Athletic Department adds to coaching staff
For the upcoming school year, Georgia College has made many changes to its athletic staff. Rather than getting rid of coaches and assistant coaches and bringing in new ones, the majority of Georgia College’s athletic changes have been adding new coaching positions.
On the women’s soccer team, Mary Byrne moved up from the position of graduate assistant coach, a position she held for one year, to the assistant coach position for the upcoming soccer season beginning in the Fall. During her one year spent serving as the graduate assistant coach for the Bobcats, Bryne was able to earn her master’s degree.
Bryne did not replace a previous assistant coach, as the position of assistant coach for the soccer team is a newly created position.
Coming in to help coach Bobcat cross-country is Steven Cary who will be serving as a graduate assistant coach for both the men’s and women’s cross country teams. Cary is new to the Bobcat sports world, coming over to Georgia College after graduating from and coaching for Valdosta State University. Cary ran for four years for the Valdosta State cross-country team and when he finished his four years he had an extra year to finish up his undergraduate degree. While finishing his undergrad during his extra year, he served as an assistant coach for the Valdosta State cross-country team.
“There’s couple interesting aspects to Steven, his brother Tim ran for us for four years and just graduated this past season, and Steven’s sister-in-law, who is married to Tim is on the team now, Emily Cary,” Sports Information Director Al Weston said. “So there’s kind of all sorts of familiar influences that way.”
Former Georgia College basketball player Josh Hurst, who graduated this past year, will be staying at Georgia College to serve as the new graduate assistant coach while earning his master’s degree.
For Bobcat tennis, Carlos Marquez is the new graduate assistant coach and will be helping both the men’s and women’s tennis programs. After playing tennis for Lander University, Marquez will be earning his master’s degree at Georgia College while coaching both Bobcat tennis teams.
The Bobcat softball team recently hired a new assistant coach, Brittany Bennett, for 2011-2012. After spending three years as an assistant coach at Lynn University, Bennett has come to serve as the full-time assistant coach for Georgia College, where she will primarily focus on working as the pitching coach. In addition to coaching the pitchers, Bennett will also be working with the catchers and outfielders as well as recruiting and alumni relations. Bennett also has a history with several of the current and former Bobcat softball coaching staff.
“While Bennett was down at Lynn University, her head coach was Mandy Harris, who used to be an assistant coach here,” Weston said. “And a while back, her and our current head coach Jamie Grodecki coached together at Southern Arkansas.”
Adding two new additions to their coaching staff is the baseball team by bringing in two new assistant coaches, Brandon Durden and Dan Pirillo.
As a former left-handed pitcher for the Bobcats, Durden climbed high when in 2004 he was drafted and signed by the Colorado Rockies in the fourth round of the MLB First-Year Player Draft. Durden also spent six months playing in the minor leagues and went all the way to the Triple-A level. He also was a 2006 Atlantic League All-Star.
The second new assistant coach for the Georgia College baseball team, Pirillo, comes from New York and graduated from Long Island University in 2008 with a bachelor’s degree in physical education. After graduating from Long Island, Pirillo spent two years as an assistant coach for Long Island University.
With all of the positive additions that have been made to the Georgia College coaching staff for 2010-2011, the Bobcat athletics program looks to have a very promising year in all of its programs.
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