Longtime Austin Peay fans—those that have come to games for years and years and gotten to know players, coaches and staff on a personal level—probably noticed a lot of changes last year.
Put simply, our Austin Peay family experienced significant change in 2015-16, not only by adding much-needed new faces to our ranks and replacing departed coaches and staff with talented professionals, but in saying good-bye to some long-timers as well.
It started at the top, with Ryan Ivey being named the 13th athletics director in Austin Peay history, Aug. 4, replacing Derek van der Merwe. The 34-year old Ivey helped Texas A&M-Commerce turn into a Lone Star Conference power during his two years in Texas and also served at McNeese State, the Memphis Redbirds and was a two-year Director of Operations for the Memphis women's basketball team since graduating from Memphis in 2003.
Ivey's first move was a big one—he brought in Travis Janssen, Sept. 16, as Austin Peay's 11th baseball head coach. That led to the hire of Greg Byron as pitching coach (Jan. 15) and a return to the Ohio Valley Conference Baseball Tournament for the first time since 2013.
In November, Josh Jorgensen was added to the administration staff as the Assistant Athletics Director for External Affairs. Jorgensen, last with Ivey at Texas A&M Commerce, wears many hats at Austin Peay—he's charged with marketing/sales campaigns, departmental relationships with student organizations and community groups and advertising.
Two days before Christmas, Ivey made one of the biggest and boldest hires in Division I athletics, plucking 30-year old Will Healy from Chattanooga to become Austin Peay's 19th head football coach. Healy immediately began filling his coaching staff with young, up-and-coming coaches brought in to breathe new life into the program. During spring practice, eight new faces—Marcus West (assistant head coach/co-defensive coordinator/defensive line), Wesley Satterfield (offensive coordinator/quarterbacks), Brandon Cooper (co-defensive coordinator/defensive backs), Joshua Eargle (running game coordinator/offensive line), Maxwell Thurmond (special teams coordinator/linebackers), Todd Pinkston (wide receivers), Eddie Hicks (cornerbacks/nickel package) and Carter Crutchfield (recruiting coordinator/director of operations)—roamed the Austin Peay sidelines after attaining a top-five FCS recruiting class in February.
Speaking of assistants, a handful of new faces came on to assistant various programs since last August—among them Karenmarie Pena (softball), Samantha Parker (soccer), Nate Maresh (athletic training) and Ryan Combs (academic services), the latter of whom just started at the beginning of July.
But as with all hello's, they come with some good-byes as well. Earlier this year, longtime Faculty Athletics Representative Dr. Bruce Myers elected to step away from that position, and 32-year sports information veteran Brad Kirtley retired at the beginning of July. Dr. Cindy Taylor, of the biology department, succeeded Dr. Myers as FAR in January, while the athletic communications department hopes to have a new hire to replace the departed Kirtley sometime in the near future.
2015-16 Top 10
No. 10 - Liermann a dynamo for APSU in her freshman campaign
No. 9 - APSU Track battles injury to remain among the OVC's best
No. 8 - Beach volleyball coming to Clarksville
No. 7 - Quartet of Govs picked in MLB draft
No. 6 - Yanes Garcia's historic season bodes well for APSU Tennis
No. 5 - Wild weekend for Austin Peay baseball at the OVC Tournament
No. 4 - APSU, Fortera Credit Union partner for football stadium naming rights
No. 3 - Horton caps his stellar APSU career in style
