MINNEAPOLIS (8/15/02) -- Augsburg College volleyball head coach Ryan Dehnel has resigned his position to become an assistant coach at Southwest State University, college officials announced Thursday. Jason Meszaros, who was hired in July as an assistant coach, was named to serve as interim head coach for the Auggies.

It is Meszaros' second stint on the Augsburg coaching staff; he previously served as an assistant during the 1997 season. Julie (Schrock) Wicklund, who was a three-time all-conference selection and 2000 conference Player of the Year selection as a setter at Eastern (Pa.) University, will remain on the Auggie staff as an assistant coach, as will Ryan Dehnel's brother, Adam Dehnel, who is a senior at Augsburg and a veteran men's volleyball player.

"It was a very difficult decision to leave Augsburg, but in the long run, it's the best decision for my wife and myself," said Dehnel. "I wouldn't have considered the move if we didn't have Jason and Julie on board here. I know that they will be able to move the program forward with what we have done the last few seasons."

"I'm excited and am looking forward to the challenge," Meszaros said. "We plan to build on the base that Ryan has set."

Dehnel spent three seasons on the Auggie volleyball coaching staff. He was an assistant coach in 1999 and served as a co-head coach with Thanh Pham in 2000. He assumed solo head coaching duties in 2001, and had a 23-34 career record. He has been a volleyball coach in the Twin Cities for the last eight years, serving three years as the head coach at Bloomington Kennedy High School and one year as an assistant at Rosemount High School. He also coached Junior Olympic volleyball for six years in the Northern Lights program in the Twin Cities.

Dehnel will serve as the primary assistant on Southwest State head coach Debra Denbeck's staff. The Mustangs, an NCAA Division II program in the Northern Sun Athletic Conference, completed one of their most successful seasons in school history in 2001 with a 21-14 overall record, winning the NSIC title for the first time since 1985 and advancing to the national tournament for the first time ever.

Meszaros has been involved in volleyball as both a collegiate player and coach for the past 14 years. While attending Winona State, he was a founding member of the school's men's volleyball club, which finished fourth nationally in 1991 and fifth in 1993, qualifying for the national tournament all four years. He served as an assistant coach for the St. Mary's University women's squad from 1994-96, including acting as interim head coach for the Cardinals during the 1995-96 off-season.

In recent years, he has been active in Junior Olympic coaching. He coached JO squads in Winona (16s and 18s) from 1992-95, coached the Team-Sota 17s in 1998 and has coached the Minnesota One 17-18s since 2000. He is an IMPACT Certified coach, and has completed the USA Volleyball Coaching Accreditation Program (CAP) Level I and Level II.

Meszaros completed his bachelor's degree work in marketing from Winona State, and previously pursued his master's degree at Wisconsin-La Crosse and Metro State (Minn.). He is currently pursuing his MBA in sports and entertainment management at the University of St. Thomas, where he has received post-graduate certificates in business and software design and development.

He is currently an information systems manager at Retek, Inc., where he has worked since 1998. He has also served in the U.S. Army and Army Reserve since 1990, most recently as a Psychological Operations/Intelligence Officer. He served his country overseas in Operation Joint Forge in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1998-99.

Augsburg finished with a 12-18 record in 2001, 4-7 in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Four starters and 16 letterwinners return to the Auggies this season, along with a solid recruiting class.