Coastal Carolina University President Ronald R. Ingle has announced that Director of Athletics Dave Blank has resigned, effective Aug. 1. Blank has accepted the athletic director's position at Drake University, a member of the Missouri Valley Conference, in Des Moines, Iowa.

According to Ingle, a national search for a new director of athletics will begin immediately and an interim director of athletics will be named in the coming weeks.

"Coastal is fortunate to have had Dave Blank as director of athletics and the strides that have been made under his leadership have been monumental for Coastal," said Ingle. "Coastal's student-athletes have excelled on the playing field and in the classroom, where they have achieved grade point averages consistently at or near the top of the Big South Conference.

"This progressive commitment to excellence is also reflected in the improvements in facilities and the addition of intercollegiate football to the NCAA Division I offerings at Coastal. Dave has guided the initial stages of the football program and design of the facility, including gaining support for the General Assembly's approval of $4 million for an athletic complex which will enhance the entire university," said Ingle.

In recent years, women's soccer and indoor track and field have been added as new sports; improvements have been made to Coastal's baseball stadium and softball field; permanent chairback seating and state-of-the-art lighting have been installed in Kimbel Arena; and many other physical improvements have been made throughout Coastal's athletic facilities. A Coastal alumnus and former Chanticleer baseball player recently made a sizeable gift that will be used to enhance the baseball facility, including a player clubhouse, improved dugouts and entrance plaza. Gifts to the CINO Club, the athletic booster organization of the university, have increased 450 percent since 1996 and several endowments have been created to provide athletic scholarships.

Blank was named Coastal's director of athletics on July 1, 1999. He joined Coastal in October 1996 as assistant director of athletics for development and marketing and was named associate director of athletics for development and administration in January 1999.

A native of Frostburg, Md., he was recruited to Duke University on a basketball scholarship. A knee injury ended his playing career and he began coaching basketball. Beginning in 1980 Blank assisted Bill Foster for five years at the University of South Carolina. In 1985, he went to Wofford College as assistant director of athletics and assistant basketball coach. He became head basketball coach at Lock Haven University in Pennsylvania in 1988 and led the team to 119 wins in eight seasons. He was twice named Pennsylvania Athletic Conference Coach of the Year.

Blank was preceded by George F. "Buddy" Sasser, whose long athletic career included six years as Coastal's athletic director, as well as seven years as commissioner of the Big South Conference. Sasser serves on the university's Football Advisory Committee.

For more information, contact Wayne White, sports information director at Coastal, at (843) 349-2822 (office) or (843) 361-0343 (home).