Academy sports recap: Falcons name new basketball head coach

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SAN ANTONIO (AFPN) --  Former Denver Nuggets coach Jeff Bzdelik has been named the new head coach for the Falcon men's basketball team. He replaces Chris Mooney, who left the academy May 5 to accept the head coaching job at the University of Richmond.

“We’re very excited about having Jeff lead the men’s basketball team here at the academy,” said Dr. Hans Mueh, director of athletics. "He brings a wealth of experience at the highest levels of basketball and has a proven record. His teams have always played like successful Air Force teams do -- hard, aggressive and with passion. Jeff is also committed to academics and has an understanding of the military and what our mission at the academy is about. He’ll be a great leader for our young people.”

Mr. Bzdelik began his coaching career in 1978 at Davidson College in North Carolina. In 1980, he was named as an assistant coach at Northwestern University in Illinois where he spent six seasons. In 1988, he moved to professional basketball, serving as an assistant coach for six years with the then Washington Bullets. He spent his next six years as an assistant coach with the Miami Heat before moving to Denver. He became head coach there in August, 2002.

In baseball news, the Falcons ended the regular season by winning the third of three games played with the University of New Mexico Lobos in Mountain West Conference baseball action at the academy. The victory snapped a 15-game losing streak to the Lobos.

In the first game, played May 19, New Mexico broke open a 4-4 tie with four home runs in the eighth inning on the way to a 15-9 win. The Lobos had 14 hits in the game, 10 in the last three innings. The Falcons also had 14 hits but just weren't able to string them together to produce more runs.

In the second game, played May 20, despite racking up a season-high 18 hits, Air Force could not stop New Mexico’s bats, as the Lobos pounded out 22 hits and out-slugged the Falcons, 20-14.

Victory for the Falcons came in the third game, played May 21, as they defeated the Lobos 5-4 in a game that wasn't decided until the bottom of the ninth. The Falcon pitching staff held the Lobos, who entered the game batting .333 as a team, to just seven hits on the day.

This was the final regular season series for the year. The 2005 Mountain West Conference Baseball Championship begins May 25 in Salt Lake City. The championship concludes May 28. The sixth-seeded Falcons will face third-seed San Diego State in the opening round.

At the 2005 NCAA Men's Golf West Regional Tournament, the academy had one player participating in the 141-player field. Tyler Goulding finished tied for 88th place with a 15-over-par 225. At the end of the first round he was sitting in 19th place, but struggled during the next two rounds. Despite his disappointing finish, this tournament marks the conclusion of a very successful season for Goulding, who led the Falcons in the last 10 of their 12 events on the year. After earning MWC Golfer of the Month accolades in November with his first career medalist honors at the Troy Invitational, Goulding went on to have an outstanding spring season, turning in a 72.38 stroke average. He finished tied for seventh at the Mountain West Championship.