BLOOMINGTON, Ill. -- Barb Cothren, who serves as head of the physical
education department, associate athletic director, and women’s tennis coach
at Illinois Wesleyan University, will begin a two-year phased-in retirement
plan at the end of the current academic year.
The plan calls for Cothren, an associate professor of physical
education who joined the IWU faculty in 1979, to retain her role as physical
education department head and continue teaching through the 2000-2001 school
year, but she will be relinquishing her associate athletic director duties
and ending her 11-year career as Titan women’s tennis coach.
Her women’s tennis teams compiled a 115-40 dual meet record,
won a College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin championship in 1992,
and produced 12 CCIW singles and doubles champions.
Cothren was IWU’s volleyball coach from 1979-83. Her teams compiled
a 78-62-2 record and three of her squads qualified for the IAIAW state
tournament, with her 1981 team finishing second.
She also served as the school’s softball coach from 1980-88.
An Illinois State University graduate, she participated in basketball
and softball at ISU and was elected to the ISU Athletic Hall of Fame.
IWU athletic director Dennie Bridges says he is happy for Cothren
and is thankful for the many contributions she has made to Illinois Wesleyan
physical education and athletics. "Barb and I have worked really well together
and she played a key role in the combination of the women’s and men’s athletic
departments and the successful move together to the Shirk Center."
Bridges says the search for a new women’s tennis coach will begin
this spring and that he will work to fill Cothren’s associate athletic
director duties from within the IWU athletic department.