Southern Arkansas University begins negotiations with Bruno Hicks as next president

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by Ryan Anderson

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Submitted photo of Bruno Hicks, provost and vice president of academic affairs at Dalton State College and finalist for Southern Arkansas University president.

Southern Arkansas University’s board of trustees voted unanimously Monday to begin negotiations with Bruno Hicks — provost and vice president of academic affairs at Dalton State College in Northwest Georgia — to become SAU’s next president.

If Hicks can agree to terms, he has indicated he could start his new duties as early as June 17.

The SAU board selected Hicks over in-state finalist Phillip Wilson, the chancellor of the University of Arkansas at Rich Mountain since 2011.

Laura Winning, chairperson of the board of trustees. called it “a very important decision” and said SAU was “excited about what (Hicks) can bring to” the 5,127-student university in Magnolia.

Before starting his tenure at Dalton State College in 2020, Hicks was the founding dean of the school of education from 2016-2020 at Fitchburg State University in Massachusetts.

He spent nearly two decades at the University of Maine at Fort Kent as a professor of education and environmental studies. He also served as chairman of the education department for 12 of his 18 years there.

Former SAU President Trey Berry departed at the end of last year to become chancellor of Henderson State University on Jan. 1,.

David Rankin, who retired as SAU president on June 30, 2015 and is SAU President Emeritus — is filling in temporarily as SAU president.

Nate Evers, the board of trustees’ vice chairman, said he made the motion “with much enthusiasm” to begin negotiations with Hicks.

Winning, the board of trustees’ chairperson, expressed gratitude to everyone who helped with the search, from faculty and staff, to the search committee led by fellow trustee Monty Harrington, and to members of the community.

The University of Arkansas women’s golf team saw its deep postseason run come to an end Monday at the NCAA Championships in Southern California.

The No. 10 Razorbacks put two golfers in the top 20 while shooting a 12-over 300 to fall to 25 over for the tournament, five shots shy of the cut to the final eight teams at the Omni La Costa North Course in Carlsbad, Calif.

For the fourth day in a row, the Razorbacks were in good shape at the turn but slipped on their back nine to lose ground to par. Arkansas spent part of the day inside the cut line before finishing in 10th place, three shots behind defending NCAA champion Wake Forest (+22) in ninth and five shots behind Auburn (+20) for the final slot of match play.

Texas A&M’s Adela Cernousek followed three rounds of 68 with an even-par 72 to take medalist honors at 12 under for the tournament. She won the individual title by three shots over Florida State sophomore Lottie Woad.

The match play field is loaded with four Pac-12 teams and three SEC schools to go along with Clemson of the ACC.

No. 1 Stanford and LSU tied for the stroke play win at 2 under. Those schools will be joined in the match play quarterfinals Tuesday morning by Texas A&M (+5), Southern Cal (+13), Clemson (+18), UCLA (+19), Oregon (+19) and Auburn, with the semifinals taking place in the afternoon. The championship match is scheduled for Wednesday.

The Razorbacks were led by freshman Maria Jose Marin, who began the round at 5 under as one of 14 players under par, along with junior teammate Kendall Todd.

Marin shot even-par 72 to tie for fourth place. The native of Cali, Colombia, became the fifth Razorback to notch a top-5 finish at the championships, joining medalists Stacy Lewis (2007) and Maria Fassi (2019), second-place Kelli Shean (2011) and Gaby Lopez, who tied for second in 2015.

Todd could not find a birdie Monday and completed her round with a 77. She finished 4 over and in a tie for 19th place.

Sophomore Reagan Zibilski had her best round of the tournament, a round of 74 with a team-high three birdies that brought her to 22 over and tied for 78th place. The other counting score for the Razorbacks was senior Kajal Mistry’s 77, which left her at 16 over and tied for 70th.

Senior Miriam Ayora had the non-counting score for Arkansas, a 78 that moved her to 20 over and tied for 75th.

Arkansas ace Hagen Smith has been named the 2024 SEC Pitcher of the Year.

Smith, the third Razorback in program history to be named the conference’s Pitcher of the Year, has made his case as the best pitcher in all of college baseball this season, posting a 9-0 record with a 1.52 ERA and 150 strikeouts in 77.0 innings over 14 starts. The junior left-hander, who is 7-0 with a 1.35 ERA and 110 strikeouts in 60.0 innings over 10 SEC starts, has a team-leading 11 quality starts and a program-record 11 double-digit strikeout games on the year.

The Bullard, Texas, native currently leads the country in ERA (1.52), hits allowed per nine innings (4.1) and strikeouts per nine (17.5). Smith, a semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy, Golden Spikes Award and National Pitcher of the Year Award, is also ranked second nationally in strikeouts (150), fourth in WHIP (0.83) and 12th in victories (9).

