Sewanee: University of the South Women's Softball

Merritt Yackey enters his 11th season as head coach in 2026 with the softball program at the University of the South.   Sewanee suffered through an injury-marred campaign in 2025, finishing 10-27 overall, 4-11 in conference play. The club set single-season records for batting average (.281) and extra-base hits (72). Hannah Wilson earned First Team All-SAA honors, Abbie Buckner was named to the Second Team and Maggie Barker, Ansley Giffin and Sydney Tackett garnered Honorable Mention recognition. The Tigers posted a 6-12 mark in SAA action in 2024, winning a pair of games in the conference tournament and continuing momentum within the program from the 2023 campaign. Hannah Wilson was named Second Team All-Conference and Eve Bournias, Reagen Huskey and Sydney Tackett earned Honorable Mention accolades. The squad set single-season records in batting average (.270), hits (314), extra-base hits (60), RBIs (144), total runs scored (168) and stolen bases (73), besting marks set in 2023. Yackey was voted SAA Coach of the Year in 2023, guiding the Tigers to a 7-11 league record and the program's first double-digit win total since 2005. The squad set single-season marks in batting average (.262), hits (253), extra-base hits (53), RBIs (111), total runs scored (127), stolen bases (65) and earned run average (4.87). Michaela Walker and Alice Charboneau garnered Second Team All-SAA honors while Bournias, Zoe Crockett and Wilson received Honorable Mention recognition. COVID-19 limited the program to a total of 26 games combined for the 2020 and 2021 seasons. The Tigers registered a 7-26 overall record, 3-10 in SAA action, in 2022, the most league victories since 2005.   Yackey spent six years as head coach at Lees-McRae College in Banner Elk, N.C., before his time at Sewanee, taking over the program in the summer of 2009. He earned Conference Carolinas Coach of the Year honors in 2011, with the Bobcats posting a 26-27 overall record, 10-8 in league play. The team finished second in the regular season standings and lost in the conference tournament championship game.   His teams from 2012-15 received the conference Sportsmanship Award and Yackey earned the Edgar Tufts Humanitarian Service Award for service in the community and on campus at Lees-McRae College in April 2013.   In addition, he served as the Associate Director of Athletics for the last five years, with duties including scheduling all athletic travel, personnel management, assistance with fundraising efforts and special projects within the Bobcat athletic department and its 17 intercollegiate sports.   Yackey brings almost 30 years of experience in higher education. He was Director of Development/Special Giving at Albion College from 1988-93; Director of Development at Converse College from 1995-96; Director of Major Gifts and Planned Giving at Catawba College from 1997-00; Special Assistant to the President/Campaign Director at Limestone College from 2000-02; Vice President for Development at Mansfield University from 2002-04; and Vice President for Advancement at Lees-McRae College from 2004-07. Yackey also served as the head softball coach at Avery High School in Newland, N.C., in 2008-09.   Yackey earned his bachelor's in Business from Muskingum University in New Concord, Ohio, in 1981 and received a master's in Educational Leadership from Western Michigan in 1993. He and his wife, Sarah, have three children – Millicient, Morgan and Brock; two son-in-laws, John and Kyle; and four grandchildren, Mitt, Aubrey, Walter and Oliver. Yackey's year-by-year as a head coach Year School Record Conference Notes 2010 Lees-McRae (D-II) 12-32 5-13 2011 Lees-McRae 26-27 10-8 Lost in conference championship game 2012 Lees-McRae 13-34 4-16 2013 Lees-McRae 7-40 2-18 2014 Lees-McRae 9-37 3-11 2015 Lees-McRae 6-40 1-17 Total 6 seasons at Lees-McRae 73-210 25-83   Year School Record Conference Notes 2016 Sewanee (D-III) 8-23 0-18 2017 Sewanee 1-34 0-17 2018 Sewanee 4-32 1-17 2019 Sewanee 3-27 0-15 2020 Sewanee 2-14 0-6 Season cut short by COVID-19 2021 Sewanee 4-6 0-0 2022 Sewanee 7-26 3-10 2023 Sewanee 12-27 7-11 2024 Sewanee 12-32 6-12 2-2 in SAA Championships 2025 Sewanee 10-27 4-11 Total 10 seasons at Sewanee 63-248 21-117 Total 16 seasons at head coach 136-458 46-200 Updated 1/29/2026

