, 84-15 at Arkansas, 61-9 at LSU and 40-0 at Hawaii in dual meets, with multiple top-10 team finishes at each stop. His swimmers at Arkansas set seven U.S. records, three world records and produced 11 Olympians and one world champion. In all, 19 of his college swimmers have competed in the Olympics.
In addition to his work with athletic programs, Freas has served as a faculty member at Arkansas, LSU and Allegheny College. He also was director of athletics and health, physical education and recreation at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, and associate dean at Palm Beach State College in West Palm Beach, Fla.
Freas was Southwest Conference Coach of the Year four times, Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year three times and Western Athletic Conference Coach of the Year twice in swimming and once in diving.
An author of several books on swimming, Freas served as president and CEO of the International Swimming Hall of Fame from 1989-2004.
Freas attended the United States Military Academy at West Point and graduated from Springfield College with bachelor's and master's degrees. He did Ph.D. degree studies at Iowa before earning a doctor of education degree from California Western.

Page last updated: 8/15/11