GOODMAN --- Nine members of the Holmes Community College Lady Bulldog fastpitch softball team were named to either the President's and Dean's list for Fall 2012.

Kelsey Rogers, Lauren Tharp, Kelsey Marter, Katherine Pennington and Victoria Hunt were named to the President's List while Alecia McDaniel, Samantha Meadows, Sara Grace Gunter and Michelle Gregory were named to the Dean's List. To be placed on the president's list, a student must have a grade point average of 3.7 to 4.0 while a dean's list student must have a grade point average of 3.4 to 3.69.

"I've extremely proud of these young ladies," Head Coach Ricky Casey said. "This is just another example of the student athletes we have on our softball team.

"They work hard in making sure their work done not only in the classroom but on the field as well," he said. "When they are not in class or on the field, they are helping each other with their studies. The returning players set the tone last year by receiving several academic awards, and they are working to make sure the younger players do the same."

LOUISVILLE, Ky. --- The National Fastpitch Coaches Association recognized the Holmes Community College Lady Bulldog fastpitch softball program yesterday as one of its All-Academic Teams for 2011-12.

The Lady Bulldogs ranked 12th in gpa with a 3.26. Players with the top gpa's included:Lauren Tharp, 4.0; Ginny Mills, 3.775; Kelsey Marter, 3.750; Kelsey Shaw, 3.743; Victoria Hunt, 3.743; and Kaitlyn Doles, 3.706.

Twelve Holmes Community College athletes were recently named to the Mississippi Association of Community and Junior College 2011-12 All-Academic Team.

Of the twelve, Bulldog football player Dudley Moore was named to the Distinguished Team with a 3.83 GPA.

The remaining members include: Kailtyn Doles, Faith McCorkle, Ginny Mills, and Allison Ray, softball; Taylor Leddy, Kyle Loggins and Ashley Wilson, soccer; Mary Lott and Jared Lyons, tennis; and Will Sigh and Addarious Willis, football.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- NJCAA Headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colo., today released the 2011-2012 NJCAA All-Academic Teams. Included on the list is the 2011-12 Lady Bulldog Softball Team.
 
Criteria for this award is the teams' overall GPA for the year must be a 3.0 or higher; excluding remedial or developmental courses.

Holmes' Softball team GPA for 2011-2012 was a 3.26; which placed them 40^th out of 90 in Women's Softball NJCAA All-Academic Team (this is nationally, not division or state). 

Over 450 teams qualified for academic team accolades. Nearly 60,000 student-athletes competed in the NJCAA for the 2011-2012 academic year on more than 3,500 teams in 28 different sports.

The 2011-2012 season marks the 29^th year the NJCAA has recognized the success of its student-athletes in the classroom. With minimal changes, the NJCAA academic awards program has been in place since 1983. 

By Steve Diffey
Sports Information Director
Holmes Community College

 Six new coaches will walk the sidelines for Holmes Community College this fall. Jeff Koonz was named Head Coach in December, and since that time, he and returning assistant Carlos Andrews, have been joined by Offensive Coordinator Mike McCarty, Defensive Coordinator Terry Ursin and fellow assistants Floyd White, Kyle Koets and Jesse Ward.

Koonz

Koonz came to Holmes from Georgia Military, where he was Special Teams Coordinator, Director of Strength and Conditioning and Defensive Line Coach.

Prior to coming back to Holmes and before serving a year at GMC, Koonz coached defensive line at Georgia Southern University for three seasons and served as Defensive Coordinator and Assistant Head Coach at Presbyterian College. He served under two head coaches at Holmes before that, Shurden (five seasons) and Robert Pool (one season).

During his tenure at Holmes, the program compiled a 35-25-1 overall record and won the 1996 North State Championship. At Holmes, he coached many players who made it to the NFL including Alvin McKinley – Denver Broncos, Butkus Award winner Corey Moore – Buffalo Bills, and Javor Mills – Jacksonville Jaguars.

