Kelly Mathis named assistant basketball coach
After a disappointing 10-19 season for the Panthers women’s basketball team, head coach Sharon Baldwin-Tener decided to add a new assistant basketball coach in Kelly Mathis.
“Kelly is a bright and energetic coach with a solid work ethic, along with a positive and determined attitude,” Baldwin-Tener said, according to a Georgia State Communications press release. “She will be an immediate asset to our program with her knowledge of basketball, recruiting, player development and game video breakdown. Kelly will be a great role model for our student-athletes and will fit it well with our Panther family.”
Mathis has plenty of knowledge of the game from working on various coaching staffs. She’s worked for Georgia, Florida State and Washington and Lee. During her four years at UGA, she was promoted to director of recruiting operations and player development in 2015. She began her coaching career in 2010-11 with Coach Mandy King at Washington and Lee where she was working with post players and defensive fundamentals, player development, scouting reports and film breakdown.
Mathis graduated in 2009 with a bachelor’s degree in sports management from Pfeiffer (N.C.) and played for the Lady Falcons. She was part of the 26-5 conference champion team and set a school record with a 90-percent field goal game her sophomore year.
With both coaching experience, in various positions and roles, and college playing experience expect Mathis to be a great addition to the veteran staff the Panthers already have.
Volleyball Players nominated for NCAA Woman of the Year
Both Kitan Ajanaku and Deidra Bohannon of the Georgia State’s volleyball team are nominees for the 2015-16 NCAA Woman of the Year award.
Ajanaku had a spectacular season for the Panthers volleyball team as she led the team in blocks and was third in kills this past season. Doing all of that while attending classes as a first-year law student in Georgia State’s College of Law. Bohannon was a four-year starter and earned All-Sun Belt honors twice while becoming just the 10th panther all-time to reach the 1,000-kill mark. Bohannon was a respiratory therapy major, one of only two student-athletes at Georgia State to go through the program.
NCAA member schools nominated 517 student-athletes from all divisions for the 2016 Woman of the Year award. After the women have been nominated, conferences assess their member-school nominees and select up to two conference nominees. The Woman of the Year selection committee, made up of representatives from the NCAA membership, will then choose the 30 honorees – 10 from each division.
From the top 30, the selection committee determines the top three honorees from each division and announces the nine finalists in September. The NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics then chooses from among those nine to determine the 2016 NCAA Woman of the Year.
Inman Qualifies for U.S. Senior Open
The Panther’s men’s golf coach Joe Inman shot a 4-under 68 at White Columns Country Club to earn of the three qualifying spots for the U.S. Senior Open scheduled for Scioto Country Club in Columbus, Ohio Aug. 11-14. The irony in this whole story is that Inman qualified by shooting the same shot as his age of 68!
Inman made five birdies and one bogey to finish in second place. His round included multiple 20-foot made putts and one from over 50-feet. Inman last competed in a tour event in 2010 and he won three times on the Champions Tour, most recently the 200 SBC Senior Classic.
“What an exciting day for my family and I,” Inman said in a Georgia State Communications press release. “It’s been a long time since I competed on Tour, but figured we would give it one last shot with this qualifier. When we finished, I really didn’t think 68 would get in, but I am glad it did. It will be great to see so many of my friends in the golf world and to see what I can do on a great course like Scioto.”
For his career, Inman has three Champions Tour wins, a victory at the 1976 Kemper Open and the title at the 1979 Masters Par 3 contest.
