Following five seasons as an assistant coach with the Saint Michael's College women's basketball program, Shannon Kynoch was appointed the sixth head coach in program history on May 2, 2013.

Kynoch held a role as a part-time assistant coach in 2008-09 before being promoted to the full-time, first assistant position in August 2009. She has been heavily responsible for the daily operations of the program during her tenure, from serving as the recruiting coordinator and summer camp director to scouting opponents and creating game and practice plans. In her role with the program, Kynoch has been integral in alumni communication, fundraising and community outreach.

Since Kynoch joined the program, the Purple Knights have posted at least a dozen victories on three occasions, and qualified for the highly competitive NE-10 Championship twice. In 2010-11, Saint Michael's earned its first postseason victory in 19 seasons and set a program mark with 13 league wins.

Kynoch graduated from the NCAA Women Coaches Academy in 2012 and has sharpened her leadership skills at the Nike Championship Basketball Clinic (2010) and Point Guard College (2011). An adviser within the College's Purple Knight Leadership Academy since 2011, Kynoch has also held a role within the department's athletic operations team since 2009. In addition to serving as the part-time coach in 2008-09, Kynoch was a para-educator at her alma mater, South Burlington High School. She served as an assistant coach for the South Burlington High varsity softball team in 2009, and also has served as an assistant coach for the South Burlington High School Unified Sports Special Olympics program.

Kynoch is in the midst of pursuing her master's degree in education from the College, working through the School Leadership program. A 2008 undergraduate of the University of Southern Maine, Kynoch majored in social work while playing four years for the Division III powerhouse. She was a four-year member of Southern Maine's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), serving as president for her final two years, when she was also the school's representative to the Little East Conference's (LEC) SAAC. Kynoch earned the Husky Achievement Award, Paula D. Hodgdon Leadership Award, USM Outstanding Student Leader Award and William B. Wise Scholar-Athlete Award during her career.

In five seasons with the Huskies, which included a medical redshirt year, Kynoch helped Southern Maine go 144-14 overall and 68-2 in LEC play, winning five regular-season crowns and four postseason championships while making five NCAA Tournament appearances. A captain in 2006-07, Kynoch's squad was the national runner-up in 2005-06 after also making a Final Four run in 2004-05. She compiled 706 points, 482 rebounds and 101 blocks in 117 career games.

Kynoch had a standout basketball career at nearby South Burlington High School. She was a two-year captain, and three times made the Burlington Free Press All-State team. A McDonald's All-America nominee, Kynoch was also named among the Vermont Basketball Coaches' Association (VBCA) Dream Team Dozen Underclassmen as a junior. She represented Vermont in the Twin State basketball game as a senior, and also earned All-Metro League first team honors.

After spending seven years as a player then a coach at Northeast-10 Conference counterpart Southern New Hampshire University, Andrea Lozeau joins the Saint Michael's women's basketball program as the full-time assistant coach in 2013-14.

A part-time assistant coach at Southern New Hampshire in 2010-11 and 2011-12, Lozeau was a full-time assistant during the 2012-13 academic year. In her tenure, she was heavily involved in recruiting, practice and game planning, community service engagement, fundraising, alumni relations, and monitoring the academic progress of her student-athletes.

The Penmen were 43-40 overall in Lozeau's three seasons, winning at least a dozen contests each year, including going 19-10 behind a 14-8 NE-10 mark in 2011-12. Southern New Hampshire twice advanced to the quarterfinal round of the NE-10 Championship with her on the coaching staff. In addition to college coaching, Lozeau was a camp counselor at the NH Hoop Skills Basketball Camp for six years as well as with SportsZone in Derry, N.H., for three years.

A four-year player for the Penmen, Lozeau appeared in 106 career contests, drawing 55 starts. She helped the squad make three postseason appearances, including during an 18-11 campaign her junior year. Lozeau earned a bachelor's degree in child development in 2010 and expects to complete her master's degree at the institution in educational studies in June 2013.

T.J. Sawyer enters his first season as a part-time assistant coach with the Saint Michael's women's basketball program in 2013-14.

A South Burlington native, Sawyer headed the Colchester High School varsity girls' basketball program between 2009-10 and 2012-13, taking a winless team his first year and producing a 43-22 mark over the next three seasons, which included the team's first appearance in a state tournament semifinal, in 2012. The 2011 Lake Division Coach of the Year helped the Lakers capture a share of the Lake Division crown in 2012. Sawyer also served as a head coach in the 2013 Vermont Basketball Coaches Association (VBCA) Division I-II North-South senior all-star game.

Sawyer gained prior coaching experience at Marblehead (Mass.) High School, assisting the varsity girls' program for four years, between 2005-06 and 2008-09. He simultaneously served as the junior varsity head coach his final two years after a two-year stint as the freshman head coach. Sawyer has also worked camps at Saint Michael's, the University of Southern Maine, and the University of Vermont, and for the parks and recreation departments in Colchester and Shelburne.

Sawyer was also the University of Vermont club football head coach the past three seasons, leading the Catamounts to the Yankee Club Football Conference (YCFC) title game each year. The leader of the 2011 and 2012 YCFC Coaching Staff of the Year, Sawyer's squad was ranked No. 1 in the country for six weeks in 2011. A four-year member of the Endicott College football team, Sawyer was named New England Football Conference (NEFC) All-Conference as a junior and was a member of the Endicott College Leadership Committee as a senior. He earned a degree in psychology in 2007.

Jackson Strayer-Benton, a former college student-athlete and local high school coach, returns for his fourth season as the part-time second assistant coach of the Saint Michael's College women's basketball programin in 2013-14.

Strayer-Benton, who was hired in September 2010, helped lead Saint Michael's to a 16-11 record in his first season with the program in 2010-11, including the program's first postseason victory in 19 seasons. In 2011-12, the Purple Knights qualified for the Northeast-10 Conference Tournament for the sixth time in seven seasons.

Strayer-Benton joined the Purple Knights after spending the previous two years as a boys' basketball assistant coach at Rice Memorial High School in South Burlington, Vt. He assisted the varsity and junior varsity teams in the 2009-10 season, and the junior varsity and freshman squads during the 2008-09 campaign.

Strayer-Benton, who resides in Burlington, Vt., graduated from Saint Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y., in 2006 with a degree in psychology. While at Saint Lawrence, Strayer-Benton was a member of the Saints' men's basketball program.

A native of Sandwich, N.H., Strayer-Benton was a standout basketball player at Moultonborough (N.H.) Academy, where he graduated among the program's all-time leaders in career steals, three-pointers and three-point percentage. He set the single-season school record with 74 three-pointers as a senior in 2001-02, and also compiled the third-highest single-season assist total that season. Following his stellar senior season, Strayer-Benton was named all-state, and to a senior all-star team.

Chad Powlovich enters his second season as the Saint Michael's women's basketball team's strength & conditioning coach in 2013-14.

A native of Jericho, Powlovich works in South Burlington for Poulin Performance, which specializes in physical therapy, wellness and athlete performance. Powlovich holds a master's degree in exercise science from the University of Vermont, where he earned his undergraduate degree in 2008 after a four-year basketball career for the Division I Catamounts.