INSIDE the Lions’ Den
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FLORIDA MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY INSIDE THE Lions’ Den OCTOBER 2020 WWW.FMUATHLETICS.COM Staff Directory ATHLETIC ADMINISTRATION Chevonne Mansfield, Interim Director of Athletics/SWA Earnest Collins, Senior Associate AD, Compliance & Operations Strada Joseph, Associate AD, Corporate Sponsorship Brianne Blades, Assistant to the Athletic Director Jasmine Simpson-Griffin, Business Office Coordinator SPORTS INFORMATION J.T. Wilcox, Sports Information Director Chris Fodde, Assistant Sports Information Director ATHLETIC TRAINING Elise Carlson, Head Athletic Trainer Tamara Jacob, Asst. Athletic Trainer Gretel Briand, Asst. Athletic Trainer STRENGTH & CONDITIONING Aaron Thompson, Head Strength & Conditioning Coach Ryan Huffman, Asst. Strength & Conditioning Coach EQUIPMENT Andrew Harper, Equipment Manager Max Zilberberg II, Equipment Coordinator FMU WELLNESS CENTER Florida Memorial Melvin Jones, Wellness Center Manager CHEERLEADING/DANCE Kalyn James, Head Coach University teams have Ayana Harris, Asst. Coach Alicia Archer, Asst. Coach committed to not hold FOOTBALL Tim Harris Sr., Head Coach Davon Johnson, Offensive Coordinator Pierre Senatus, Defensive Coordinator athletic-related activi- Carl Cunningham, Asst. D-Line Coach Brandon Washington, Offensive Line Coach Nitron Stork, Asst. Defensive Back Coach Paul Lasseur, Video Coordinator ties on Election Day – Nicholas Oyarzun, Tight Ends Coach Clavens Charles, Defensive Backs Coach Mike Jones, Asst. Quarterbacks Coach Roy Smith, Asst. Wide Receivers Coach Tuesday, November 3, Cesar Jimenez, Asst. Special Teams Coach Stephanie Anderson, Team Operations Manager 2020, to encourage BASEBALL Florentino Burgos, Head Coach Andre Payne, Asst. Coach/JV Coach Antonio Alfonseca, Asst. Coach student-athletes and Ricardo Gonzalez, Asst. Coach Angel Rivera, Asst. Coach MEN’S BASKETBALL staff members to Ansar Al-Ameen, Head Coach Jason Gilliam-Alexander, Asst. Coach Juan Urbina, Asst. Coach Josh Woodley, Asst. Coach exercise their right to Sherman Gant, Asst. Coach Fernando Rojas, Asst. Coach vote. Josh Mendoza, JV Head Coach MEN’S SOCCER Chris Pinot, Interim Head Coach Andre Waugh, Asst. Coach MEN’S/WOMEN’S TRACK & FIELD Marlon Baugh, Head Coach WOMEN’S BASKETBALL Gregory Stanback, Head Coach Joy Al-Ameen, Asst. Coach Taylor Payne, Asst. Coach Thalia Urbina, JV Head Coach WOMEN’S SOCCER Logan Langseth, Head Coach Anna Maliszewska, Asst. Coach Sarrah Granda, Asst. Coach WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL/BEACH VOLLEYBALL Marrita Crockett-Moulton, Head Coach Jeffrey Hardman, Assistant Coach Jazmin Monlina, Assistant Coach FLAG FOOTBALL Jonathan Alvarez, Head Coach SOFTBALL Pedro Herrera, Head Coach Volume 1|Issue 13| pg. 2 Mansfield Named Interim AD; Becomes FMU’s First Female African-American AD 19 win. Florida Memorial University announced on October 19th that Chevonne Mansfield will serve as the school’s Interim Athletics Director. Notably, Mansfield is the first African-American woman to serve as FMU Athletic Director. Mansfield joined FMU as the Deputy Athletics Director and Senior Woman Administrator in July 2019, where her responsibilities included oversight of the department’s communications and promotions, and several athletic programs. She has provided vision and leadership to advance the athletic department’s fundraising efforts. She currently serves on the Student-Athletic Advisory Committee and all life-skills programming for FMU Athletics. “Athletics are a vital part of life at FMU. I’m honored to be asked by President Hardrick to serve as Inter- im Athletic Director and look forward to helping our department and our University meet challenges and embrace new opportunities.” Mansfield has 15 years of experience in college athletics and higher education and has worked in all three subdivisions of NCAA Division-I athletics. She served as Director of Communications at the LEAD1 As- sociation, which represents the athletics directors and programs of the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision. Before joining LEAD1, she spent four years as Communications Director for the American Athletic Confer- ence (AAC). Mansfield spent nearly three years at the Southeastern Conference (SEC) as Assistant Director of Media Relations during a pivotal time of transition when the league expanded and added Missouri and Texas A&M, announced the creation of the SEC Network, and was instrumental in the formation of the College Football Playoff (CFP). Prior to her time at the SEC, she was Assistant Director of Communications at the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC). Her career in athletics began at Howard University as the As- sistant Sports Information Director. INSIDE THE LIONS’ DEN OCTOBER 2020 WWW.FMUATHLETICS.COM Volume 1|Issue 13| pg. 3 FMU Releases 2020-21 Men’s & Women’s Basketball Schedules MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – A return to normalcy means a progression of the – sports – seasons. With fall sports doing their best to navigate through the