Prior to getting into college football coaching, he played football at SUNY-Plattsburgh and returned to his high school alma mater, Wallkill H.S., to become head coach from 1987-91. During that time, Wallkill compiled a 33-13-1 overall mark and won the 1991 Section 9 Class B championship while being named Coach of the Year on two occasions (1987 and 1991).

Koonz earned a B.S. degree from SUNY-New Paltz and a M.S. degree from Georgia Southern University. His wife, Patti is also from Wallkill, N.Y. They are the parents of one son, Jeffrey, 28, who is also a college football coach. After graduating from Central Holmes Academy in 2000, Jeffrey earned his B.S. from Auburn University in 2004 and M.S. degree from the University of Texas. He is the Linebacker Coach at Louisiana Tech. University.

McCarty

McCarty joins Holmes football staff from Bryant University in Rhode Island where he was the Offensive Coordinator and quarterbacks coach.

Prior to Bryant, McCarty spent four seasons (2004-08) as the receivers coach at Arkansas State University, where he helped the Red Wolves earn the Sun Belt Conference Championship and a New Orleans Bowl appearance in 2005. He mentored a receiving corps that paces Arkansas State to 2,246 aerial yards in 2007- the second-highest total in the program’s history.

McCarty served three seasons (2001-03) as the associate head coach, offensive coordinator, and quarterbacks coach at Stony Brook University, two seasons (1999-00) as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Nicholls State University, two seasons (1997-98) as the receivers coach at Troy University.

Before arriving at Troy, McCarty worked two seasons (1994-95) as the offensive coordinator and quarterback coach at Hofstra University. And two seasons (1992-93) as the passing game coordinator and receivers coach at Southeast Missouri State University. He helped two teams make the NCAA-1AA playoffs- Hofstra 1995 and Troy 1998. Hofstra ranked third in the nation in total offense 1995.

McCarty began his career as a graduate assistant at the University of Oregon (1988-90). He helped Oregon earn an Independence Bowl appearance in 1988.

As a receiver at the University of Oregon he lettered for Coach Rich Brooks. Married to his high school sweetheart for 23 years, Mike and wife, Kim, have two children- daughter, Macy, a student at Ole Miss; and son, Beau, a high school student.

Ursin came to Holmes from Rhodes College in Memphis, where he coached several positions on both sides of the football during his tenure including special teams, linebackers, defensive line and wide receivers. Ursin coached first team All-SCAC players in each of his seasons, including back-to-back conference defensive players of the year and all-region selections (2007-2008). Ursin coached the conference sack leader in three of the past six seasons, as well as the leading tackler in two of the last four. During his time coaching the Rhodes linebackers, the Rhodes defense had unprecedented success, finishing fifth in the county in total defense in 2006 and appearing in the top 25 for total defense two more times. Under Ursin, the Rhodes defense achieved a high standard of excellence, while maintaining some of the highest academic standards in the country.

Before arriving at Rhodes, Ursin served as defensive coordinator and strength and conditioning coordinator at Kirby High School in Memphis for one season (2002), where he also taught history. That same year, Ursin also had a short stint in the Arena2 Football League with Memphis Xplorers.

Ursin served four seasons at Munford High School (1998-2001), where he coached linebackers, wide receivers, and was the strength and conditioning coach.

Ursin began his career as the defensive line coach at Rhodes (1997).

A native of New Orleans and a graduate of Jesuit High School, Ursin graduated from Rhodes with a B.A. in History within the Department of Education in May of 1997.

Ursin played his college football at Rhodes College in Memphis, where he was a 4-year letterman for the Lynx, a 3-year starter on the defensive line, and a team captain.

Floyd White, defensive backs and special teams coach

White was born on January 1, 1978 in Colorado Springs, and he graduated from Pampa (TX) High School in 1996, receiving National All- West Region Honors in football and was a Bronze Medalist at the Texas State Track Meet.

He went on to play football at the Eastern New Mexico University (ENMU). While at ENMU, he was a 3-year starter and 2-year team captain. He was a captain of the 1999 Lone Stare Conference South Division Championship team (2nd in school history). During his playing time at ENMU, he was a part of two top-10 nationally ranked defenses. He also won numerous academic awards as a student-athlete including the National Burger King Scholar Athlete of the week.

