01:00 AM EDT on Monday, July 10, 2006

Last summer, Mike Goldberger took over as director of athletics at Brown University. Last fall, he cheered the football team as it won its first outright Ivy League championship and the men's soccer team as it won the Ivy title and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

"It was an amazing way to start the year," the former director of admissions and assistant football coach said recently.

"It was just exciting to see the teams do that well. Men's soccer always had that tradition, but football did something it had never done before. It was just a treat to be a part of it," Goldberger said.

The treat continued through the winter as the women's basketball team tied for the Ivy title and Sarah Hayes became the Ivy player of the year. And it lasted through the spring, when the men's tennis team won the Ivy championship and participated in the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time in five years.

Four Ivy titles and 10 winning teams are quite a way to launch a new administration. Yet Goldberger insists he had nothing to do with titles and teams. But he did. As admissions director, he approved the young men and women who triumphed on field and court in 2005-06.

Brown athletes also distinguished themselves as students. Thirteen earned academic all-district recognition, a Brown record and the greatest number of any Ivy school. Nick Hartigan , a Rhodes Scholar finalist, was the football Academic All-American of the year. Andy Weiner of the water polo team was third-team Academic All-American. The other academic all-stars were Phil Charm in tennis, Deborah Dryer in women's crew, Naja Ferjan in track, Shawn Kitchner in wrestling, Jessica Larson in diving, Kim LaVere in women's soccer, Kelly O'Hear in women's skiing, Mary Seid in softball, David Turner in football, Owen Washburn in track and Hayes, the women's basketball star.

"What stood out as the year went on was their academic prowess. We tend to take it for granted, so that part of it was great," Goldberger said.

He enjoyed becoming acquainted with his athletes as more than just names and numbers. "Admissions is so cyclical, one class coming in after another. Getting to know the kids, that part of it was great," he said.

Goldberger hired two coaches. Craig Lake left Columbia for College Hill, and she and her new assistants had a solid first year with the men's and women's cross country and track and field teams. Craig Robinson, an assistant coach at Northwestern, is coming to town to succeed Glen Miller, the men's basketball coach who took the job at Penn.

"Both were good experiences. There are so many talented people out there. Craig [Lake] had the track kids performing so much better than before, and I hope the same is true of Craig [Robinson]. What we know is that we got someone who appreciates the value of an Ivy League education," Goldberger said. Robinson played basketball at Princeton and earned an MBA at the University of Chicago.

Goldberger has launched his third national search, this one to replace men's lacrosse coach Scott Nelson, who resigned effective Aug. 1 after a 2-11, 0-6 campaign. He compiled a 34-47 record in six seasons at Brown.

There is room for improvement in a few programs. Lacrosse obviously needs a jump start. Men's hockey won only five games, none in the Ivy League.

"I think it was just one of those years in hockey. They played 13 overtime games. I don't know how that happens, but it does every once in a while. We're playing teams that go far into the NCAA Tournament and losing in overtime. I think we have the talent, a good program and a good coach," he said.

Brown fields varsity teams for 900 athletes in 37 sports and has no intention of cutting back. Said Goldberger: "I'm a strong believer that athletics is a strong component of the education process we are so proud of."

The summary:

BASEBALL (16-24, 12-8): Team rebounded from an 0-12 start; Paul Christian and Bryan Tews were first-team All-New England.

MEN'S BASKETBALL (10-17, 6-8): A rebuilding year produced a fifth-place team; Keenan Jeppesen was second in the league in scoring (16.1).

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL (18-10, 12-2): Shared Ivy title with Dartmouth and Princeton; Hayes was Brown's female varsity athlete of the year.

MEN'S CREW (4-1, 2-1): Best season in recent years; varsity eight finished third and was the most improved team at the IRA Championships.

WOMEN'S CREW (9-2, 3-2): Finished second at NCAA Rowing Championships; won third consecutive Eastern Sprints.

MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY: Finished third at Heptagonals; Owen Washburn was second overall.

WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY: Finished fifth at Heps.

EQUESTRIAN: Won UConn, Brown and Ivy League shows; Whitney Keefe and Alexis Gilbard qualified for nationals.

MEN'S FENCING: Finished ninth at national championships; Dan Mahoney was sixth in the saber.

WOMEN'S FENCING: Finished seventh at nationals and competed in the Ivy League for first time; Ruth Schneider became Brown's first All-Ivy fencer.

