Fired!
Greg Goff Is Gone As Head Coach Of Alabama Baseball
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| UA Baseball Head Coach Greg Goff Fired Photo Credit: UA Athletics |
TUSCALOOSA, Alabama – Honestly? It's about time. In fact, from all reports coming out of The Capstone this baseball season, sooner would have been better. University of Alabama head baseball coach Greg Goff has been relieved of his duties as the skipper of the team effective immediately. The announcement came this afternoon from UA Director of Athletics Greg Byrne.
Byrne commented, "Things are not easy for these coaches; their families; this program; and this is not something we take lightly at all. I would like to thank Coach Goff and his staff for their contributions over the past year, and I wish them well in future endeavors. Coach Goff has had a lot of success over the years as a baseball coach, and I know that he will have success in the future as well.
"We felt this was the best decision going forward for our baseball program, and that is why we made the decision. You look at these situations when it comes to coaches, and you decide, 'What is the best long-term solution for the program?' – not based off a season or anything like that – just based off the long-term health of the program.
"As we move forward and look ahead, we are looking for the best possible baseball coach that we can get with college experience – that can be a head coach, that can be an assistant coach – but we want somebody that has been in college baseball and understands the dynamics of that.
"We have a lot of desirable resources here at The University of Alabama, including: the incredible stadium, our budget – we fund our baseball program at a very high level – and the Alabama brand that gives all of our teams the ability to recruit nationally for the best opportunity for success. People want to be at Alabama. This is a great and special place, and we are all fortunate to be a part of this athletics department."
Byrne has appointed associate head coach Terry Rooney as interim head coach until a replacement for Goff has been named. The search for a new head baseball coach begins immediately.
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Three Alabama Women Golfers
Earn WGCA All-America Honors
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| Cheyenne Knight Photo Credit: UA Athletics |
TUSCALOOSA, Alabama – Three University of Alabama Crimson Tide women golfers has been honored by the Women's Golf Coaches Association. Tide sophomores Cheyenne Knight and Lauren Stephenson and freshman Kristen Gillman have been named to the 2017 Women's Golf Coaches Association (WGCA) All-America Team. Knight and Gillman were named to the first team, while Stephenson was named to the second team. The WGCA announced the first-team honorees on Tuesday morning and the second-team and honorable mention selections on Tuesday afternoon.
This is the second such honor for Knight, having earned first-team WGCA honors in 2016 and was also the association's Freshman of the Year last season. She earned Southeastern Conference Player of the Year as well as First Team All-SEC honors earlier this season. Knight was UA women's golf low scorer at the NCAA Women's Golf Championships for the second year in a row, finishing in a tie for 10th at seven-over par.
Gillman was honored as the SEC Freshman of the Year as well as being named to the All-SEC first team and the SEC All-Freshman team earlier this month. She was Alabama's No. 2 scorer at the NCAA Championships, finishing in a tie for 17th at 10-over par.
Stephenson earned first-team All-SEC honors this season and shared the team lead in top-five tournament finishes with Knight and Gillman at five. She also led the Crimson Tide in tournaments under par with eight in 11 contests.
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| Lauren Stephenson Photo Credit: UA Athletics |
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| Kristen Gillman Photo Credit: UA Athletics |
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Braxton Key To Return
To Alabama Men's Basketball
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| Braxton Key Photo Credit: UA Athletics |
The 6' 7" forward led the Crimson Tide in scoring as a true freshman, averaging 12.0 points per game for UA head coach Avery Johnson and the men's basketball team. Key was named to the 2017 Southeastern Conference All-Freshman team for his hard work. He led the team in minutes played (29.8 mpg), while ranking second in assists (2.5 apg) and rebounding (5.7 rpg). He became the first true freshman to lead Alabama in scoring since James "Hollywood" Robinson during the 1990-91 campaign.
Key commented, "I spoke to Coach Avery just over a week ago and informed him of my decision to withdraw my name from the NBA Draft and return to the University of Alabama for my sophomore season. I made that official when I sent my paperwork to the NBA league office Monday morning. I want to express my appreciation to my teammates, Coach Johnson and the entire coaching staff for giving me their full support while I went through this process. I am excited for the future of the Alabama basketball program and looking forward to getting to work as we prepare for next season. Roll Tide and Buckle Up!"
With Key's decision to remain with the Tide, Alabama will return four starters and seven returning letterwinners from last season's 19-15 team that achieved a berth in the National Invitation Tournament. Bama also welcomes the nation's fifth-ranked recruiting class for the upcoming season, while sophomore transfer Daniel Giddens, who transferred from Ohio State prior to the 2016-17 season, will be eligible to play for the Tide this year after sitting out last year due to NCAA transfer rules.
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Alabama Crimson Tide To Face Top-Ranked Florida
In NCAA Softball Super Regional Play
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| Photo Credit: UA Athletics |
GAINESVILLE, Florida - The 16th-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide softball team will face the top-ranked Florida Gators beginning tomorrow in the 2017 NCAA Super Regional at the Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium in Gainesville, Florida. The first game is Thursday, May 25th at 6 p.m. CT between the Crimson Tide (35-16) and Gators (53-7), and will be broadcast on ESPN. Game two is slated for Friday at 6 p.m. CT, and also be be aired over ESPN. Should a third game be necessary, it will be played Saturday, May 27th at 4 p.m. CT and would also be aired on ESPN.
In last weekend's NCAA Tuscaloosa Regional, Bama went undefeated at 3-0 to capture its 13th-consecutive regional title and its 15th overall. The wins also improve the Tide's NCAA regional winning streak to 34-straight games.
Alabama is 35-31 versus Florida.
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Erin Routliffe & Maddie Pothoff
To Begin NCAA Singles & Doubles Championship Play
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| UA's Pothoff (left) & Routliffe (right) Photo Credit: UA Athletics |
This will be the third consecutive appearance in the singles championship for Routliffe, a two-time NCAA Doubles Champion and a four-time first team All-SEC accolade winner. Routliffe is the 13th-ranked player in singles competition in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Rankings, playing all of her matches from the top position in singles and doubles. She boasts seven wins over nationally ranked singles opponents during the 2016-17 season. Routliffe leads the Crimson Tide for the most doubles wins in dual-match play with 13, while coming in second on the team for the most singles wins in the spring season with 13. Routliffe enters this year's singles bracket as a No. 9-16 seed. With a win today she would advance to the second round on Thursday to face the winner between Ioanna Markesini of ETSU and Mia Horvit of South Carolina.
Pothoff and Routliffe are a No. 5-8 seed in this year's doubles bracket, giving the pair ITA All-America honors. The duo is currently ranked fifth in the nation, collecting five wins over nationally ranked doubles opponents during the 2017 spring campaign. Should the pair advance to the round of 16 on Friday, they will take on the winner of the match between Florida's Anna Danilina and Ingrid Neel and Georgia Tech's Paige Hourigan and Kenya Jones.
All matches will be the best-of-three sets. No-ad scoring and seven-point tiebreaker (first to seven points, must win by two points) at six-games-all will be used for all matches. In doubles, a 10-point match tiebreaker will be played in lieu of a third set.
