Former Brown University head coach Peter Brand has been named coach of the Harvard's men's and women's fencing teams, athletic department officials announced this week.

"I'm absolutely ecstatic," said Brand, who was an assistant fencing coach at MIT before taking the Brown position.

Brand said he hopes to expand the program's recruiting efforts and bring a new work ethic to the team, which has struggled in recent years. Last season the men finished 1-8 (0-5 Ivy), while the women posted a slightly more impressive 9-3 (3-3 Ivy) record.

"Recruiting is big on the agenda because there hasn't been a lot of recruiting in fencing over the past couple of years," he said. "What I've seen...is a program which obviously needs a lot of work in terms of recruiting, and raising morale and expectations."

Brand--who has had achieved numerous honors throughout his career, including a gold medal win for the U.S. at the Maccabiah Games in 1989--said he hopes to send more Harvard players to the Ivy League and NCAA tournaments.

And although this position will be his first coaching job at Harvard, Brand--who came to the U.S. from Israel at age 13--has had ties to the Harvard team in the past.

"When I was competing in this area in the past, I used to go up to Harvard and work out with the team, so I know the culture of Harvard as far as athletics is concerned," he said.

Brand lives in Needham, Mass., so the new job will shorten his commute, as well.

According to Assistant Director for Sports Media Relations Paul McNeeley, Harvard officials felt they were lucky to find a coach with so much previous experience.

"With a sport like fencing, which doesn't have a very broad base of support, it was very attractive that he had been at Brown for six years, and we've heard nothing but great things about him there," McNeeley said.

Brand, who succeeds Ben Zivkovic as the team's leader, is just the third Harvard fencing coach since 1931.

Zivkovic guided the team for 23 years, and McNeeley said Brand will have big shoes to fill.

Zivkovic "was pretty much a legend in fencing, and not just collegiate fencing," McNeeley said. "We were pretty lucky to have him for that long, and he's ready to be more of a consultant to fencing from now on."

McNeeley said Zivkovic developed new fencing masks and pioneered new techniques in the sport.