FIELD HOCKEY (8-8, 5-2): Beat Harvard for the first time since 1992 and finished second in Ivy League; Samantha Lloyd and Kristen Vincent were first-team All-Ivy.

FOOTBALL (9-1, 6-1): Ivy League champion outright for the first time; ranked 15th in final I-AA poll, its highest ever; Hartigan was the unanimous Ivy player of the year and Walter Payton Award finalist after leading the nation in rushing and scoring; Jamie Gasparella and Pat Curran were third-team All-Americans; Phil Estes was New England coach of the year.

MEN'S GOLF: Finished third at the Ivy League championships, tying its best result; Larry Haertel became the first Brown golfer to win the individual title and was first-team All-Ivy.

WOMEN'S GOLF: Finished sixth at Ivy championships; Blythe Crane was third and first-team All-Ivy.

GYMNASTICS (9-5, 0-3): Finished eighth at ECAC Championships; Brittany Anderson was first-team All-ECAC.

MEN'S ICE HOCKEY (5-20-7, 3-14-5 ECAC, 0-6-4 Ivy): Played 13 overtime games, a school record, and tied seven.

WOMEN'S ICE HOCKEY (15-13-5; 10-6-4, 4-3-3): Lost to Harvard, 4-3, in ECAC championship game; Myria Heinhuis and Hayley Moore were first-team All-Ivy.

MEN'S INDOOR TRACK: Fourth at Heps; Ray Bobrownicki won his third high-jump title.

WOMEN'S INDOOR TRACK: Third at Heps; triple jumper Brittany Grovey and the distance medley relay team were All-Americans; Grovey broke the Heps record with a jump of 43 feet, 4.5 inches and was the Northeast field athlete of the year.

MEN'S LACROSSE (2-11, 0-6): Team struggled to one of the worst finishes in school history.

WOMEN'S LACROSSE (5-11, 1-6): Kate Staley had 29 goals and 10 assists and finished her career seventh in scoring (98-31-129).

MEN'S OUTDOOR TRACK: Finished third at Heps; Bobrownicki won the high jump, Kent Walls the discus and Paul Rosiak the javelin.

WOMEN'S OUTDOOR TRACK: Finished third at the Heps; Anna Willard finished sixth in the steeplechase at the NCAA Championships; Grovey finished 10th in the triple jump; both were All-Americans.

SKIING: Finished fifth at the national championships; Kelly O'Hear was sixth and an All-American in the giant slalom.

MEN'S SOCCER (11-5-2, 6-1-2): Eighth Ivy title in the last 12 years and 21st NCAA appearance; Scott Geppert was Ivy League rookie of the year and freshman All-American.

WOMEN'S SOCCER (5-10-2, 1-4-2): Lost nine one-goal games; freshman Lindsay Cunningham (Cumberland) led the team in scoring.

SOFTBALL (20-25, 6-6): Finished third in Ivy League; coach Pam McCreesh resigned at the end of the season.

MEN'S SQUASH (6-8): Finished 11th nationally; Breck Bailey received the Skillman Award as the outstanding senior in the nation for sportsmanship and skill.

WOMEN'S SQUASH (6-6): Finished seventh in the Howe Cup.

MEN'S SWIMMING (2-6, 2-5): Finished seventh at the Eastern Championships.

WOMEN'S SWIMMING (4-3, 4-3): Finished sixth at the Ivy League Championships; Eileen Robinson was first-team All-Ivy in two events.

MEN'S TENNIS (20-10, 6-1): Won its second consecutive Ivy title and made its fourth NCAA appearance in the last five years thanks to a 4-3 victory over Penn in a playoff; Phil Charm won the Northeast Arthur Ashe Award for leadership and sportsmanship.

WOMEN'S TENNIS (5-14, 1-6): Played six Top 40 teams; had no seniors on the team.

VOLLEYBALL (12-13, 9-5): Finished third in the Ivy League; Julie Mandolini-Trummel was first-team All-Ivy.

MEN'S WATER POLO (20-11, 5-2): Finished fifth at the Easterns and was ranked 19th nationally.

WOMEN'S WATER POLO (15-18, 5-2): Finished sixth at Easterns.

WRESTLING (8-9,1-3-1): Mike Savino qualified for nationals; he and Shawn Kitchner were first-team All-Ivy; team posted highest GPA (3.3) in the nation.

mszostak@projo.com/ (401) 277-7340