Three New Coaches Are Named at Chapman College

They reshuffled the deck Friday in the athletic department at Chapman College and when they were done, the Panthers had three new coaches and a new sports information director.

Dr. Walt Bowman, Chapman’s athletic director, introduced his four new appointments at a press conference on campus.

The new appointments are:

--Paul Kahn, head coach of the women’s basketball team. Kahn comes from Costa Mesa High School, where he had been the girls’ coach for the last six years. Kahn replaces Brian Berger, who is now coaching at Colorado State.

--Linda Laye, coach of the men’s water polo team. Laye was a varsity assistant to Mack Graham last fall. Graham is moving on to pursue other interests.

--Dick Leatherman, coach of the men’s volleyball team. Leatherman succeeds Tom Read, who coached the men’s and the women’s volleyball teams last season. Read remains as women’s coach.

--Matt Fischer, sports information director. Effective July 15, Fischer succeeds B. B. Branton, who has resigned to pursue other interests.

Of the four, the selection of Kahn was a surprise because he came directly from a high school program. Bowman said Kahn was impressive in interviews and was selected largely because of that.

“He came into the interview process and just blew us away,” Bowman said. “He had a lot of enthusiasm and energy and is extremely well-prepared.”

Kahn, 37, will continue teaching at Costa Mesa, where his girls’ teams had a 70-67 record, with two Southern Section playoff appearances (1984 and ‘86), and captured the 1984 Sea View League title.

Laye, 25, helped develop the Chapman water polo program in 1984-85 and has served as an athletic trainer.

Leatherman, 34, was a two-time All-American in volleyball at Ohio State University, served as coach of the Saudi Arabian Air Force team in 1984 and was the personnel coordinator for volleyball for the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee. Most recently, Leatherman taught at Summit School in Orange.

Fischer, 24, comes to Chapman after serving as sports information director at San Francisco State University and assistant publicity director at Washington State University and with the San Francisco Giants.