Iona promotes assistant Jeff Ruland to head coach

[BSW]

Jeff Ruland, the foundation on which the Iona basketball program
was built in the late 1970's and an assistant coach for the last
three years, today was named as the new head coach of his alma
mater.

The 39-year-old Ruland succeeds Tim Welsh, who left the school
last Thursday to become the head coach at Providence.

Ruland starred at Iona for three seasons under coach Jim Valvano
and led the Gaels to their first two NCAA Tournament appearances
in 1979 and 1980. After putting Iona on the college basketball
map, Ruland embarked on a successful nine-year NBA career.

Ruland served as an assistant coach with the Philadelphia 76ers
in 1993-94 before returning to Iona as an assistant under Welsh.

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