Page 29 - Laker Connection Fall 2009

Carlos Head of Morrow High School. Head went on to not only place himself at the top of many men’s basketball sta- tistical categories,
but also graduated
with his degree in
1995. In spite of ex-
periencing the grow-
ing pains of starting
new programs from
scratch, both the
men’s and women’s
basketball programs
won respective con-
ference champi-
onships in their
fourth year. Chris
Nastopoulos guided
the women’s pro-
gram to their cham-
pionship in the
1994-95 season and
from 1992 to 1995,
Clayton State’s
men’s basketball program won more games than all but one four-year col- lege in the State of Georgia. In 1992, men’s soccer was added, with its first coach Adrian Brooks. He guided the in- augural team to an impressive 11-5-1 record.
In the fall of 1994, Rick Skinner was announced as the new president, and his first request to me was to present him with a plan to take the program to the NCAA Division II level. Within a week, he had a plan that called for the addition of women’s soccer, women’s tennis, men’s golf, and men’s and women’s cross country to bring the number of sports to the mandatory eight required to qualify for NCAA membership. Coaches were hired, in- cluding Jimmy Hebron to take over the men’s basketball program, Jolyn Smith for women’s tennis, and Rob Pender- graft for men’s golf. Mike Mitchell, the men’s soccer coach, doubled as women’s soccer coach, and Mike Mead took the reigns of the men’s and women’s cross country teams. The en- tire process of going from a three-sport
NAIA program, to an eight- sport NCAA Division II program was ac- complished in just eight months, with all teams taking the field (courts)
by the fall term of 1995. The program was admitted to the Peach Belt Confer- ence, and Clayton State served its three year probationary pe-
riod as a dual NAIA and NCAA Division II member, earning championship qual- ifying status with the NCAA in 1998.
tersen, men’s soccer; Totty Totty, women’s soccer; Tamas Szabados, women’s tennis; Barry Harwell, men’s golf; and Mead, men’s and women’s cross country/track and field, have taken their respective teams to a high level of success, with 19 Peach Belt Conference regular season and tourna- ment championships, 46 trips to NCAA national tournaments, nine Sweet 16 or better NCAA national appearances, and 39 NCAA All-Americans and Aca- demic All-Americans. In addition, the program has finished as one of the top three programs in the Peach Belt Con- ference Commissioner’s Cup four times in the last six years, and culminated its most successful year to date with a top 40 finish in the prestigious NACDA Na- tional Directors Cup in the 2007-08
Circa 1990: Mason, Josh, Ryan, Jess and Elizabeth
1992: First Men’s Soccer team
During the last 10 years, the Clay- ton State coaching staff has included Bob Hill, who guided the men’s golf team to a seventh
place finish in the
1999 NCAA Na-
tional Tournament;
Bill Holleman, who
guided the women’s
soccer team to its first
.500 season in 1997;
Elizabeth Searl, who
guided the women’s
tennis team to its
first NCAA National Sweet 16 appear- ance in 2002; and A.C. McCullers, who guided the women’s basketball pro- gram from 1999 to 2004.
Since the year 2000, Clayton State has experienced unprecedented suc- cess in the Peach Belt Conference, and at the NCAA national level. The current coaching staff, which includes Gordon Gibbons, men’s basketball; Dennis Cox, women’s basketball; Pete Pe-
year, putting Clayton State in the top 15 percent of all NCAA Division II institutions. More importantly, the student-athletes have represented the image and ideals of Clayton State University not only as athletes, but also as students and
good citizens as well.
In addition to being Clayton State’s first basketball coach, H. Mason Barfield is the University’s first and only Director of Athletics.
FALL 2009 25
2006/2007 Women’s Basketball made national headlines, including a first-time appearance on ESPN, as part of the NCAA Division II Final Four.