Golden Bears Welcome New Staff
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (October 20, 2021) – The Western New England Athletics Department welcomes multiple new coaches and administrators to the Golden Bear Family.
The Golden Bear athletics department is led by Lori Mayhew-Wood, the Associate Athletic Director of Operations and the Senior Woman Administrator, and Jennifer Kolins, the Associate Director of Athletics for Student-Athlete Development. Mayhew-Wood has been in her current role for the last three years after serving as the Assistant Athletic Director. Kolins is in her first year of her new role after previously serving as the Assistant Athletic Director for Student Development for two years and the head Men's and Women's Tennis Coach for 21 years.
Ryan Guers joins the team as the Assistant Director of Athletics for Compliance after being a three-year student-athlete on the wrestling team from 2016 to 2019. Guers was an Academic All-American, placed at regionals and was a captain of the wrestling team his third year. For the last two years, Guers has been a law student at the University while working as an Assistant to the General Council before coming to the athletic department.
Christine Young joins the athletic department as the Athletics Administrative Assistant after being the program coordinator in the Career Development Center on the campus of Western New England University for the last 10 and a half years. Young is an American International College alum and earned her bachelor's in business administration.
Dan Grant is welcomed back to Western New England University after graduating with a bachelor's degree in business administration in May 2021. During his time at the University, Grant worked as a Game Day Operations Assistant for all four years. In this role, Grant served as a shift leader for all athletic events, was responsible for training and delegating tasks to other student workers, efficiently set up and broke down home events for all 20 Division III teams and was a crew chief for the 2019 NCAA Football Division III Tournament and the 2020 NCAA Women's Basketball Division III Tournament.
Jon Harris earned the title of Head Men's and Women's Cross-Country Coach after completing the last 16 seasons as an assistant coach for the programs. Harris was a four-year runner and three-year captain for the Golden Bears, as well as a member of the Western New England squad that returned to varsity competition in 1999. He graduated from Western New England University in 2004 with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering and attained his Level 1 Certification from USA Track and Field in 2008.
Steve Posner was named the Director of Tennis and the Head Men's Tennis Coach after serving as the Associate Head Tennis Coach since 2017. Posner has multiple years of coaching experience not just at Western New England and has received multiple coaching and athletic achievements. Posner currently serves as a Board member for Moving on Up Tennis Inc. Posner has a bachelor's in Physical Education from the University of California – Berkeley, a master's from Syracuse University in Physical Education, and a doctorate from the University of Connecticut at Storrs.
Patrick Roche joins the Golden Bear family as the Head Women's Tennis Coach. Prior to Western New England, Roche was an instructor at Moving on Up Tennis of Springfield while also instructing with the Northampton Recreation Department. Roche is a former Division I tennis and soccer player at Siena College in Loudonville, N.Y. where he earned his bachelor's in 1991. Roches also earned his master's in 2003 from Sage Graduate School in Troy, N.Y.
Mike Young is taking over the Men's Ice Hockey program as Head Coach. Young comes to Western New England following a stint at Becker College, where he led the Hawks for two seasons. In his first season with the Hawks, Young led the team to a 5-19-1 record. In comparison to the 2018-19 record, the Hawks under Young's coaching had a better record, moved up in the competitive Commonwealth Coast Conference standings, scored more goals, had more assists, had better special team's numbers, and better offensive production, a sign of improvement for the Hawks as they head into the second season with Young at the helm. Prior to being the head coach at Becker College, Young had a nine-year stint with the Westfield State University men's ice hockey program. For the final six years at Westfield State, Young was the Associate Head Coach, after being an Assistant Coach in his first three years. During his time at Westfield State, the program never missed the postseason and Young helped send 19 players to the professional ranks.
Corey Lomas is the newest addition to the Golden Bear family joining as the Head Swimming Coach. Lomas comes to Western New England with over eight years of coaching experience. Most recently, Lomas took over the swimming program at Ludlow High School where he led the team to break nine school records and win League Titles for both the girls' and boys' teams. Since 2016, Lomas has owned and been the head coach at PVAA Swimming in Wilbraham. The program is currently ranked in the top ten in New England for all age groups and Lomas was awarded the 2018-19 USA Swimming New England Coach of the Year Award. Lomas was previously the assistant swim coach and the diving coach at Minnechaug Regional High School where he coached two record breaking seasons with 20 school records broken during his time coaching. Lomas is a SUNY New Paltz graduate of the class of 2013.
"We are thrilled to welcome many new and talented staff members to the department this fall, adding to the first class Golden Bear coaches and staff that have continually focused on student-athlete development and well-being." - Jennifer Kolins, Associate Director of Athletics for Student-Athlete Development.
