Meet the Athletic Staff and Coaches
Benjamin Kozik
Director of Athletics
Coach of Women's Basketball
Southern Vermont College Director of Athletics Benjamin Kozik brings several years of coaching experience to the school, including stints as an assistant football coach at American International College, The College of the Holy Cross and Syracuse University. He was also an assistant high school track and field coach at Hoosac Valley High School in Adams, Ma., having coached long-jumpers and hurdlers, as well as assisting with the mid-distance and long-distance runners. Kozik holds a bachelor's degree from Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Communications as well as a master's degree in Business Administration from Syracuse University's Whitman School of Management. Kozik also serves as the head coach for the women's basketball team at SVC. For more information on the Southern Vermont College athletics, contact Benjamin Kozik at bkozik@svc.edu or call 802-447-4660.
Angie Hillman
Senior Woman Administrator
Coach of Women's and Men's Volleyball
Southern Vermont College Senior Woman Administrator Angie Hillman also serves as the head coach of the volleyball teams. She took over as head women's volleyball coach in 2007 and is now in her second year as head men's volleyball coach. Before coming to SVC, she was head coach at Bishop Ireton High School (Arlington, Vt.) and was coach of a traveling team based out of the Washington, D.C., area. She has also coached a number of summer camps in Cape Cod, Ma., and Williamstown, Ma. She holds a master's degree from Arizona State University and a bachelor's degree from Trinity College (Hartford, Conn.), where she was a starter on the varsity volleyball team. For more information on the Southern Vermont College women's and men's volleyball program, e-mail Coach Hillman at ahillman@svc.edu or call 802-447-4657.
Jeremiah Madison
Coach of Men's and Women's Rugby
Jeremiah Madison — also known as "Jerm" on the rugby pitch — is the College's first varsity head coach of men's and women's rugby, taking over the program in 2006. Madison received a BSE in Physical Education with an emphasis on coaching at Arkansas State University, where he played rugby and was a member of a team which won a collegiate national championship. He earned a master's degree in Sports Coaching and Sports Management from the United States Sports Academy in Daphne, Ala., in 2007. He has also been an assistant football coach at Nettleton Junior High School in Jonesboro, Ark., and served as a coach for the men's rugby team at the University of Mobile in Alabama. Jerm is the New England Rugby Football Union (NERFU) Division IV Men's College Director and he helped found the Equinox Rugby Football Club, an adult men's team based in Arlington, Vermont. He serves as the team captain and coach for Equinox. For more information on the Southern Vermont College men's and women's rugby program, contact Coach Madison at jmadison@svc.edu or call 802-447-4671.
Michael McDonough
Coach of Men's Basketball
Michael McDonough is the head coach of men's basketball. McDonough is responsible for managing all aspects of the program in the College's sixth year as an NCAA Division III member. A native of Bennington, McDonough has extensive experience as a player and basketball coach. While an undergraduate at the University of Notre Dame, he served as a student manager for football under Coach Ara Parseghian and served as the senior basketball manager for Coach Richard "Digger" Phelps. McDonough graduated from Notre Dame with a degree in Architecture and is a licensed architect with his own private practice. Upon returning to Bennington, McDonough coached for six years in the Mount Anthony Youth Athletic Association Basketball Program, serving as program director for three years. McDonough joined the Mt. Anthony Union High School boy's basketball staff in 1981 under his former coach and now retired New England Hall of Fame coach Dave Fredrickson, serving as freshman coach and varsity assistant for 18 years, during which time the Patriots won five consecutive Vermont Division III State Championships, making 7 final four appearances. McDonough took over the reigns as head coach at Southern Vermont College after his three seasons as an assistant on the staff of Ryan Marks. Coach McDonough has also had considerable involvement in community affairs, currently serving on the Bennington Planning Commission and the Vermont Downtown Development Board. He resides in Bennington with wife Sandy. For more information on the Southern Vermont College men's basketball program, contact Coach McDonough at mmcdonough@svc.edu or call 802-447-4658.
Tim Penrod
Coach of Men's Soccer
Tim Penrod is head coach of the College’s men’s soccer program. Penrod was a 4-year player at Juniata College (Pa.). He has been Director of Soccer Operations at Camp Canadensis (Pa.) and has a NSCAA Regional Coaching Diploma. In addition to playing soccer at Juniata, Penrod earned a B.S. in Secondary Education Social Studies. For more information on the Southern Vermont College men's soccer program, contact Coach Penrod at tpenrod@svc.edu or call 802-447-4684.
