DAN DARNLEY NAMED FIRST BOWLING COACH AT HILBERT COLLEGE

John Czarnecki, Director of Athletics, named Dan Darnley as the first head coach for the brand new women's bowling program at Hilbert College today.

Darnley, bringing 20-years of coaching and playing experience,  is excited to build a Division III program which he will transition from club-level status this year to an intercollegiate program beginning in 2017-18.

"Finding the right coach to build a program from its infancy can be tough, but Dan stood out as someone who would come in with a lot of necessary energy and get the 'balls rolling'," said Czarnecki.  "With our ambitious plan to become a varsity program and member of the AMCC in just one year, Dan has a lot of work ahead to solidify that.  I am confident that he will step up to the challenge and get Hilbert women's bowling into a good position."

Darnley is no stranger in the bowling community.  Since 2007 he has coached and developed youth bowing programs at Braymiller's Lanes in Hamburg while overlapping his time as the head varsity bowling coach for both the boys and girls teams at Hamburg High School the last two seasons.   Darnley continues to compete himself having won two New York State titles and most recently a third place finish in the 2016 Buffalo City Tournament.

"I look forward to building a program that has a purpose of competing and winning at the highest level and a personal goal of developing student-athletes into ambassadors of sportsmanship, academics and community engagement," said Darnley.  "I am excited for the opportunity our team will have competing in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference when we roll in 2017."

Teaching and organizing are two areas which come naturally to Darnley as he has been able to blend his love for music education with his coaching and competing.   He currently serves as the Music Department Chairman at the Southtowns Catholic School in Lakeview as well as the Percussion Director with the West Seneca marching band.  

His focused efforts have proven results. 

Southtowns Catholic is now registered with the New York State Schools of Music Association and he has helped students qualify for solo festivals and competitions with a pair competing this past February.  As the head coach of both the boys and girls teams at Hamburg he expanded the program from 19 student-athletes to 35 this past season.  Both teams were NYS Scholar-Athlete teams and competed in all local tournaments for the first time in the school's history while they broke six school records this past season.

Darnley graduated from Buffalo State College with duel undergraduate degrees: a B.M.E in Music Education as well as a B.A. in History.  He will receive his master in arts degree in music education in August, 2016.