John Natale, an assistant coach last year with the WUSA's Boston Breakers following two seasons with the Philadelphia Charge, returns to the University of Hartford as head women's soccer coach, one of three hires made by Division I schools in the past week.

Fresno State hired Florida assistant coach Steve Springthorpe, and Jacksonville hired Penn assistant Chris Kouns.

Natale was an assistant coach under Mark Krikorian at Hartford in 1999, and he joined Krikorian's Charge staff for the WUSA's inaugural season three years ago. When fellow Charge assistant Pia Sundhage took charge of the Breakers last season, he followed her to Boston.

Natale, who played at Eastern Connecticut State, previously coached the boys team at Wethersfield (Conn.) High School. He succeeds Eva Bergsten, who departed for Division III school Wesleyan (Conn.) in late March after three years as Hawks coach.

Hartford also hired veteran WUSA defender Margaret Tietjen as assistant coach. Tietjen played last season for the New York Power after two seasons with the San Diego Spirit. She was a graduate assistant in 1999 at Connecticut, her alma mater, and last fall was head coach at Santana High School in Santee, Calif., near San Diego.

Springthorpe heads to Fresno State after serving as Florida's goalkeeper coach the past five seasons under Becky Burleigh. The Gators won three Southeastern Conference divisional titles and three SEC tournament championships, reaching the NCAA tournament four times, during Springthorpe's tenure.

Springthorpe, who played with the Greensboro Dynasty in its pre-A-League days, was an assistant coach from 1985 to 1994 at Division III school Methodist (N.C.), his and Burleigh's alma mater. He succeeds Stacy Welp, who resigned in early March to pursue other opportunities after three seasons as Bulldogs coach.

Kouns steps in for Mike Johnson, who became Jacksonville's men's soccer coach after six seasons as women's coach. Kouns has been an assistant at Penn since 2002, following stints as head coach at NAIA power Union (Ky.) and assistant coach at Samford and Georgia State, both among the Dolphins' Atlantic Sun Conference rivals.

Kouns played at Division II school Mars Hill and began his coaching career in 1993 at Fayette County (Ga.) High School.