VALDOSTA —
Valdosta State University has no plans of moving to the NCAA Division I level.
With seven national championships at the Division II level, the university plans on staying put and continuing to build on its championship tradition.
Part of the school’s long-term plans of staying at the Division II level include the possibility of adding more sports that will bring profitable gains to the university and the local community.
After adding women’s soccer in 2010 — the team didn’t play its inaugural season until 2011 — Valdosta State athletic director Herb Reinhard said the potential of adding more women’s sports is in the future.
“I think the next two or three women’s sports we would look at would be — and again, there is no timeline, but as we are looking out ahead — lacrosse,” Reinhard said, “because of the amount of growth of the sport throughout the state, especially in the Atlanta area, women’s golf and then the possibility of adding track and field.”
With Title IX regulations in place, the university would add women’s sports before exploring the possibility of adding more men’s sports.
“We don’t have the addition of a men’s sport on our timeline right now,” Reinhard said. “That certainly doesn’t mean that we aren’t interested in it.”
Moving forward at the Division II level, Valdosta State will have to continue to deal with the everlasting outcry from fans about the lack of a home football stadium for the university’s national championship winning team.
Currently, Valdosta State plays its home games at Valdosta High School’s Bazemore-Hyder Stadium, which features a Wildcat paw as the midfield logo, black and yellow seats and limited press box space that ranks well below facilities that in-state rival West Georgia unveiled in 2009.
Reinhard understands the uproar over the heated stadium debate, but says, as of right now, there isn’t much that the VSU administration can do about the stadium situation.
“I don’t think there is any doubt that if the world was perfect and we had everything we wanted that we wouldn’t like to have our own football facility,” Reinhard said. “Even though we have a really nice relationship with the city school board, in regards to the stadium, there are still some bumps in the road sometimes. Even though we do a really good job at going over there and making it red and black, it is still very black and gold, because it is their stadium. In a perfect world, yes, we would love to have our own.”
As for if there are any talks of Valdosta State acquiring Valdosta’s Bazemore-Hyder Stadium from the city school system, Valdosta State President Dr. William J. McKinney said there are no discussions right now.
“There is nothing at this point,” McKinney said. “You don’t want to rule anything out down the road. But as for now, I’m unaware of any such talks.”
McKinney also weighed in on VSU athletics’ leadership and the overall approval rating he would give to its administration, which has been the subject of criticism in recent months.
President for less than a year, McKinney has been more than pleased with the success of Blazer athletics under the current administration and has no plans of making changes in the future.
“Take a look at the national championships that this athletic program has brought to Valdosta State and this community, and the parade we are going to have (Wednesday),” McKinney said. “That speaks for itself. I have confidence in the leadership of our athletic programs. They are in tune to our student-athletes’ needs and they bring us a lot of pride in national championships.”
While the university isn’t looking to add any new sports in the immediate future, Reinhard is on the lookout for a new volleyball coach after eight-year coach Sia Poyer resigned from the program and took a job at his alma mater, Eastern New Mexico State.
Reinhard said he isn’t rushing the search and that he wants to make the correct hire for the program.
“It is going good. We have a nice pool of candidates,” Reinhard said. “We are going steady. We are taking our time, but I want to make sure we identify the right person to help us move along in the direction that we have and move this program forward.”
Local Sports
Staying Division II: Valdosta State’s plan to expand
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VSU softball wins South Region, headed to nationals
For the third time in four years, and second in a row, Valdosta State’s softball team will play in the national championship tournament.
The Blazers won their third South Region championship Saturday, beating Alabama-Huntsville 8-3 in game three of the best-of-three series at Steel’s Diamond at Blazer Park. -
VSU baseball season comes to an end
Delta State scored seven unanswered runs to defeat Valdosta State 7-2 in an elimination game of the NCAA South Region Tournament at the UT Baseball Field Saturday afternoon.
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Blazers take 1-0 series lead
Angela O’Connor launched a pinch-hit two-run home run over the left-field fence, tying the game against Alabama-Huntsville in the bottom of the sixth inning, and sparking the Blazers and their fans along the way.
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Blazer baseball stays alive, beats Stillman
Valdosta State scored five runs in the first inning to defeat Stillman 6-2 in an elimination game of the NCAA South Region Tournament at UT Baseball Field Friday morning.
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Lowndes’ Harwell, Wortham sign with Valdosta State
Lowndes’ Ty Harwell and David Wortham won’t have to go far to play college baseball.
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Blazers host respected rival UAH in Super Regional
One would expect a matchup featuring two of the top softball programs in Division II to come in the national championship game.
Unfortunately for Valdosta State and Alabama-Huntsville, who have combined to appear in four straight national championship games, they won’t be meeting in title game on Memorial Day in Salem, Va. -
Pop Warner Football coming to Valdosta
Pop Warner Football is coming to Valdosta.
The nationally known organization that puts an emphasis on education and developing American youth has been established in the Valdosta area and will begin playing football this August. -
Blazers lose to Delta State, fall to loser’s bracket
If the Valdosta State baseball team is going to win the South Region Tournament, the Blazers going to have to do it from the loser’s bracket.
The Blazers (33-17) dropped their first game of the tournament Thursday, falling to Delta State 4-2 at UT Baseball Stadium.
VSU will face Stillman College, which lost to No. 1 seed and tournament host Tampa Thursday, Friday at 11 a.m. to advance to the weekend portion of the tournament. The loser will be eliminated. -
Lowndes’ Willis, Breit named Region 1 Coaches of the Year
The All-Region 1-AAAAAA soccer teams were announced Wednesday and Lowndes was well represented.
Lowndes coaches Chris Willis (girls) and Jordan Breit (boys) were named the Region Coaches of the Year, after leading the Lowndes teams to region championships and going undefeated in region play. -
Vikings commit 4 errors, fall to Roswell, 5-2
The small things matter in baseball, especially in a winner-take-all game three.
On Wednesday, Lowndes’ baseball team made too many mistakes on the little things. The Vikings committed four errors that led to five Roswell runs and were eliminated in the Class AAAAAA state playoffs with a 5-2 loss to the Hornets. - More Local Sports Headlines
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