New hires headline the start of a new semester

Hazleton, Pa. - Hazleton athletics entered the 2018 off-season with four coaching vacancies but with the start of the new school year, all those questions have been answered. Following a summer of searches and the annoucement of new Director of Athletics, Patrice Lombard, the Nittany Lion coaching staff is complete with the filling of coaching vacancies in sports of women's volleyball, men's and women's soccer and women's basketball. "It can be no easy task to find talented individuals who share our philosophy of education and personal excellence," Lombard stated,  "But in each instance, we've found great fits for our programs. Each of our new additions to the staff bring an amazing degree of knowledge and enthusiasm and we're extremely excited about what the future holds for our programs and our student-athletes."

Amy Bessoir - Head Coach of Women's Volleyball

Amy Bessoir will take over the volleyball head coaching reins for the 2018 season after previously serving Penn State Hazleton as an assistant volleyball coach. A native of the Scranton area, Bessoir grew up competing in volleyball, basketball, and swimming. After injury cut her playing days short, she continued pursuing her passion for athletics through mentorship and coaching. Bessoir became the assistant volleyball coach at Penn State Hazleton in 2017 after several years coaching on the AAU volleyball circuit.  Bessoir also serves as a gameday assistant and statistician for other sports at Penn State Hazleton.

Gerry Linn - Head Coach of Men's and Women's Soccer

Coach Linn comes to Penn State Hazleton with a wealth of playing and coaching experience at nearly all levels of play. Linn was a successful young player, earning a pair of all-state team selections in high school and representing the United States in international play at U18 level. He would later go on to play with the NCAA Division II national champions from Southern Connecticut State and parlay that success into a stint at semi-professional level with the Norwalk Jeventis and Parkway Soccer Club. After his playing days, Linn's passion for the game turned to coaching. From 1987 to 2001, Linn consistently led squads at the NCAA and NAIA to winning records and playoff berths followed by a league championship with the semi-pro Parkland Soccer Club of CSL. In addition to his current post as the head of Nittany Lion Soccer, Linn currently serves as the Director of Coaching for the T.A.S.S. (Technique, Accuracy, Speed and Success) soccer development program of Northeastern Pennsylvania. 

Patrick Brogan - Head Coach of Women's Basketball

Pat Brogan will make his return to the collegiate ranks in November as the Head Coach of the Lady Lions basketball squad. The Hazleton, Pa. native had a distinguished playing career with NCAA stops at Lafayette and Dickinson College. Brogan seamlessly transitioned to the coaching ranks beginning as an assistant at Mulhenburg followed by an eight year run as an assistant at Lafayette, helping those teams to three league titles in the late 90's and NCAA tournament berths in 1999 and 2000. Brogan went on to serve as assistant coach Penn State University in State College, Pa. and Georgia Tech University before returning home in 2005. Since then, Coach Brogan has mentored youth and continued to teach the game at a variety of levels in the area including his most recent run as the head coach of the Crestwood girls basketball program from 2013-2015 where he was named coach of the year in the Wyoming Valley Conference in 2014 after winning the schools second league title that season.