He graduated with a degree in Biology, and then completed his Master’s Degree in Sport Administration. While working on his masters, he began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at ENMU and was a staff member of the Lone Star Conference South Division Champions. In 2003, he took over at Alamogordo High School (NM) as a co-Defensive Coordinator. At Alamogordo High School, his defense finished in the Top-10 in the state in Total Defense. After moving to Reagan High School (Austin TX), his defense finished first in the district in total defense two of three years.

In 2007, Coach White joined the staff at Iowa State University as the defensive graduate assistant. During his time at ISU, he helped mentor the linebacker corps including 5th round draft pick (Alvin Bowen). In 2008, he moved to Anderson High School (Austin TX) as a Secondary Coach/Co-Defensive Coordinator. He helped coordinate a defense that was in the Top-10 in the Central Texas Area in Total Defense. During his time at Anderson the football program had a number of firsts: first district Championship, first playoff appearance, and first playoff victory.

Kyle Koets, offensive line and recruiting coordinator

Prior to being hired at Holmes, the Mo. native attended Arkansas Technical University, where he worked as a graduate assistant for the 2009 and 2010 seasons. There he received his master’s degree in student affairs. Koets helped the Wonder Boys offense to become ranked No. 1 in third down conversion percentage for All NCAA divisions in 2009, ranked No. 2 in total offense, No. 3 in passing offense and NO. 5 in scoring offense for Div. II. Koets helped coach Torrance Wright, who was selected Second-Team Daktronics, A.P. Little All-American Teams, First Team All-GSC, and First Team All-Super Region 2 in 2009.

Koets graduated from Arkansas State University with a BSE in mathematics. Koets was an offensive lineman for the Indians in 2008, where the offensive line helped lead ASU to the nation’s 18th best rushing attack and most yards of total offense in school history. ASU also finished the 2008 season ranked 39th in the nation and with the third highest offensive output in school history. In 2007, the running game was 29th in the country. In 2005, Koets helped the Indians win their first Sun Belt Conference Championship and an appearance in ASU’s first-ever bowl game, the New Orleans Bowl.

Koets grew up in Jefferson City, Mo., where he attended Jefferson City High School. He played football and wrestled for the Jays.

Jesse Ward

Prior to coming to Holmes, Ward attended Mississippi College, where he played on the offensive line for the Choctaws. In 2011, he graduated from MC with a BSBA in Accounting. In 2009, Ward helped the Choctaws finish the year with a 9-3 record, win their first American Southwest Conference Championship since 1998, and advance to the second round in Choctaws first-ever trip to NCAA Division III Playoffs.

Ward is a native of Louisville, Mississippi. He graduated from Winston Acadamy, where he played football for the Patriots.

Carlos Andrews, wide receivers

Last season, Andrews coached the running backs, where he coached All-State and All-Region selection Harry Peoples, who signed with the University of Louisiana-Lafayette. Andrews began his football coaching career as the volunteer coach, where he coached the secondary.

In May 2004, Andrews earned his bachelor’s degree in  business administration and a financial planning certificate from the University of Alabama. Not only did Andrews excel in the classroom, but he was a valuable member of the Crimson Tide’s football where he played in every game throughout his collegiate career. At Capstone, he played in both the Gaylord Music City Bowl and the Mainstay Independence Bowl.

A standout athlete, Andrews was one of the top pure safety prospects in the state of Florida. He was a Prepstar Top 100 Dream Team and Super All-Southeast Region selection and was listed as a Super Prep All-American. Carlos was the number 16 safety prospects in the nation by Rivals 100, an Atlanta Journal Southern 100 selection and ranked the number six prospect in Florida.

Andrews is a Laurel native and is married to Jamilah Andrews, the assistant women’s basketball coach for the Holmes Lady Bulldogs. They have two daughters, Carleigh and Kelsi.