unpredictable road laid by the still-pres- ent COVID-19 pandemic, winter sports are about to join the course. Florida Memorial University officially released its men’s and women’s basketball schedules on October 14th. Coming on the heels of the Sun Conference (NAIA) releasing its revised versions of the women’s and men’s basketball conference slates, both teams essentially just filled in a handful non-confer- ence games. The schedules for the Lions men and women will mostly mirror each other throughout much of the year. As a way to condense travel, limit exposure, and guarantee games, the teams will play mostly an all conference schedule, with those conference games following a Tuesday-Thurs- day-Saturday game day pattern. Where the schedules will differ will be in the handful of non-conference games – and even then, there is a bit of overlap. Both teams’ schedule is set to begin in November and run through the middle of February. The Lions men and women will start the season with a road trip to the Cotton State. FMU’s men’s season will tipoff with a November 5th tilt against Talladega College before Lions men’s head coach Ansar Al-Ameen and his squad makes the two-hour trek south to Montgomery, Alabama to take part in the two-day (Nov. 6-7) Faulkner Tournament at Faulkner University. CONTINUED ON THE NEXT PAGE INSIDE THE LIONS’ DEN OCTOBER 2020 WWW.FMUATHLETICS.COM Volume 1|Issue 13| pg. 4 Florida Memorial’s women’s season will begin on November 6th when it also plays in the Faulk- ner Tournament. Opponents for each day, for both teams, will be announced at a later date. Both the FMU men and women will play their first Sun Conference game on November 12th, heading to Lake Wales, Florida to take on Warner University. Florida Memorial’s first home games of basketball season will on November 14th, when the Lions host neighborhood and conference rival St. Thomas University in a women-men double- header beginning at 2 p.m. November 14th will be a huge day for FMU athletics, as the Lions’ football team is also slated to host Keiser University at 1:30 p.m. at Nathaniel “Traz” Powell Stadium. The men’s and women’s schedules make their first divergence on November 17th, as the men are slated to travel to face NAIA independent Florida National University, while the women’s team will be idle. Both teams’ schedules coalesce for the next five matchups – beginning with a Nov. 19 trip to Ave Maria University up until the scheduled December 10th doubleheader at Florida National. Florida Memorial’s men will then break for holiday recess while FMU women’s basketball head coach Gregory Stanback’s team is set to play a pair of exhibition road games against NCAA Division-I opponents – a Dec. 15 trip to Daytona Beach to face Bethune-Cookman University followed by a Dec. 18 meeting with Florida Atlantic University. Following the holiday break, both teams will open the New Year on the court with a January 2nd home doubleheader against Warner University, which will be the first of what will be five straight home – doubleheader – games for the Lions. January and February will be a sprint to the conference finish line. With the Sun Conference announcing that it will be expanding the number of teams that qualify for its postseason tour- nament – from six to eight – teams on both sides will be either vying for seeding or looking to jump into the top eight. The teams’ schedules will split one last time during the first week of ebruaryF when the Lady Li- ons will host Allen University (S.C.) on February 8th in the FMU Wellness Center, while the men are idle. Florida Memorial’s last road trip of the season will be a weekend voyage to Georgia, where the Lions men and women will take on College of Coastal Georgia on Feb. 11 then ride over to Thomasville, Georgia for a Feb. 13 showdown with Thomas University. FMU’s regular season will end with back-to-back home games. The teams will welcome the University of the Virgin Islands on February 18th and play the “rub- ber match” of the Battle of Miami Gardens and celebrate “Senior Day” on February 20th with a doubleheader against St. Thomas University. Florida Memorial’s men are set to play 27 games in 2020-21 while the women are scheduled to play 28 games, however the schedule (opponents, locations, and/or time) is subject to change. INSIDE THE LIONS’ DEN OCTOBER 2020 WWW.FMUATHLETICS.COM Volume 1|Issue 13| pg. 5 FMU Cancels Remainder Of Fall Sports Due To COVID-19 Florida Memorial University Athletics announced it has canceled the remainder of the season for all of its fall sports - football, men’s and women’s soccer, and volleyball - effective immediately on Friday, October 16, 2020. As a result of feedback from a university survey, advisement from the FMU athletic training and medical staff, and conversation with members all teams, University leaders elected not continue the sea- sons. The well-being of the Florida Memorial University student-athletes, coaches, and athletics staff is the top priority. Currently enrolled student-athletes will retain their scholarships through the completion of the academic year if they choose to remain at FMU.