Jacksonville State University Men's Golf

Hobbs.   Since taking over the head coaching duties at Jacksonville State in 1983, Hobbs has built the Gamecock golf programs--along with the mens basketball program in Division II--into successful ones. For his career accolades, Hobbs was inducted into the JSU Athletics Hall of Fame in 2015.   The JSU golf program has made 12 NCAA Regional Appearances on the Division I level since 2002.The JSU mens team has made six NCAA Regional Appearances, making the field in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2011, 2012 and 2014, while the women advanced in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2012.   On the mens side, the Gamecocks have claimed five Ohio Valley Conference Mens Golf Championships and Hobbs has been named OVC Coach of the Year four times on the mens side since joining the league in the 2003-04 season.   He has had three OVC Golfers of the Year in Nick Mackay and Matias Anselmo, who shared the honor in 2004, and 2015 OVC Player of the Year Tomasz Anderson.   Since the start of the award in 2005, the OVC's Male Freshman of the Year has gone to a Gamecock golfer four times, starting with Danny Willett in 2006. Hunter Hawkins (2009), Matthew Wallace (2011) and Tomasz Anderson (2012) have also won the honor.    Hobbs has also seen his golfers succeed beyond JSU, with Willett evolving into one of the world's top golfers on the European Tour. He has finished in the top 30 in The Race to Dubai twice and won his first European Tour Event in 2012 at the BMW International Open.   On the womens side, Jax State has dominated the Ohio Valley Conference, winning the OVC Championshiop in 2005, 2006 2007, 2008 and 2012 and making five total appearances in the NCAA Golf Regionals.   Hobbs was named OVC Womens Golf Coach of the Year in 2006, 2007 and 2008, while the Gamecocks had the OVC Womens Golfer of the Year four-straight years with Shanelle Howell (2006), Manuela Tarazona (2007), Mercedes Huarte (2008) and Portia Abbott (2009) claiming the honor. He has also seen his freshmen succeed on the women's side, claiming OVC Female Freshman of the Year honors five times with Huarte (2005), Manuela Tarazona (2007), Laura Cutler (2008), Lucia Fernandez Valdes (2009) and Anne Albrecht (2014).   A string of outstanding seasons in golf culminated in the two Atlantic Sun Conference Championships and Hobbs receiving the A-Suns Coach of the Year honors in 1997 and in 2002.   Prior to moving the Division I in 1995, Hobbs has led his teams to six appearances in the NCAA Division II Tournament including five from 1989-1993.   Hobbs also led the Gamecocks to back-to-back Gulf South Conference titles in 1991 and 1992 in the schools final years in the conference, then earned a NCAA berth in 1993 as an independent before moving to the Division I level and the Atlantic Sun. Prior to that, Jax State had finished in second place in the GSC five times, third place twice and fifth place once.   Individually, Hobbs has coached seven different players who have earned All-American honors, including Jeff Jordan in 1993. Jordan went on to become the only Division II player selected to compete for the USA Golf Team that played against the Japanese National Team in Japan that season. Hobbs has also coached five different All-American Scholar players.   Hobbs joined the Gamecock coaching staff following stints at Erwin High School in Birmingham, Northeast Junior College in Rainsville and Gadsden State Community College.   Prior to taking over the golf programs at Jacksonville State, Hobbs served as an assistant basketball coach under Bill Jones for 16 years. During that time, the Gamecocks made eight appearances in the NCAA Division II Tournament, including a national championship in 1985, two Final Four appearances and three Elite Eight appearances.   From 1993-95, Hobbs served as JSUs first full-time compliance officer before being promoted to assistant athletic director of operations.   Born on June 13, 1949, Hobbs is married to the former Sandra Melton and has two sons, Zach and Hunter. He is a 1971 graduate of Montevallo with a BS in Education. He also received his Masters Degree in Education from Montevallo in 1972.  

Armijo-Fernandez will remain on the Gamecock golf staff as head coach James Hobbs assistant for both the mens and womens teams.   Armijo-Fernandez has served as one of Hobbs graduate assistants for the past two years and assisted with both the mens and womens teams during that time. Prior to that, she was a four-year letterwinner for Hobbs Gamecock women.   In her four-year playing career for the Gamecocks, Armijo-Fernandez played in 41 events and was one of the most consistent players in Hobbs lineup. From 2009-13, she helped the Gamecocks to six tournament titles and was a Second Team All-Ohio Valley Conference player as a sophomore in 2011.   She helped JSU to the 2012 OVC Championship and a berth in the NCAA College Station Regional. She graduated in 2013 with her degree in finance from JSU. She ws a three-time member of the OVC Commissioners Honor Roll and earned the OVC Academic Medal of Honor with a 4.0 grade point average in her senior year.   Her low round of 69 in the 2010 Great Smokies Womens Intercollegiate is tied for the 11th lowest round in school history, while her 1-under 143 in the same event is tied for the seventh lowest 36-hole total by a Gamecock.   Her career 79.16 scoring average is 12th all-time, while her 109 career rounds played are the third-most in school history. She recorded 145 birdies in her career, also in the Top 10 in school history.   After her playing days, the San Juan, Argentina, native was a graduate assistant on Hobbs staff for the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons.   She earned her masters of business administration from JSU in the spring of 2015, carrying a 4.0 GPA throughout her post graduate education. She received the Finance Graduate Student Achievement Award for 2013-2014 and a member of Beta Gamma Sigma the International Honor Society for Collegiate Schools of Business.