Sports Column

Dustin Swedelson
Staff Writer
dmswedelson@valdosta.edu

For the first time in 40 years the Blazer baseball team has a new skipper. Greg Guilliams has replaced the legendary Tommy Thomas this season. The credentials for Guilliams to succeed are there, but a better indicator of what the future may hold for the program is to look at the recent success Athletic Director Herb Reinhard has had hiring coaches.

Chris Hatcher may have done more for Blazer athletics than anyone in recent history. Keep in mind it was Reinhard who offered a 27-year old Hatcher the job in 2000. At this point Reinhard knew Hatcher well from his playing days, but it was a risky move to bring in a coach with no head coaching or even coordinator experience. Hatcher turned around a program that went 4-7 in 1999, to a playoff team in his first season.

Now Hatcher is the head coach at Georgia Southern, where he turned around their program in just one season as well.

Reinhard had the intuition to immediately offer the job to David Dean after Hatcher’s departure for Georgia Southern. All Dean did was win a National Championship in his first season and took home multiple Coach of the Year honors. Besides the awards and accolades, Dean has a relationship with his players, only seen in Disney movies.

Thomas Macera was brought in prior to the 2006 season. As he continues to bring in his own recruits, the program gets better and better. He has compiled an 88-33 record with his defending GSC East Champion softball team. Not only was he the 2007 Coach of the Year after going to a second consecutive NCAA Division II tournament, but he has created a national powerhouse.

Kiley Hill has created a national powerhouse as well, since his hiring in 2000. He was an impressive 123-74 prior to this season, and was the 2007 GSC Coach of the Year. His Lady Blazers are the defending GSC East Champions and have been to back-to-back NCAA Division II Tournaments. They are consistently near the top of the nation in defensive categories, and have a legitimate shot in this season’s national tournament. Jim Yarbrough was another Reinhard disciple. Under Yarbrough, the basketball team had a .700 winning percentage, won 2 GSC Championships and went to the NCAA Tournaments.

In a gutsy move after Yarbrough left for Southeastern Louisiana, Reinhard went after a coach with a completely different style of basketball.

Mike Helfer is in the midst of just his third season as men’s basketball coach. He brought with him a completely new style of basketball to the P.E. Complex.

Out was Jim Yarbrough’s defensive, low scoring games, in was Helfer’s fast paced offense. Helfer’s 2007 team went to the NCAA Division II tournament. This year’s squad is still contending for the GSC East Division title, and looking to add to their coach’s 37-20 from the beginning of the season. This is a team that seems to get better each year, as they develop in Helfer’s system.

Two coaches who get less glory, but have had definite impacts are golf coach, Jared Purvis, and volleyball coach, Sia Poyer.

Purvis was hired prior to the 2002 season, and his team has been to five straight NCAA Regionals. Before Poyer’s hiring in 2005, the volleyball team was a mere 37-84 in four seasons. Since
Poyer’s hiring, the team is 41-63. With the winning percentage improvement, came an appearance in the GSC tournament in 2006, their first since 2000.

Only time will tell just how successful Guilliams will be. Reinhard has done nothing but pick winning coaches that have improved programs at VSU. Guilliams’ effect was evident this past weekend in the opener when his Blazers played number 25 Francis-Marion. They were one big hit away from taking 2 of 3 from the Patriots. With more challenges on the schedule than usual, Guilliams will have a chance to prove what he can do with just one recruiting season. If this team gets that close to a Peach Belt team on opening weekend, it will be exciting to see what they do as they learn from their new coach.

With the trend going on in the Athletic Department, something tells me we could have a national contender on our hands in a couple of years.