Spring is upon us and that means the end of our winter sports and the start of our spring sports, so I wanted to take a moment to give you an update on what's going on as we head into April. Last weekend we hosted the Schenkel Invitational, which is one of the oldest college tournaments and is always an outstanding golf event due to the work of the local tournament committee and our staff. Our men's team played terrific golf and finished second at the event, finishing behind only No. 5 Florida and out-scoring teams such as No. 2 Vanderbilt, No. 32 Lipscomb and No. 36 North Florida.

Also, congrats are in order to our women's golf team and Coach Emily Kuhfeld who won their first collegiate golf tournament since starting the program just two short years ago. This is quite an accomplishment.

Like many of you, I am eager to see our football team's progress this spring. Our Blue-White Spring Game will be at noon on Saturday, April 1st at Allen E. Paulson Stadium and I am looking forward to seeing many of you there. On the diamond, our baseball and softball teams have begun conference play and I look forward to an exciting season in both sports throughout the remainder of their seasons. They both are in action at home the day of the Spring Football Game so you can make it a full day of Eagle Athletics!

Our men's and women's tennis programs, which have both had exceptional years, will wind down their season with the Sun Belt Conference championships April 20-23 in New Orleans.

The merger with Armstrong State University continues to progress. Armstrong recently announced that it will not participate in collegiate athletics in the 2017-2018 season. This obviously was a tough day for their staff and athletes. I would like to take this time to recognize their Athletic Director Lisa Sweany, the Armstrong student-athletes and their staff for all of their many accomplishments. The decision to not move forward with athletics has provided clarity for both the athletes and staff members regarding their futures with Armstrong. We can now begin to work together to form the new athletic department for the new Georgia Southern that will be created during this consolidation.  

Spring is also the time for our annual Coaches Caravan which occurs throughout Georgia and now even makes a stop in Florida and South Carolina. This year is particularly important because we are challenging each caravan site to compete with each other in a True Blue 120 membership drive, an initiative recently announced by our Foundation in efforts to grow the Eagle Fund. 'True Blue' is the Eagle Fund's lowest membership level with a minimum donation of $120. The caravan area that recruits the most new members, or raises the most money for the Eagle Fund between now and June 30 will receive a True Blue 120 tailgate at one of the upcoming football games. More information on the Caravan, tickets and Eagle Fund donations can be found online at GSEagles.com/Caravan. I, along with the coaches, look forward to visiting with you about Georgia Southern Athletics.

Thank you, again, for your support.

G.A.T.A.,



"Beat State"

Tom Kleinlein - 
Director of Athletics, Georgia Southern University