Brian KattenAugust 30, 20121min
Wesleyan's Athletics Hall of Fame will induct its sixth class Friday, Oct. 19 as part of the university’s Homecoming/Family Weekend. This year’s inductions will include an outstanding coach, administrator and leader and the championship wrestling team he coached in 1983–84. The coach and team will join the 30 individuals and five teams currently in the Hall. Being honored and inducted is recently retired and long-time athletics director John Biddiscombe and the New England Championship Wrestling Team he coached in 1983–84, Wesleyan’s last New England wrestling champion until this year’s 2011-12 title squad. (more…)

Brian KattenApril 17, 20124min
Peter Solomon has been appointed faculty head coach of men's and women's swimming and diving at Wesleyan University as well as aquatics director, it was announced April 16 by Wesleyan Athletics Director John Biddiscombe. Solomon is an 18-year veteran head coach of men's and women's swimming and diving at NESCAC colleges Middlebury (1997-2011) and Amherst (1993-97). "Wesleyan is very excited to welcome Peter Solomon as our swimming and diving coach," Biddiscombe says. "He brings to the position a wealth of experience and a winning tradition." "I’m proud to represent Wesleyan and I look forward to getting to know the team…

Benjamin TraversApril 17, 20121min
The Recess at Wesleyan Program welcomed 100 students from a local intermediate school who were rewarded for exemplary behavior with a midday recess excursion to Wesleyan's Bacon Field House. Dozens of university student athletes hosted the children in a variety of play activities including basketball, kickball and capture the flag. Recess at WES is an ongoing partnership with regular visits by student athletes to the Intermediate school. It is supported by the Wesleyan Athletics Advantage Program, which integrates community service into the undergraduate student athlete experience. [youtube width="640" height="420"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc5CPIZI29Y[/youtube]

Brian KattenJanuary 23, 20122min
John Biddiscombe, in his 37th year at Wesleyan and 24th as its athletics director, will be one of 12 individuals along with one team inducted into the Middletown Sports Hall of Fame on Jan 26. Biddiscombe came to Wesleyan in 1974 as a three-sport coach of football, wrestling and track and field. He was head coach of wrestling from 1974 to 1989 with a won-loss record of 128-85-3, and in 1984 the team won the New England championship. He was voted New England wrestling coach of the year in 1984 and 1989, and was inducted into the New England Collegiate…

Brian KattenDecember 19, 20112min
Patti Klecha-Porter, who has directed the field hockey team at Wesleyan since her arrival in Middletown in 1985, was inducted into the Connecticut Lacrosse Hall of Fame on Nov. 13, for her long-time service as a lacrosse umpire. Klecha-Porter was one of eight individual enshrined during a ceremony in Southington, Conn. Klecha-Porter graduated from Ithaca College in 1981.  As a student athlete at Ithaca, she was captain and MVP of both the field hockey and lacrosse teams.  After graduating she continued playing field hockey at the U.S. Hockey level as well as club lacrosse for Hampshire New England. Klecha-Porter was…

Brian KattenOctober 3, 20113min
When asked about his strongest football memory from his playing days at Wesleyan, Sandy Herzlich ’81 came up with a 20-7 win at Amherst in 1979.  “We beat Amherst up there in just a great game,” Sandy recounted.  “Kosty [defensive coordinator Peter Kostacopoulos] put in a wild game plan and we were shuttling personnel in and out, and it worked.  I remember that as being a very satisfying win.”  Head Coach Bill Macdermott called it “one of the best defensive games I’ve ever seen Wesleyan play.”  Mac was in his ninth season at the helm. Sandy’s memory of his first…

Olivia DrakeSeptember 15, 20112min
After 37 years at Wesleyan, John Biddiscombe, director of athletics and chair of the Physical Education Department, is retiring at the end of this academic year. Biddiscombe came to Wesleyan in 1974 as a three-sport coach of football, wrestling, and track and field. He was head coach of wrestling from 1974 to 1989 with a won-loss record of 128-85-3, and in 1984 the team won the New England championship. He was voted New England wrestling coach of the year in 1984 and 1989, and was inducted into the New England Collegiate Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2004. As director of athletics,…

Brian KattenJuly 25, 20113min
Jeff McDonald, an assistant football coach at Wesleyan, will have a trio of instructional DVDs and an article produced by  American Football Monthly (AFM) magazine, one of the premier trade magazines for football coaches in the United States. The article will appear in the August issue of the magazine and will be accompanied by online promotional samplings of the instructional DVDs, each of which will run approximately one hour. McDonald flew to Florida in June to help prepare the DVDs. In each he presents instruction on different techniques and defenses, including defensive schemes, unique approaches to eight-man defensive fronts, and…

Brian KattenApril 13, 20113min
Approximately 115 students from the Woodside Intermediate School in Cromwell joined Wesleyan student-athletes from the men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s ice hockey, football, softball, women’s tennis and wrestling teams and the rugby club for an hour in the Bacon Field House for “recess.” Three play stations were set up, allowing groups of third- to fifth-graders from Woodside to interact with the Wesleyan students in kickball, capture the flag, red light/green light and basketball. The Wesleyan football team, through an arrangement between assistant coach Jeff McDonald and Woodside principal Bo Ryan, who met during their college years in the…