Hamza Khan C'20 is in his first year as an assistant coach of the men's and women's tennis programs at the University of the South.  A four-year letterwinner with the Sewanee tennis programs, Khan was named captain of the squad during his senior year in 2020. A member of three Southern Athletic Association (SAA) Regular Season and Tournament Championship teams, he won 39 career matches for the Tigers in his career.  The Newnan, Ga. native graduated from the University of the South with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology in 2020.  Updated 1/27/23

Mark Fino enters his second season as head coach for men’s and women’s swimming and diving at Sewanee for the 2024-25 academic year.   Fino brings a wealth of experience and a trophy case full of conference championships, swimmer and diver of the year awards and coach of the year honors from previous coaching stints.   He spent the previous year working at the Chattahoochee Gold Swim Team in Cumming, Ga., with team members winning high school state championships, made US Open cuts and reached the finals at Winter Juniors and USA Swimming Futures meets. He also coached and organized a local recreation swim team, Dunmoor Swim Team, in Alpharetta, Ga.   Fino worked seven years (2013-14 to 2019-20 academic years) as head coach for men’s and women’s swimming and diving at John Carroll University in University Heights, Ohio, collecting eight Coach of the Year honors. Student-athletes garnered six Diver of the Year awards and five Swimmer of the Year accolades while the Blue Streaks won eight conference championships during his tenure.   He coached NCAA All-Americans and Honorable Mention All-Americans in each of the last four years at JCU and his teams earned Academic All-America honors from the College Swim Coaches Association of America during all seven seasons. Fino also increased the size of the teams from 28 to 60 during his tenure.    He previously coached at Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio, first serving as an assistant coach for the men’s and women’s programs for two years (2002-03 to 2003-04) become becoming the women’s head coach for two seasons. (2004-05 to 2005-06). He then served as head coach for both teams from 2006-07 to 2012-13, overseeing NCAA All-Americans and Honorable Mention All-Americans in 2012 and working with athletes who posted NCAA provisional qualifying performances during four campaigns.   Fino earned his bachelor’s in Psychology with a minor in Sociology from Kalamazoo College in Kalamazoo, Mich., in 2002 and completed all coursework towards a master's in Exercise Science from Cleveland State in 2015. He was a member of four conference championship teams at Kalamazoo.    He lives in Sewanee with his wife, Veronica, and their twin boys, Jon and Nick.     

Natalie Winchester begins her first year as an assistant coach with Sewanee softball for the 2026 season.   The New Orleans, La., native spent the last two seasons at Centre College, helping the Colonels to a 16-24 overall mark, 8-10 in the SAA, in 2024. She worked with the hitters and infielders while also helping with practice and game planning, scouting and recruiting at Centre.   Winchester spent one year at Arlington Baptist, with the Patriots winning a regional and reaching the NCCAA World Series in 2023, finishing third overall. She aided the coaching staff with practice and game planning as well as recruiting.   She competed at the college level in softball at Vernon College, Ohio Valley University and Arlington Baptist. She earned Academic All-America honors at Vernon and was the starting second baseman at Arlington Baptist on the 2022 NCCAA World Series team that finished the season ranked fourth nationally.   Winchester earned her bachelor’s in Business and Kinesiology from Arlington Baptist in 2022. Updated 8/20/2025

Taylor Vander Jeugdt joins the Sewanee swim and dive staff as an assistant coach for the 2025-26 academic year.   The Gurnee, Ill., native spent the last two seasons as a graduate assistant at Carthage College in Kenosha, Wis., helping with planning and executing daily practice sessions as well as coordinating leadership workshops and team-building activities for the Firebirds.   The men’s and women’s teams both finished second in the conference championships this past season at Carthage. He also helped with strength and conditioning for the women’s volleyball, men’s lacrosse and both swim teams as well as coaching women’s volleyball during practice with the Firebirds.   Vander Jeugdt earned a bachelor’s in Biology from Gustavus Adolphus College in 2023 and received his master’s in Sports Leadership from Carthage in 2025. Updated 8/22/25

