Morgan McCafferty begins her first season as the head women's swimming & diving coach for Georgia Southern for the 2024-25 campaign.
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\r\nMcCafferty comes to Statesboro from the University of Idaho, where she served as an assistant coach for the Vandals the last three seasons. She is a former standout swimmer at the University of Nebraska as well.
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\r\nWhile at Idaho, McCafferty helped coach student-athletes to 41 new top-10 finishes from the previous season, including new school records set in the 50 Free, 100 Free, 500 Free, 1,000 Free, 400 IM, 200 Free Relay, and 400 Free Relay. McCafferty also coached Zoe Froh, who went on to compete at the Canadian Swimming Trials in 2022. She also led all aspects of coaching for the Vandals women's swimming and diving program, including leading practices, and served as the recruiting coordinator for the program. McCafferty planned and coordinated all travel for the program as part of her duties as well.
Before her tenure at Idaho, McCafferty dedicated two seasons to her alma mater, the University of Nebraska, as the director of operations. In this role, she not only assisted the coaching staff with travel, recruiting, and day-to-day operations but also took charge of the program's social media channels. This experience was a significant part of her personal and professional growth, preparing her for the role of head coach at Georgia Southern.
\r\n\r\nMcCafferty also gained valuable experience coaching at the high school and club levels. She spent two years as the head coach for Club Husker, working with athletes between the ages of 6 and 18. She had previously spent two seasons working with Club Husker as the age group coach for boys and girls, ages 9 to 13. McCafferty was also an assistant with Pius X High School last season and worked with Midwestern Swimming in 2018.\u00A0
\r\n\r\nMcCafferty was a four-year letterwinner for the Cornhuskers, earning Academic All-Big Ten honors in each of her final three seasons. As a senior, she helped lead Nebraska to its best Big Ten Championship finish since joining the league in 2012 and was also selected to compete in the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials in Omaha. McCafferty was a six-time honoree on the Nebraska Scholar-Athlete Honor Roll and a four-time Tom Osborne Citizenship Team selection, as well as a Herman Team GPA recipient in her first two seasons and a three-time Night at the Lied Academic Medallion Recipient.
\r\n\r\nA native of Reynoldsburg, Ohio, McCafferty earned her degree from Nebraska in history and added a master's in higher education administration.
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\r\nDuring his first three seasons with Georgia Southern baseball, Lakey has overseen the program’s year-round physical development and contributed to the preparation of three MLB Draft selections, five All-Sun Belt honorees and two ABCA/Rawlings Gold Glove Award finalists. The program’s draft selections included Thomas Higgins, a 15th-round pick of the Seattle Mariners, and Ben Johnson, a 17th-round pick of the Chicago Cubs, in the 2024 MLB Draft, followed by Josh Tate, an eighth-round selection of the Pittsburgh Pirates, in 2025. In 2026, under Lakey’s direction in the weight room, Brady Christman was named the Sun Belt Conference Freshman of the Year while also earning First-Team All-Sun Belt recognition and First-Team Freshman All-America honors from the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association. Christman became Georgia Southern’s first conference Freshman of the Year since 2012 and the first Eagle to receive the honor during the program’s Sun Belt era. During Lakey’s first season with the Eagles in 2024, Georgia Southern tied for first place in the Sun Belt East Division regular-season standings and advanced to the championship game of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament.
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\r\nLakey arrived in Statesboro after serving as the Assistant Baseball Strength and Conditioning Coach at Mississippi State, where he worked exclusively with the Bulldogs’ baseball program during the 2023–24 offseason. In that role, he assisted with the implementation of the team’s strength, speed and physical development program ahead of a season in which Mississippi State finished third in the SEC West and advanced to the championship round of the NCAA Charlottesville Regional. That roster went on to produce 11 selections in the 2024 MLB Draft, the most of any collegiate program that year and tied for the highest single-draft total in Mississippi State history. Eight pitchers were selected, while six Bulldogs were chosen within the first nine rounds. The class was led by switch-pitcher Jurrangelo Cijntje, who was selected 15th overall by the Seattle Mariners and became the first switch-pitcher chosen in the opening round of the MLB Draft.
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\r\nPrior to Mississippi State, Lakey spent three and a half years at Elon University from 2020 to 2023 while completing his undergraduate degree. He initially joined the sports performance department as an intern before advancing into an undergraduate assistant role under the mentorship of Nick DiMarco. During his tenure, Lakey served as a lead assistant and assumed interim leadership responsibilities across multiple periods with the baseball, football, women’s lacrosse and track & field programs. While working with Elon baseball, Lakey was also mentored by Hunter Bell, now the Director of Baseball Strength and Conditioning at Arkansas, and Andrew Behnam, now the Director of Baseball Performance at Virginia. Both are regarded as two of the most innovative and highly respected practitioners in the field of baseball performance.\u00A0Across four seasons with the Phoenix baseball program, Lakey contributed to the physical development and preparation of 13 All-CAA selections and\u00A0three MLB draft picks. The group included Alex Iadisernia, a seventh-round selection of the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2022 MLB Draft; Trevor Kirk, a 20th-round selection of the New York Yankees in 2022; and Ben Simon, a 13th-round selection of the New York Mets in 2023.\u00A0In Lakey’s final season, the 2023 Phoenix recorded 33 victories, the program’s most since 2019, and matched a program record with 19 CAA wins. Seven players earned All-CAA recognition, also the program’s highest total since 2019. During his four seasons with the program, Elon earned victories over five Power Five opponents and four nationally ranked teams that later advanced to postseason competition.
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\r\nBetween semesters at Elon, Lakey held two summer strength & conditioning roles in the State of Texas.
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\r\nIn the summer of 2022, Lakey worked with the Texas A&M football program as a Sports Performance Coach under head coach Jimbo Fisher and staff. Serving as an extension of the sports performance department, he assisted with the development of the quarterbacks and helped implement the freshman foundation program for the nation’s No. 1-ranked recruiting class.
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\r\nIn the summer of 2021, Lakey served as a Strength and Conditioning Intern at TCU, assisting with both the Horned Frogs’ baseball and football programs. While in Fort Worth, Lakey completed a comprehensive internship education and mentorship program led by Zach Dechant, a nationally recognized educator in baseball strength and conditioning and long-term athletic development.
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\r\nA native of Burlington, North Carolina, Lakey is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) through the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) and is CPR/AED certified. He earned a bachelor’s degree in exercise science with a minor in coaching from Elon University (2019-2023).