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Athletics
Villano Named New Leatherneck Baseball Coach | Programs Excel in NCAA Graduation Success Rate | New Director for Athletics Media Services | Rocky Vision Discount for WIU Alumni
Villano Named New Leatherneck Baseball Coach
 Western Illinois University announced the hiring of Mike Villano as its new head baseball coach, Monday, Nov. 23.
Villano takes over the program after the passing of Stan Hyman, who served as head coach of the Leathernecks for eight seasons.
Villano spent the past six seasons at Central Michigan University, where he served as the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator and spent last season as the team's hitting coach.
Click here to read more.
Photo courtesy of Central Michigan University.
Programs Excel in NCAA Graduation Success Rate
Eleven Western Illinois University Intercollegiate Athletic programs scored 80 percent or better in the most recent Graduation Success Rate (GSR) data released by the NCAA.
The Fighting Leatherneck volleyball program, led by head coach Kym McKay and Western Illinois' women’s swimming and diving program, led by head coach Greg Naumann, boasted perfect 100 percent GSR scores. Both the volleyball and women’s swimming and diving programs were the highest scoring teams in their respective sports in The Summit League.
In all, eleven of Western’s programs scored above 80 percent: women’s basketball, women’s cross country/track and field, women’s soccer, softball, volleyball, women’s swimming and diving, baseball, men’s cross country/track and field, men’s soccer, women’s golf, and men’s swimming and diving.
Click here to read more.
Osterman is New Director for Athletics Media Services
 Western Illinois University has announced the hiring of Patrick Osterman as the Director for Athletics Media Services.
“We are extremely happy to have Patrick join the Leatherneck Athletics Department. His resume speaks for itself, as he certainly has the experience and knowledge-base to advance our media services unit,” Director of Athletics Dr. Tim Van Alstine said. “At the same time, it is important to note the success of our media services area over the past few years and in recent months. Katie Kane has done a terrific job serving as our interim director and I am confident both Patrick and Katie will continue to improve the service to our media representatives and our loyal Leatherneck fan base.”
“I am extremely honored to take over as the Director of Media Services at Western Illinois University. Western has built a tremendous reputation for its Athletics Department and I’m looking forward to working with the staff and student-athletes to continue that tradition. I want to thank Dr. Tim Van Alstine for giving me this opportunity,” said Osterman. “When I came to interview for the position I was very impressed with Dr. Van Alstine’s vision and how much the staff loves working at Western. I’m grateful my family and I have the opportunity to join the Fighting Leatherneck family.”
Osterman comes to Western after serving as the Assistant Athletics Director in charge of Athletics Media Relations at Georgia Southern since October 2004. He came to GSU following seven years as the assistant sports information director at Eastern Illinois University.
At Georgia Southern, Osterman served as the primary publicist for the football and baseball teams while overseeing the day-to-day athletic media relations department operations and the 15 varsity sports programs.
During his tenure with the Eagles, Osterman worked on the publicity for three Walter Payton Award finalists, including 2007 winner Jayson Foster. For two years he also worked as the men’s basketball sports information director. During his time with the Eagles, he has worked with numerous All-America student-athletes and assisted on the radio broadcasts for baseball, and men’s and women’s basketball.
Osterman served as the official statistician at the 2006 Southern Conference Baseball Tournament. He is a member of the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA), College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) and Knights of Columbus.
While at Eastern Illinois, Osterman worked in some capacity with all 22 varsity sports. He was directly responsible for soccer, volleyball, women’s basketball and baseball. While there he directed the promotion of several athletic and academic All-Americas. He worked with several teams that participated in NCAA postseason tournaments: including women’s soccer, volleyball, men’s basketball and baseball.
He served as the media coordinator for the 1998 OVC Volleyball Tournament, several OVC Cross Country and Indoor Track championships and the 1999 and 2000 OVC Women’s Soccer Tournaments.
Osterman earned a master’s degree in athletic administration from Gonzaga University in August 1998. An intern in the Gonzaga SID office, he worked with the Bulldog volleyball, women’s basketball and crew teams.
A 1995 graduate of the University of Northern Iowa, Osterman received his bachelor’s degree in public relations and worked as a student assistant in the UNI Sports Information Office. He is married to the former Susan Schmitz and the couple has two sons, Andrew and Ryan.
Rocky Vision Discount for WIU Alumni
Western Illinois University Alumni now receive a 20% discount from WIU Athletics for Rocky Vision, our online destination for live and on-demand audio and video you cannot get anywhere else.
With your annual pass, you won’t miss any of the 2009-2010 basketball season with full video selection of all home Men’s and Women’s basketball games. Watch your Leathernecks in action live! Hurry, this offer ends December 15th.
To read more about Rocky Vision, click here.
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