The Kent State men’s basketball team will begin defense of its 2010 MAC regular-season title Jan. 7 at Buffalo as the Golden Flashes released their full 30-game schedule on Monday.
The Flashes, who have won the MAC regular-season title the past two seasons, also will play East Division road games against Ohio (Jan. 18), Akron (Jan. 21), Miami (Feb. 21) and Bowling Green (Feb. 25).
The Flashes host Miami (Jan. 11) and Bowling Green (Jan. 14) and will also play in a game in the annual ESPN BracketBuster at home Feb. 18. The Flashes will end the season with back-to-back home games against Ohio (Feb. 29) and Akron, which will take place either March 2 or 3.
The Flashes will play five games against teams that made the NCAA Tournament last season, including the season opener at West Virginia on Nov. 15 and a trip to Logan, Utah, to face Utah State and Saint Peter’s in the Athletics in the Action Basketball Classic on Dec. 20-22.
The Flashes have made 12 postseason appearances in 13 years and return four starters from last year’s team that finished 25-12 and advanced to the NIT quarterfinals.
High school
The Barberton Board of Education unanimously voted Monday to name Rob Culbertson as the school district’s new athletic director. Culbertson, 52, will leave the classroom as a science teacher. He was also the sports athletic trainer. He has worked in the Barberton district for 29 years.
Culbertson will oversee 19 sports in the district.
He said he wants to bring the athletic program into premier status, become a facilitator of more success with student athletes’ participation to ensure they work hard in their sport and also work hard in the classroom. He also hopes to make use of technology in the department such as Facebook and Twitter.
He replaces George “Jay” Glaze, who resigned earlier this month. Glaze was the athletic director since 2008. Prior to that he was the high school football coach for five seasons. He was hired for that position in 2002. When he resigned as coach, he continued teaching as a social studies instructor, but was also an assistant coach at Mount Union College for a year.
Soccer
University of Akron senior goalkeeper Jeny Wolbert was named the MAC defensive player of the week. Wolbert had nine saves in Friday’s 1-0 win over Michigan, including six in the second half. It was the 11th shutout of her career.
— Staff report
