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Feb. 22, 2010
IUP athletic director Frank Condino has announced the hiring of Gary Agard as the Crimson Hawks' new field hockey head coach. Agard comes to IUP after spending the previous eight seasons as an assistant coach for perennial national power Bloomsburg. While with the Huskies he was responsible for recruiting players at local, regional and national events and designed drills to enhance individual skills. He also assisted with practice planning and game strategy and scheduling and was the assistant director of the Bloomsburg summer field hockey camps which generated an annual income of $120,000 to support the university's highly successful program. Agard was also a member of the coaching staff at the University of North Carolina and Penn State field hockey camps. A native of Trinidad and Tobago, Agard helped the Huskies post a record of 175-16 in his eight seasons on the staff and Division II national championships each year except for 2005 when Bloomsburg finished as the runners-up. The team had two undefeated seasons and lost two or fewer games a total of five times. Over the past eight seasons, the Huskies boasted five national players of the year, 32 All-Americans and 33 players who earned Academic All-America accolades. Agard also served as an assistant lacrosse coach at Bloomsburg and received a master's degree in education from the university in 2006. Agard was a member of both the Trinidad and Tobago junior and senior field hockey national teams from 1981 to 1983 and continued his playing career throughout the decade as a member of the Rangers field hockey club, a team comprised of nine members of the national team. He came to the United States in 1992 to pursue a college degree and enrolled at Brooklyn College, earning a bachelor's of science degree in secondary education in May 1996. He worked with Michael Graham, one of the selectors of the U.S. men's national team, on the coaching staff of the Tristate Falcons field hockey club. Agard continued to play and coach for Tristate after graduating from Brooklyn College. He was a member of teams that won the North East Field Hockey Association title each year from 1996-2001 and represented the U.S. at the inaugural Pan-Am field hockey club championships held in Jamaica. |
