University of Massachusets Athletics
Athletic Department Announces New Hires
August 24, 2007 | General
Aug. 24, 2007
AMHERST, Mass. - University of Massachusetts Athletic Director John McCutcheon has announced the hiring of five positions within the department. The new hires are: Bryan Butterworth, Department Assistant/Assistant Football Coach/ Secondary Coach; Ernie May, Departmental Assistant/ Assistant Coach, Baseball; Chrissy Needham, Assistant Coach, Field Hockey; Kristi Stefanoni, Departmental Assistant/ Assistant Coach, Softball; and Lacy Yager, Assistant Athletic Trainer.
Bryan Butterworth comes to UMass after serving as an assistant at Watertown High School, Watertown, Mass. in 2006. While there he coached the secondary and wide receivers. He was also served as the staff's video coordinator. Butterworth coached wide receivers at the Troy University Football Camp.
Butterworth was a Division I-AA letterwinner at both Canisius College and Sacred Heart University. A Business Marketing major, he was named to the NEC All-Academic Team in 2005 and 2006 and was a merit scholar. He has also worked as a Sales Specialist for Sciele Pharamaceuticals since 2006. Butterworth graduated Cum Laude from Sacred Heart in 2005.
Ernie May has worked with UMass Baseball as an assistant under head coach Mike Stone since 2000. He has been a full-time assistant for the past five seasons. Prior to that, he served as pitching coach in 2000 and volunteer assistant in 2001 and 2002. The Minutemen have won two Atlantic 10 titles during May's tenure.
Prior to UMass, May was head coach at Wofford College in Spartanburg, South Carolina from 1996 to 1999. He guided the program in its transition from Division II to Division I. During the 1992 and 1993 seasons, May was a graduate assistant coach at Springfield College. He is a 1992 graduate of Keene State College where he pitched and played first base.
Chrissy Needham comes to UMass after spending the last six years at Greenwich High School in Connecticut, the past two as head coach. In addition, she is a United States Field Hockey Association Region 3 Coach and head coach and founder of the FC United Field Hockey Club. She has also coached at the Connecticut Elite Field Hockey Camps since 1997 as well as the Circle to Circle Field Hockey Camp in 2006.
Needham enjoyed a successful collegiate career at Connecticut, where she earned her Bachelor's in Mathematics in 2000. A four-time varsity letterwinner for the Huskies, Needham was also a four-time NFHCA All-Academic honoree, Big East Academic All-Star and UConn Scholar-Athlete. She earned her Masters in Education in 2001.
Kristi Stefanoni becomes an assistant coach after serving last season as Director of Softball Operations at UMass. She has also served as a consultant for Planet Fastpitch, Inc. and an administrator for the Elaine Sortino Softball School.
Stefanoni had a standout career at UMass between 2003 and 2006. She helped lead the Minutewomen four Atlantic 10 Tournament titles and four NCAA Tournament appearances. Stefanoni also served as president of the Athletic Department Student Athlete Advisory Committee and as UMass' representative on the Atlantic 10 Student Athlete Advisory Committee.
Lacy Yager becomes an assistant athletic trainer after serving last year as a graduate assistant athletic trainer. Her primary duties are women's basketball and tennis. She also served as Summer Camp Coordinator for Athletic Training Services at UMass in 2006.
Prior to UMass, Yager spent a year as an athletic training intern at Colgate University, Hamilton, New York. Her responsibilities with the Raiders were women's basketball, volleyball, men's and women's swimming and diving, and men's and women's crew. Yager completed an internship in 2004 with Cornell University, where she worked with football. She graduated Summa Cum Laude in Athletic Training from SUNY Cortland in 2005.