EYE ON THE EAGLES | A.G. Kruger returns to Ashland University as head track & field coach

The following is a roundup of recent happenings in Ashland University sports.

MEN’S AND WOMEN’S TRACK & FIELD 

A.G. Kruger wanted to come back to Ashland University and serve as its track and field head coach.

And come back Kruger has, as Ashland Director of Athletics Al King announced Kruger as AU track and field's new leader on June 6.

"It's with a great deal of pride and excitement that I welcome A.G. back to Ashland," King said. "His passion for this university, the athletic department and the track and field program knows no bounds. This isn't a job for him. It's a calling."

Kruger most recently served as the throws coach for NCAA Division II South Dakota's track and field program from 2015-22, a stint which included 2018 (outdoors) and 2022 (indoors and outdoors) Summit League women's team championships.

"It's something I didn't think would come at this time in my life, to have the opportunity,” Kruger said. “There's no way I replace Jud (Logan), but I hope I have enough 'Jud-isms' in me, and learning from him and learning from other people, especially at USD, from coach (Lucky) Huber and coach (Dave) Gottsleben there, learning how to become a head coach.

"I'm excited about the ability to come back here to AU and be able to keep moving the track and field program forward."

Kruger is remembered by those in and around the AU athletic department for his 13 years training, coaching and teaching on campus, including stints as head strength and conditioning coach and assistant throws coach under Logan, who passed away in January.

"A.G. had the benefit of being mentored by a number of people, in and outside the track and field program, during his first stint in Ashland," King said. "He went to South Dakota and continued his coaching education. He returns with new perspectives and ideas and the fire to maintain the outstanding all-around program Jud Logan put in place."

Kruger is just the third full-time track and field head coach at Ashland in the last 40 years, following Bill Gallagher and Logan. After Logan's death, interim head coach Jacob Sussman led the Eagles men to second- (indoors) and fifth-place (outdoors) finishes at the 2022 NCAA Division II Championships.

Kruger, 43, a member of Team USA in three Summer Olympic Games (2004, 2008 and 2012), is a 2001 graduate of Morningside College.

On June 8, Ashland senior Trevor Bassitt was named the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Division II Men's Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year.

Bassitt, who recently finished his collegiate career with 10 national championships and 21 All-America citations, is the first Eagle to earn that distinction.

Indoors, Bassitt has been the USTFCCCA national Men's Track Athlete of the Year three times (2020-22).

Two days earlier, Bassitt was selected the Division II Midwest Region Men's Track Athlete of the Year by the USTFCCCA.

Bassitt is the first Eagle to earn the honor twice.

BASEBALL 

Ashland senior closer Perry Bewley earned All-Midwest Region second-team honors for the third time this season, this time from the American Baseball Coaches Association on June 1.

The only player in program history with back-to-back double-digit save seasons, Bewley was 1-1 with 10 saves and a 2.84 ERA this spring. He worked in 24 games, struck out 49 in 38 innings, and opponents hit .185 against him.

FOOTBALL 

Former Ashland standout kicker-punter Vince Mazza is on the 2023 ballot for induction into the College Football Hall of Fame as announced by the National Football Foundation and the Hall on June 6.

It is the third consecutive year Mazza, a 2005 inductee into the Ashland University Hall of Fame, has been on the College Football Hall of Fame ballot.

Playing as an Eagle from 1983-86, Mazza is the only player in Ashland football history to earn four All-America citations, including first-team Kodak honors as a senior. He was Ashland's first Harlon Hill Trophy (Division II Player of the Year) candidate in 1986.

Mazza was also named All-Heartland Collegiate Conference four times, including earning the HCC's Most Valuable Player in 1986, when he helped lead the Eagles to their first Division II postseason appearance.

Mazza's career punting average of 41.3 is fourth in Ashland football annals, and he still has AU records in career punts (243) and punting yards (10,043).

The 1987 Ashland College graduate went on to sign contracts in the NFL with the Cincinnati Bengals and Pittsburgh Steelers in 1987, the Atlanta Falcons in 1988, the Dallas Cowboys in 1989 and the Miami Dolphins in 1990. He was also in camps with the World League of American Football's Orlando Thunder in 1991 and the Professional Spring Football League's Utah Pioneers in 1992.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL 

Ashland women's basketball coach Kari Pickens recently announced the addition of Jenna Kotas as AU’s new assistant coach.

Kotas spent the past three seasons as an assistant women's basketball coach at Illinois Springfield.

Kotas is a three-time recipient of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association Thirty Under 30 award (2019, 2021 and 2022), established to honor 30 of the up-and-coming women's basketball coaches age 30 and under in the sport at all levels of the game.

Her first WBCA Thirty Under 30 award came in her only season with the Purdue Northwest women's basketball program. Kotas was also an assistant for one year at Dubuque and two seasons at Benedictine (Ill.).

She comes to Ashland after the appointment of former associate head coach Stephanie Gehlhausen as the head coach of Lander's women's basketball program on May 9.

This article originally appeared on Ashland Times Gazette: A.G. Kruger returns to Ashland U as head track & field coach