(Posted August 20, 2008)

HUNTINGDON, Pa. -- Juniata College's Athletic Department has added several new staff members in football, men's basketball and athletic training.

New to Juniata's football staff in 2008 will be Clayton Hall and Joe Battaglia.

Hall comes to the Eagle football staff from the United States Merchant Marine Academy, where he coached Mariner tight ends and assisted with the offensive line during the 2007 season. During spring 2008 workouts, he worked with the inside linebackers. In addition to his coaching duties with Merchant Marine football, Hall coached throwers on USMMA's track and field team. A 2007 graduate of Bridgewater College (Va.), Hall received his bachelor's degree in health and exercise science. While attending Bridgewater, he was on the coaching staff of nearby Turner Ashby High School during the 2005 and 2006 seasons, and helped guide Turner Ashby to the 2005 Virginia Group AA state championship.

Battaglia joins the Juniata football staff from Guilford College (N.C.), where he served as an intern on the defensive staff during the spring. In that capacity, he worked with the Quaker linebackers and helped new defensive coordinator Joe Mitskas implement a new defensive scheme. Battaglia was a four-year letterwinner as a linebacker and defensive back at Guilford, where he received his bachelor's degree in sports management in May 2008.

Neil Rager returns to his alma mater as an assistant men's basketball coach, after spending last season as a graduate assistant coach and head junior varsity coach at Alfred University in Alfred, N.Y. At Alfred, Rager was primarily responsible for coaching the guards coordinating film exchange, and monitoring student-athletes' academic progress, while assisting with recruitment and practice planning. He is a 2007 graduate of Juniata with a bachelor's degree in secondary education, concentration in social studies. Rager previously served as a manager and later student-assistant coach for the Eagle men's basketball program during his four years at Juniata.

Joining Juniata's athletic training room staff will be Samantha Morgan, ATC and Dodie Edwards, ATC.

Morgan is a 2008 graduate of William Paterson University in Wayne, N.J., with a bachelor's degree in athletic training. She was a student-assistant on William Paterson's athletic training staff for the last four years, and interned with the NFL's New York Giants during the Fall 2007 semester. She also assisted with the Giant's rookie mini-camp and veteran mini-camp during the summer of 2007. During the Spring 2007 semester, Morgan completed an internship at Vernon Township High School in Vernon, N.J., and she interned at Passaic High School in Passaic, N.J., during the Fall 2007 semester.

Edwards joins Juniata's athletic training staff after spending the last 13 years with HealthSouth Corporation as an athletic trainer assigned to Huntingdon Area High School in Huntingdon, Pa. Prior to that, she was the athletic trainer at Elmwood Park High School in Elmwook Park, N.J. Edward is a 1992 graduate of Indiana University of Pennsylvania with a bachelor's degree in physical education and sport. She received her master's in exercise science from California University of Pennsylvania in 2007.

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TRANSACTIONS
Juniata College -- Neil Rager named assistant men's basketball coach; Clayton Hall and Joe Battaglia named assistant football coaches; Samantha Morgan and Dodie Edwards named assistant athletic trainers.

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Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.