NORFOLK, Va. – The Norfolk State University athletics department announced Tuesday the addition of three new staff members for the 2010-11 academic year. Mike Bello has been named the Spartans' new assistant sports information director, Derrick Coles has been hired as the department's compliance coordinator, and Nicole Dietrich has been hired as an athletic trainer.
At NSU, Bello will be the primary media contact for volleyball, women's basketball, softball, tennis and bowling. Bello comes to NSU after a pair of internships at Division I institutions, the University of South Florida (2009-10) and Harvard (2008-09). At USF, Bello was the primary media contact for track and field and cross country as well as the secondary contact for men's basketball and football. While at USF, Bello was part of a new initiative there that did away with traditional printed media guides and went to a new, interactive online format that featured videos, photos and text all intermixed on a web-based platform.
At Harvard, he was the main contact for men's tennis and men's volleyball while assisting with the promotion of all 41 sports, the most in Division I. Bello earned a bachelor's of arts degree in journalism from Penn State University in 2004, and a master of arts degree in recreation and sports management from Kent State in 2009.
Coles will work in tandem with Alisha Tucker, who was promoted to associate athletics director for student services, in overseeing the athletic compliance operation at NSU. Before coming to NSU, Coles was the assistant sports information director at Hampton University, where he served as the primary media contact for women's basketball, volleyball, bowling and men's and women's tennis.
Before working at Hampton, Coles spent six years as an assistant within the athletic department at Virginia Union University. His duties included assisting the sports information department with programs, media guides and game-day activities, as well as working with the compliance office in reviewing academic records, practice schedules and athlete eligibility matters. Coles received his bachelor's degree in marketing from Virginia Union in 2007 and his master's in sports management from Virginia State University in 2009.
Dietrich will fill the new athletic trainer position which was created this year. She will work alongside Meghan Antinarelli, assistant athletics director for sports medicine, and head assistant athletic trainer Jessica Cole and a team of four graduate assistants in providing sports medicine care and services to NSU's athletes.
Previously, Dietrich served as the assistant athletic trainer at Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia, Pa., for the past two and half years. Dietrich received her bachelor's degree in athletic training from Lock Haven University in 2004. She earned her master's degree in psychology from Shippensburg University in 2007.
