Tuesday, January 9, 2018

PORTLAND, Ore. – Making his final appearance on the conference’s weekly radio show as Alaska’s director of athletics, Gary Gray was joined by Concordia women’s basketball senior guard Danielle Hartzog and Seattle Pacific men’s basketball head coach Grant Leep Tuesday night on GNAC Insider at 7 p.m., Pacific. The show is hosted by Rob Lowery.

Hartzog, the reigning GNAC Women’s Basketball Player of the Week, leads a Concordia team that has won its last four games heading into a lengthy road trip to Alaska this week. The guard has become a reliable scorer in her third season with the Cavaliers, ranking second in the GNAC with 16.5 points per game. The senior posted a career-high 34 points in the Cavs’ 79-69 win over Simon Fraser on Saturday. Hartzog is second on the team in minutes per game (30.5) and has started in all 13 of her appearances this season.

Leep is in his second season as SPU head coach after serving seven years as an assistant coach for the Seattle Pacific men’s basketball program before accepting the head coaching position in 2016. Despite finishing 8-12 in GNAC play last season, the Falcons have opened 2017-18 with a 4-2 conference record and sit in third place heading into a pair of home contests against Concordia and No. 14 Western Oregon. Seattle Pacific is one of the hottest teams in the GNAC having won three straight and five of its last six games.

With a little more than a week left as the athletic director of the Nanooks, Gray will begin his career at East Stroudsburg of Pennsylvania in the same capacity starting Jan. 22. Gray departs Fairbanks after five years as athletic director. He also spent 17 years as Montana State Billings, including two stints as the Yellowjackets’ athletic director (1994-98 and 1999-2012). He is in his final year as a member of the Division II Management Council board and is the chair of the NCAA Division II Management Council. Gray leaves UAF after overseeing 57 All-Americans, 31 academic All-Americans and four Elite 90 selections.