Sport(s) | Baseball |
---|---|
Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
1961–1964 | Troy |
1965–1968 | South Alabama |
Administrative career (AD unless noted) | |
1964–1980 | South Alabama |
Mel Lucas is a former college baseball coach and college administrator. He served as head coach of the Troy Trojans baseball team before being hired as the first athletic director at South Alabama, then a new university in Mobile, Alabama. He served as the school's first baseball coach for four seasons before hiring former major leaguer Eddie Stanky in order to focus on his growing administrative duties. Lucas was instrumental in forming the Sun Belt Conference and was a central figure in the growth of the Jaguars athletic programs. He was inducted into the school's hall of fame in 1989. [1] [2] [3] [4]
College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional players, as baseball's professional minor leagues are more extensive, with a greater history of supplying players to the top professional league. Moving directly from high school to the professional level is more common in baseball than in football or basketball. However, if players do opt to enroll at a four-year college to play baseball, they must complete three years to regain professional eligibility, unless they reach age 21 before starting their third year of college. Players who enroll at junior colleges regain eligibility after one year at that level. In the most recently completed 2017 season, there were 298 NCAA Division I teams in the United States.
The Troy Trojans baseball team is the varsity intercollegiate baseball team of Troy University, located in Troy, Alabama, United States. It competes in the NCAA Division I Sun Belt Conference. The program began play in 1911. As of the end of the 2018 season, the program's overall record is 1,734–1,077–3. In 1986 and 1987, Troy won Division II national championships under head coach Chase Riddle. As a Division II program, the team won 10 conference titles and appeared in 14 NCAA Regionals and 7 College World Series.
The South Alabama Jaguars represent the University of South Alabama in NCAA Division I intercollegiate athletics. USA competes in the Sun Belt Conference; it is the conference's only remaining charter member from its inception. USA's athletics teams are nicknamed the 'Jaguars'. Popular sports are baseball and men's basketball. USA sponsors 8 men's sports teams and 9 women's sports teams. The board of trustees recently voted to start a football program that began play in the fall of 2009.
The University of South Alabama (USA), officially nicknamed "South" is a public, national research university in Mobile, Alabama, United States. It was created by the Alabama Legislature in May, 1963, and replaced existing extension programs operated in Mobile by the University of Alabama. Currently, USA is divided into ten colleges and schools and includes one of Alabama's two state-supported medical schools. As of the fall semester of 2018, South Alabama has an enrollment of 14,834 students. To date, the university has awarded over 90,000 degrees.
John Leslie Pelphrey is an American college basketball coach, currently the head coach of the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles. After being named Kentucky Mr. Basketball in 1987, he became a star college player at the University of Kentucky.
Stephen Charles Sloan is a former American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He played college football as a quarterback at the University of Alabama from 1962 to 1965 and then played for two seasons in the National Football League with the Atlanta Falcons (1966–1967). Sloan served as the head football coach at Vanderbilt University (1973–1974), Texas Tech University (1975–1977), the University of Mississippi (1978–1982), and Duke University (1983–1986), compiling a career record of 68–86–3. He also served as the athletic director at the University of Alabama, the University of North Texas, University of Central Florida, and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga before his retirement in 2006. In 2000, Sloan was inducted into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame.
Peter Willis Cawthon was an American football, basketball, and baseball player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Austin College from 1923 to 1927 and at Texas Technological College—now Texas Tech University—from 1930 to 1940, compiling a career college football coaching record of 97–52–10. Cawthon was the head coach for the Brooklyn Dodgers/Tigers of the National Football League (NFL) from 1942 to 1943. He served as the athletic director at Texas Tech from 1930 to 1941 and the University of Alabama from 1952 to 1953.
Michael Joseph "Iron Mike" Donahue was an American football player, coach of football, basketball, baseball, tennis, track, soccer, and golf, and a college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Auburn University, at Louisiana State University (1923–1927), and at Spring Hill College (1934).