Smith became the program’s all-time strikeout leader (349) in his final start of the regular season, overtaking Nick Schmidt (345) for sole possession of Arkansas’ career strikeout mark. He also continues to climb the program’s single-season strikeout leaderboard, sitting five shy of Razorback great David Walling’s single-season record of 155 in 1999.

Smith, the second Arkansas pitcher in the last four seasons to be named the SEC Pitcher of the Year, joins Razorback greats Schmidt (2006) and Kevin Kopps (2021) as a recipient of the league’s top pitching award.

Seven Hogs were named to All-SEC teams by the league’s head coaches, led by Smith’s first-team selection at starting pitcher and Peyton Stovall and Wehiwa Aloy’s second-team recognition at second base and shortstop, respectively.

Smith, who earned first-team honors from the conference for the second consecutive season, is the second two-time First Team All-SEC starting pitcher in school history. Schmidt also accomplished the feat in 2006 and 2007.

Aloy and Stovall, the 58th and 59th All-SEC selections in program history, made up one of the best middle infields in the country. Aloy, the only Razorback to start all 55 regular-season games, slashed .276/.368/.495 with a team-high 12 home runs and 54 RBI on the year, while Stovall, who missed the first 12 games of the campaign due to a preseason injury, slashed a team-leading .339/.404/.548 with nine home runs and 37 RBI – figures that ranked second on the Hogs.

Pitcher Gabe Gaeckle and infielder Nolan Souza both garnered Freshman All-SEC praise, while third baseman Jared Sprague-Lott and outfielder Peyton Holt were named to the SEC All-Defensive Team.

Gaeckle and Souza, the 60th and 61st All-SEC selections in school history, are the second Razorback freshman duo in the last three years to land on Freshman All-SEC Team. Gaeckle logged a 3-2 record with a 1.91 ERA, 48 strikeouts and a team-leading seven saves in 37.2 innings over 20 relief appearances as a true freshman, while Souza finished his true freshman campaign with a .259/.372/.519 slash line to go along with seven homers and 28 runs batted in.

Sprague-Lott and Holt, the 62nd and 63rd All-SEC selections in program history, secured spots on the SEC All-Defensive Team. Sprague-Lott, the first Arkansas third baseman to earn SEC all-defensive praise since Bobby Wernes in 2015, committed only one error in league action, while Holt made numerous jaw-dropping plays roaming the outfield.

2024 SEC Baseball Awards

Player of the Year: Charlie Condon, Georgia

Pitcher of the Year: Hagen Smith, Arkansas

Freshman of the Year: Gavin Grahovac, Texas A&M

Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Drew Beam, Tennessee

Coach of the Year: Nick Mingione, Kentucky

First Team All-SEC

C: Jackson Appel, Texas A&M

1B: Jac Caglianone, Florida

2B: Christian Moore, Tennessee

3B: Charlie Condon, Georgia

SS: Justin Lebron, Alabama*

SS: David Mershon, Mississippi State*

OF: Braden Montgomery, Texas A&M

OF: Jace LaViolette, Texas A&M

OF: Dylan Dreiling, Tennessee

SP: Hagen Smith, Arkansas

SP: Khal Stephen, Mississippi State

RP: Evan Aschenbeck, Texas A&M

DH/UT: Ike Irish, Auburn*

DH/UT: Nick Lopez, Kentucky*

Second Team All-SEC

C: Cole Messina, South Carolina

1B: Blake Burke, Tennessee

2B: Peyton Stovall, Arkansas

3B: Tommy White, LSU

SS: Wehiwa Aloy, Arkansas

OF: Kavares Tears, Tennessee

OF: Ryan Waldschmidt, Kentucky

OF: Dakota Jordan, Mississippi State

SP: Ryan Prager, Texas A&M

SP: Luke Holman, LSU

RP: Griffin Herring, LSU

DH/UT: Andrew Fischer, Ole Miss

Freshman All-SEC Team

Gavin Grahovac, Texas A&M

Gabe Gaeckle, Arkansas

Justin Lebron, Alabama

Dean Curley, Tennessee

Tre Phelps, Georgia

Caden Sorrell, Texas A&M

Zane Adams, Alabama

Steven Milam, LSU

Ashton Larson, LSU

Cade Belyeu, Auburn

Liam Peterson, Florida

Nolan Souza, Arkansas

SEC All-Defensive Team

C: Fernando Gonzalez, Georgia

1B: Blake Burke, Tennessee

2B: Emilien Pitre, Kentucky

3B: Jared Sprague-Lott, Arkansas*

3B: Mitchell Daly, Kentucky*

SS: Justin Lebron, Alabama

OF: Braden Montgomery, Texas A&M

OF: Kavares Tears, Tennessee

OF: Peyton Holt, Arkansas*

OF: Jace LaViolette, Texas A&M

P: Mason Moore, Kentucky

*Ties (not broken)

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