NEWARK, DE -- The University of Delaware has announced that Saul Rafel-Frankel has been named Director of Men’s Basketball Operations while Alison Pate has been named Director of Women’s Basketball Operations.

Responsibilities for both positions will be coordinating team travel, coordinating recruiting visits, handling business operations, serving as staff liaison to UD compliance, business, and equipment rooms, and assisting in scheduling of practices and competition. Both of the newly-created positions are full-time.

Rafel-Frankel, a 2006 Delaware graduate, returns to the Blue Hen men’s basketball program after serving one season as the video coordinator at La Salle University. While at La Salle he handled opponent scouting tapes, edited Explorers game and practice tapes, and assisted the Director of Basketball Operations.

Rafel-Frankel was a four-year manager with Delaware from 2002-06, managing a team of seven student managers. He assisted in a variety of ways with UD practices, and assisted with the planning and organization of team travel and meals. As a senior Rafel-Frankel also served as a community relations intern with the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association, coordinating player appearances at charity events, manning a charity table during home games, and assisting in camps.

Rafel-Frankel has also served as head assistant coach for the New Heights AAU Basketball Team for the last four summers, and this past summer served as director of the Monté Ross Basketball Camp. He graduated from Delaware with a bachelor of science degree in health behavior management, majoring in sport management with a minor in coaching science and a business of finance certificate. He was named the Myles Brand Student of the Year in 2006, an award voted on by faculty and given to a senior sport management major.

Pate, a 2002 graduate of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, previously served as a building supervisor for UD’s Carpenter Sports Building where she supervised recreation staff and performed a variety of tasks. Pate also served as recreation coordinator at the Community College of Baltimore County over the previous year, coordinating recreation events and supervising work study students.

Pate has also worked as a scoreboard and game clock operator at University of Delaware men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s soccer, and men’s lacrosse games over the last three years. She has additionally served a variety of positions for events at the Community College of Baltimore County, Goldey-Beacom College, and Cecil Community College. This August Pate coached at the Vince Carter Youth Basketball Academy in East Rutherford, NJ.

Pate graduated from UMES in 2002 with a bachelor of science degree in criminal justice. She earned the All-American Scholar Collegiate Award and was involved with the Criminal Justice National Honor Society.