HACKENSACK, N.J. - Fairleigh Dickinson Director of Athletics Bradford Hurlbut announced Thursday that head coaches Chris Foye (softball), Sharlene Milwood-Lee (men's and women's cross country/track and field) and Angelika Szumilo (women's basketball) have received multi-year contract extensions keeping them on the Hackensack in their respective roles.

Hurlbut remarked, "I'm very pleased to announce the contract extensions for Angelika, Chris and Sharlene. All three head coaches are unquestionably committed to excellence in everything they do in order to provide their student-athletes with an extraordinary experience academically, athletically and socially."

With four seasons under his belt at FDU, Foye has continued to build the Knights' softball program into an Northeast Conference threat having led the squad to 11 Northeast Conference wins in the 2021 season. In 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic, his Knights notched wins over Grambling State (two) and Delaware State (two) before play was halted in mid-March of that year. In addition to his duties with FDU, Foye serves as a full-time firefighter in Essex County, N.J. and is a member of the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Division I Head Coaches Committee, as well as a member of the NFCA Top 25 Poll Committee. Chris Foye began his tenure at FDU in the 2017 season and was previously the head coach at Felician University from 2014-16.

An FDU Athletic Hall of Fame inductee as a student-athlete, Milwood-Lee enters her 19th campaign as the head coach of Knights cross country and track and field. The 2020 Northeast Conference Women's Indoor Coach of the Year, Milwood-Lee has built the Knights' programs in all three seasons into perennial NEC title contenders. In her coach of the year-winning season, Milwood-Lee led the Burgundy and Blue to the 2020 conference championship on the women's side in the indoor NEC meet after previously coming in second the prior year. As a team, men's indoor track finished third at the same meet. Under her tutelage, nearly 10 Knights have qualified as individuals for the NCAA Championship in the outdoor season and one student-athlete qualified in the winter for a chance at intercollegiate gold. Sophomore Salif Mane won the NEC championship in the triple jump with a 16.04 meter leap, earning him a bid to the NCAA Regional in Jacksonville in his rookie season, alongside fellow triple jumper senior Taeco O'Garro. Sharlene Milwood-Lee graduated from FDU in 1994 and first joined the coaching ranks "on the Hackensack" in 1998 after serving as the head coach at Bergen Community College from 1997-98.

Leading the Knights to back-to-back NEC tournament semifinal appearances in her first two seasons at FDU, Szumilo enters her third season at the helm of the Knights' women's basketball team in 2021-22. In her first season, "Coach Ang" powered the side to their first NEC tournament victory since 1992, a 57-43 win over Bryant in the quarterfinal, a game that was also their first NEC tournament home contest since 1997. The program also set a single-season record for most three-pointers made with 197. In just two seasons, six women's basketball players earned seven All-NEC honors. Further, four student-athletes in her program earned NEC weekly accolades from 2019-20 to 2020-21. Back on February 5, the Knights held the LIU Sharks to just 36 points, the fewest FDU has allowed in a game since 2008, a testament to Szumilo's defensive mindset. Over her first two years, Szumilo recorded 21 NEC wins, the most by an FDU women's basketball head coach in their first two seasons. No stranger to the Northeast Conference, Angelika Szumilo played college ball at LIU Brooklyn under now Seton Hall head coach Tony Bozzella.

About FDU Athletics

The Knights are home to 21 NCAA Division I teams. A member of the Northeast Conference, FDU has had tremendous success in the classroom, in athletic competition, and giving back to the Bergen County community. In 2019-20 year, FDU won NEC championships in men's soccer and women's indoor track & field and followed that up with championships in 2020-2021 in women's bowling, men's tennis, and women's golf. In 2020, FDU student-athletes were also recognized for their efforts in the community by winning the NEC Building Communities Award with over 3,000 community service hours. Other recent milestones include men's basketball winning the 2019 NEC championship and going on to win the first NCAA Tournament game in school history. In addition to recent championships, FDU also holds two NCAA National Championships in the sport of women's bowling (2006, 2010).