Other Great Coaches and Athletic Directors
Tom Penders, Bob Tallent (men’s basketball); Georges Edeline, George Lidster (men’s soccer); Pat Sullivan, Susie Homan (volleyball); Jim Pixlee (basketball, football, athletic director); Margie Foster-Cunningham (gymnastics); Carl Cox (swimming); Bill Shreve (tennis); Paul Wilkins (crew); Callie Flipse (men’s water polo); and John Castleberry (baseball).
Athletic Directors
Bob Faris (’39)- Faris, who died in 1999, was GW’s first basketball all-American, but in 1955 he became athletic director, serving until 1982. GW won 19 Southern Conference championships in his tenure, three of which he won himself as the winningest golf coach in GW history. Under Faris, the Smith Center was opened, GW football won the Sun Bowl (and was ended).
Steve Bilsky and Jack Kvancz-Bilsky (1983-1994) and Kvancz (1994-present) presided over a rebirth of GW athletics. With the support of Vice President for Student and Academic Support Services Bob Chernak and President Trachtenberg, these two A.D.s brought all GW sports to a new level.
Lynn George (’48)- GW’s first women’s athletic director from 1975-1987 (before the departments were combined).
Other coaches
Arnold Red Auerbach (’40)
He first came to GW to play for Bill Reinhart some 62 years ago, and evidenced by his presence at every GW game, he has never left (except for a few decades when he was a little busy with other things).
Auerbach likes to say there are coaches in the Hall of Fame that couldn’t carry Bill Reinhart’s jock. What, then, could they carry of Auerbach’s?
He has nine NBA championships as a coach, and he is still president of the Boston Celtics. He is easily the most renowned GW graduate and one of the school’s greatest supporters.
He was also a fine basketball player in his own right and was an original inductee into the GW Athletic Hall of Fame.
Also worth noting: Sam Perlozzo (’73) – Perlozzo has been a major league baseball coach for nearly 20 years. He is now third base coach for the Baltimore Orioles.
Mike Brey (’82)- Brey has been very successful as head coach of men’s basketball at the University of Deleware since 1995.
Joe Dooley (’88)- Dooley was head coach at East Carolina for four seasons. He is now an assistant at the University of New Mexico.
