Department of Athletics Announces Retirements, Staff Updates

06/19/20

Contributed by Justin Lutes

The IC Department of Athletics has announced the retirement of Jim Mullins (men's basketball), Bill Austin (men's and women's tennis), Paula Miller (women's swimming & diving) and Kathy Farley (administration). Along with the departures, Garret Eldridge (men's soccer), Sean Burton '09 (men's basketball), Chris Hayes '16 (men's and women's tennis) and Kevin Markwardt (men's and women's swimming & diving) have all been named head coaches over the past few months.

Mullins announced his retirement from the men's basketball program on April 10. He departs after 23 years as head coach and is the winningest coach in program history with 353 victories to his credit.

Burton, who has been an assistant coach for the past five seasons, takes over at the helm of the program.

Read the release here.

On May 21, Austin made his decision to retire after 20 seasons as the head coach of the men's and women's tennis program. Austin won more than 400 matches during his time on South Hill and accumulated 20 conference titles.

Hayes will take over the programs after three seasons as an assistant.

More information is available here.

Miller, a hall of famer, elected to retire after 36 seasons as women's swimming & diving coach on June 18. Miller coached nearly 500 All-Americans during her time at IC and mentored three student-athletes to individual national titles. She departs Ithaca with an overall winning percentage of .843.

Markwardt, the men's swimming & diving head coach for more than 30 years, will now oversee the women's program next seasons.

Read the announcement here.

On June 19, Director of Athletics Susan Bassett '79 notified the department that Farley will be retiring at the end of the month. Farley began working in the department in 2002.

On May 7, Bassett announced the promotion of Eldridge to head coach of the men's soccer program after Kyle Dezotell departed for Tufts University in March. Eldridge has spent the last two seasons with the Bombers, who have re-established themselves as one of the top teams in the Northeast.