Cecil W. "Hootie" Ingram is a former American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He played for the University of Alabama from 1952 to 1954 and was selected as an All-SEC defensive back in 1952. He worked as an assistant football coach at several colleges, including the University of Georgia and University of Arkansas before receiving a head coaching assignment at Clemson University from 1970 to 1972. He was an administrator with the Southeastern Conference in the 1970s and later served as an athletic director at Florida State University (1981–89) and Alabama (1989–95).
Robert L. McCullum is an American men's college basketball coach, currently the head men's basketball coach at Florida A&M. He previously served as the head coach of the Western Michigan Broncos men's basketball team and the University of South Florida (USF) Bulls men's basketball team. He is a native of Birmingham, Alabama.
Ronnie Lee Arrow is an American college basketball coach who was most recently the head coach at the University of South Alabama.
The South Alabama Jaguars men's basketball program has competed in the Sun Belt Conference since 1978 when the league was formed. Since 1968, the Jaguars have compiled an overall record of 694–507 (.580). Ronnie Arrow returned as head coach in 2007, succeeding John Pelphrey after the 2006–07 season. In his three seasons succeeding Pelphrey, Coach Arrow was 63–34 (64.9%), and is 177–127 (58.2%) all time at South Alabama. He retired December 19, 2012 and was replaced by Jeff Price on an interim basis. On March 25, 2013, Matthew Graves was named as the new head coach of the Jaguars. On March 8, 2018, Graves was fired after 5 seasons after a 65–96 record with no postseason appearances. Exactly 1 week later, the Jaguars hired former Nicholls State head coach Richie Riley for the job.
Melvin Tucker is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the head football coach at the University of Colorado Boulder.
The South Alabama Jaguars football program, established in 2009, represents the University of South Alabama in the Football Bowl Subdivision of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, of which it became a member in 2012.
Joseph Russell Jones is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the special teams coordinator at Mississippi State. Jones served as the head football coach the University of South Alabama from 2008 to 2017.
Ben W. Jobe was an American basketball coach. He was best known as the head coach of the Southern University Jaguars – a position he held for 12 years. He has also been head coach of the men's college basketball teams at Tuskegee University, Talladega College, Alabama State University, South Carolina State University, University of Denver and Alabama A&M University. Jobe has also served as assistant coach at the University of South Carolina, Georgia Tech, and briefly served as an assistant with the NBA's Denver Nuggets.
Steve Kittrell is an American college baseball coach. Most recently, he was the head baseball coach at South Alabama. He owns a career record of 1052–644–1 in 25 seasons at South Alabama. He started his career as the head baseball coach at Niceville High School in Florida where he posted a 35–15 record in two seasons. From 1976 to 1978, he became the head baseball coach at University Military School in Mobile, Alabama, where he went 95–34. From 1979 to 1980, he coached at Enterprise State Junior College in Enterprise, Alabama, and had a two-season record of 52–30. In 1983, he coached at Spring Hill College, posting a 33–19 record.
The Southern Jaguars baseball team is a varsity intercollegiate athletic team of Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States. The team is a member of the Southwestern Athletic Conference, which is part of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. The team plays its home games at Lee–Hines Field in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Henry Gorham Crisp was an American football, basketball, baseball and track coach and college athletics administrator. In spite of an accident when he was 13 years old that resulted in the loss of his right hand, Crisp went on to letter in football, basketball and track at both Hampden–Sydney College and Virginia Tech - then known primarily as VPI.
Travis Pearson is a former American football player who played seven seasons in the Arena Football League (AFL) with the Tampa Bay Storm, Miami Hooters, Florida Bobcats and Los Angeles Avengers. He played college football at Alabama State University. He was named to the Arena Football League 15th Anniversary Team in 2001.
John Brannen is an American basketball coach and the current men's basketball coach of the University of Cincinnati Bearcats. Brannen previously spent four seasons as the head coach for the Northern Kentucky University Norse. Before that he spent nine seasons as an assistant coach to Anthony Grant at both VCU and Alabama. For the Tide's two games in the 2015 National Invitation Tournament, Brannen served as interim head coach. Brannen is a Kentucky native and was named the head coach of NKU, the fifth in program history, on April 7, 2015.
Larry D. Striplin, Jr. was an American college basketball and baseball coach. He was also an influential figure in the state of Alabama's sports, having served on numerous boards for halls of fame.