Eureka College Welcomes Four New Head Coaches

EUREKA, Ill. – Eureka College Director of Athletics Paul Bryant has announced the addition of four new head coaches to the Eureka athletics staff for the 2012-13 athletic year. Isaac Cox has been named baseball head coach, Deb Neff has been selected to be the softball head coach, Doug Middendorf will lead the golf program and DeRicco Reed has been named head coach of the cross country squad.

Cox comes to Eureka after a five-year stint as the Director of Baseball Operations and assistant coach at Lincoln College. He also worked as the Recruiting Coordinator for the Lynx. He was part of a coaching staff that recruited and coached nine Major League Baseball draft picks and helped Lincoln earn its first-ever national ranking in 2011. Cox graduated from LC in 2008 and also owns a master's degree in sports management.

Neff will direct the Eureka softball program after a 16-year run as head coach at East Peoria Community High School. She led the Raiders to 355 victories, three Mid-Illini Conference titles and a pair of IHSA regional crowns. Neff was a three-time Illinois Coaches Association Coach of the Year and also served as the IHSA State Softball Tournament Manager at Eastside Centre in East Peoria. She owns an undergraduate degree from Illinois State and a master's degree in sports administration from Western Illinois.

Middendorf, a former golf standout at Monmouth College from 2003 until 2007, will take over as the Eureka golf coach for the 2013 season. Middendorf was a two-time All-Midwest Conference selection for the Fighting Scots and won the MWC individual championship as a senior in 2007. He earned his degree from MC in 2007 before becoming the boys golf head coach at Peoria Notre Dame High School for four seasons from 2009 through 2012.

Reed will begin his coaching career at the collegiate level with the Eureka cross country program, but owns more than a decade of track & field coaching experience. He has coached previously at Parkside Junior High School in Normal, Normal West Community High School and Central Junior High School in East Peoria. He is a certified personal trainer and owns an undergraduate degree in physical education from Illinois State.

Eureka College sponsors 18 varsity programs at the NCAA Division III level and will begin its seventh season as a member of the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in 2012-13.

Courtesy Eureka College sports information