Bloomsburg Names Vermont Assistant John Sanow Head Coach
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BLOOMSBURG--Bloomsburg University vice-president for University and Student Affairs Dr. Preston Herring has announced the hiring of John Sanow as the school's new men's basketball coach.
Sanow comes to Bloomsburg after serving as an assistant coach at the University of Vermont, a Division I program, last year. Overall, Sanow brings 18 years of experience to Bloomsburg University with previous coaching stops at Division II schools Gannon University and Pitt-Johnstown. He also spent 11 years as an assistant coach at Division I St. Francis of Pennsylvania.
"I am very excited to be named head coach at Bloomsburg University," said Sanow. "I would like to thank Dr. Kozloff, Preston Herring, Mary Gardner and the entire search committee for a great opportunity. Bloomsburg is a special place academically and athletically. The PSAC is competitive league and I look forward to the challenge that lies ahead. I feel very blessed to have been chosen to lead this program."
"Dr. Kozloff and I both came away from our interview with John appreciating his philosophy that academics always come first," added Dr. Herring. "We were quite impressed with his record of a 100% graduation rate of the teams he has coached."
Bloomsburg University Athletic Director Mary Gardner feels Sanow is the right person to lead Bloomsburg basketball back to head of the pack in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Eastern Division.
"John was our top choice after going through the interview process," said Gardner. "His eighteen years of coaching experience, the majority of it in Pennsylvania, has prepared him well to lead our men's basketball program back to the top of the PSAC Eastern Division. John's vision and philosophy are a great fit for Bloomsburg University."
A native of Windber, Pa. who is well connected in basketball in the East, Sanow is a 1987 graduate of Indiana (Pa.) University. After transferring from Clarion University in 1984, he led IUP in scoring and was a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference All-Conference First Team selection in 1986. He also set numerous three-point shooting records for the Indians.
At Vermont last season he was part of a new coaching staff the led the least-experienced team in the nation in D-I (no seniors, two, juniors, five sophomores and seven freshmen) to the America East Championship game for the fourth straight season. The sixth-seeded Catamounts (13-17, 7-9 America East) topped #3 Boston University and #2 Binghamton before falling at top-seeded Albany in the title game.
While at St. Francis (Pa.), he was an integral part of the Red Flash winning the 1991 Northeast Conference title and a trip to the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship. In 1992 he also was an assistant coach for the Panama Men's Olympic Team in its attempt to qualify for the Summer Olympics in Barcelona. While at St. Francis he coached Mike Iuzzolino, who went on to the NBA for the Dallas Mavericks.
Sanow becomes the 21st coach in what will be the 105th season of Bloomsburg University men's basketball competition.