Ben Yocum begins his first year as an assistant coach with the Sewanee track and field programs during the 2023-24 academic year. Yocum enters his 19th year in coaching, almost all of that time spent in the state of South Carolina at both the high school and collegiate level. He served last season at the University of Northern Colorado, working primarily with multi-events and jumps, tutoring all-conference performers in the long jump both indoors and outdoors, including conference long jump champion Kiana Van Haaren. Steven Cross also placed sixth in the decathlon and he coached the men’s 4x100-meter relay to a fourth-place showing at the conference championships.   Yocum worked five years at Coastal Carolina University, mostly with multi-events and pole vault, including individuals who finished in the Top 10 in the men’s indoor heptathlon, men’s pole vault (twice), men’s high jump (twice), men’s outdoor decathlon (four times), women’s pentathlon and heptathlon (twice each) and women’s pole vault (three times).   He also helped with distance and middle distance events – women’s indoor 300-meters, 400-meter hurdles, women’s mile and 3,000-meters as well as cross country events in women’s 6K and men’s 8K and 10K. Connor Langdon qualified for the East Regional in the high jump and Hesmari Coetze made it in the 400-meter hurdles for the Chanticleers.   He spent seven seasons at College of Charleston, primarily with multi-events, throws and hurdles, tutoring athletes to 122 Top 10 performances during his time with the Cougars, including numerous all-conference performances and one athlete who qualified for the NCAA East Regional, Tiffany Sisk.   The Huntersville, N.C., native attended the University of South Carolina as an undergraduate, earning his bachelor’s in Experimental Psychology with a minor in Statistics in 2003. He later received a master’s in Exercise Science specializing in Motor Control and Rehabilitation in 2010.   Yocum started his coaching career at Hammond School in Columbia, S.C., working with numerous state championship qualifiers in middle distance and throws, before spending two years at Benedict College, also in Columbia, primarily coaching the pole vault and throws. He coached a pair of conference champions and three all-conference athletes and the Tigers broke six school records during his tenure. He served as a graduate assistant at South Carolina for two years in 2009-10.   Yocum has earned a Level II Jumps Certification from USA Track & Field (USATF) and a Throws Certification from US Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).  

Doug Maynard enters his second season with the University of the South men's and women's tennis programs as an associate coach. He is a U.S. Professional Tennis Association Elite Professional who has trained Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) touring professionals and numerous Division I scholarship recipients from Power Five schools. Prior to his arrival on the Domain, Maynard was on staff at Boston College as an assistant women's tennis coach for the 2020 and 2021 seasons. During his tenure with the Eagles, he coached two All-Conference players with the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and four nationally ranked student-athletes. Additionally, he was responsible for the 24th-ranked recruiting class in 2021 and hte program's first Blue Chip Signee in 2022.  Along with his work with collegiate athletes, he has served as the tennis director at the Jewish Community Centers of Greater Boston in Newton, Mass. He also served as the athletic director of Cannon School in Concord, N.C. after working a decade at Charlotte Christian School as the head men's and women's tennis coach and athletic director. Maynard began his coaching career at UNC Asheville for two seasons and was named Big South Conference Men's Coach of the Year in 1986 after the program won the conference championship that season. He competed as a collegiate tennis player at both Ole Miss (1980-82) and UNC Asheville (1983-84). He was ranked as the top player in North Carolina and in the top-15 in the national junior and collegiate rankings. In 1983 while at UNCA, he was named the Male Athlete of the Year. Prior to college, he was crowned the North Carolina State High School Singles Champion.  Maynard has a Bachelor of Science in Religion from Liberty University (Va.). Updated 6/26/22

Charlie Dunham begins his first season as diving coach at Sewanee for the 2024-25 academic year.   Dunham has coached diving since 1985, bringing a wealth of experience at the age group, high school and college level.   He spent seven seasons (2016-17 to 2023-24) as diving coach at Birmingham-Southern, coaching 11 conference champions and six Diver of the Year award winner while his teams won 11 conference championships.   While at BSC, multiple divers qualified for the NCAA Championships in four separate seasons, including three in his final season with the Panthers. Avery Balch and Justin Toth both earned First Team All-America honors during that season and Garrett George garnered Second Team accolades. Balch, who had been an age group diver with Dunham, finished third on the three meter while Toth placed fourth on one meter at the NCAA Championships.     Dunham also serves as head coach of Magic City Diving, an age group program based in Birmingham, Ala., which he has led since its inception in 1993. Under his leadership, the program has produced 24 high school state champions and numerous AAU and USA Diving national qualifiers.     He earned his bachelor’s in Marketing with a minor in Computer Science from Florida State University in 1991. He and his wife, Angie, have two boys – Craven and Quentin.     Updated 1/22/2025