Donald Schaffer
Coach of Baseball
Athletic Department Recruiting Coordinator
Don Schaffer took over as the new head baseball coach at Southern Vermont College in the summer of 2007. Coach Schaffer comes to the Mountaineers after being assistant coach and recruiting coordinator, for eight years at Division II, Post University, in Waterbury, CT. While there, Coach Schaffer helped turn around a declining program, and coached seven all-conference players. Coach Schaffer has coached 32 seasons total, including semi-pro, AAU junior olympic and high school varsity teams. A lifelong catcher, Don played high school and college baseball in his native New Jersey. Coach Schaffer's teams are known for their hustle, hard work, baseball smarts and passion for the game. Coach Schaffer has also been a nationally certified umpire for 17 years. Coach Schaffer and his wife, Suzanne, live in Arlington, Vermont. His son, Jeff, a former college baseball player, is a structural engineer living in Hackettstown, NJ; while his daughter, Stephanie, lives in Philadelphia and is completing her schooling as a pharmacologist and medical researcher. For more information on the Southern Vermont College Baseball program, e-mail Coach Schaffer at dschaffer@svc.edu or call 802-447-4662.
Shawn Holcombe
Coach of Women's Soccer
The Southern Vermont College Department of Intercollegiate Athletics named Shawn Holcombe as head women’s soccer coach in March 2008.
Holcombe was most recently the head coach at Parish Hill High School in Chaplin, Connecticut where he turned a team that had one victory the year prior to his arrival in 2005 to a squad that went undefeated in conference play during the 2006 and 2007 (24-0) and allowed only one goal over that span. His teams were the first in over a decade at the entire school to win a conference championship.
Holcombe has seven years of collegiate experience as an assistant coach at Teikyo Post University and Wesleyan University.
Holcombe attended Eastern Connecticut State University as an undergrad and is a thesis away from Master’s Degree from Central Connecticut State University.
To learn more about the Southern Vermont College Women's Soccer program Contact Shawn at (802) 447-4356 or sholcombe@svc.edu.
Joe Catania
Coach of Men's & Women's Cross Country
Director of Compliance
Joe Catania became part of the SVC community in March of 2008. He was hired as the head men’s & women’s cross country coach and the Director of Compliance. He brings over 30 years of coaching experience at all educational levels. He has coached Olympic trial and NCAA Championship qualifiers.
Catania comes to Southern Vermont College from East Carolina University (ECU), where his men’s cross team had the highest Conference USA finish in school history and his women’s program reached Academic All-American status for two seasons.
Prior to ECU he has coached on the collegiate level at Florida International University (FIU), Indiana State University and Illinois State University. Catania’s teams have been littered with accomplishments. He has developed 98 all-conference performers in track and field and cross country. He was the NCAA Division II South Region Coach of the Year in 1984.
Catania has coached eight National Football League players and one individual who participated in the 2004 Olympic Trials. In addition, he has coached 10 NCAA National qualifiers, four United States of America Track and Field (USATF) Junior National qualifiers, and three All-Americans.
When he’s not coaching he works as an official for track and field meets. Catania has had the distinguished privilege of working the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia. He has also worked the NCAA National Championships, the Pan-American Games and the USATF National Championships.
He established himself as one of the best developers of talent in the nation. Catania was an outstanding runner at Millersville University where he competed in both track and cross country. As a post-collegiate runner he ran a mile in 4:08.
For more information on everything cross country contact coach Catania at (802) 447- 4639 or jcatania@svc.edu
Bill Bird
Coach of Softball
Bill Bird is in his first season as the head softball coach at Southern Vermont College. He takes over a program that has fallen on hard times, but through hard work and recruiting he expects the team to be more consistent in the coming years.
The head coach of the Greylock Thunder, the two-time defending Berkshire County Champions, Bird has developed players through house ball programs that have excelled at the summer ball levels for U16, U14, and U12 groups. His U14 team is 28-4 over the past two years.
In addition, he is an assistant coach for the Bennington Bandits softball team.
Bird resides in Adams with his wife Cynthia and two daughters. Amanda, 14, is a member of the varsity softball team at Hoosac Valley High School, while Abby, 4, will soon be a softball player herself.
For more information on the SVC softball program contact Coach Bird at (802) 447-4659 or e-mail him at bbird@svc.edu.
Tim McCaffrey
Director of Athletic Communications
Tim McCaffrey joined the SVC communitity on New Year's Day in 2008. He is responsible for the marketing on the school's 12 sports, updating the Web site and statistical maintenance.
In his first few months on the job, he has begun an overhaul of the department, which includes developing records sections in all sports, beginning the rebuilding process of the Web site and writing stories on both the athletic contests and individual student-athletes.
McCaffrey was most recently at Post University where he took an office in disarray and turned it into one of the best in the region. He created a new athletics Web site at Post and organized the department. In addition, he was the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference golf contact and worked as the media contact for the CACC golf tournament. He has also worked for the Atlantic 10 Conference and is an avid baseball fan. He spends his summers umpiring professional baseball.
He can be contacted at tmccaffrey@svc.edu or (802) 447-4672.
