SportsBriefs

Championship Coaches Hired To Lead Men’s Golf, Acrobatics & Tumbling

Baylor University hired two new head coaches in June, bringing two coaches with recent national championships on their résumé into the fold.

Mike McGraw, who won a national title as an assistant coach at the University of Alabama last season and was a longtime head coach at Oklahoma State, was tabbed to lead the men’s golf program. Felecia Mulkey, who has won four consecutive national titles at the University of Oregon, made the move south to Baylor to take over Acrobatics & Tumbling.

Prior to joining the Alabama staff, McGraw was head coach at Oklahoma State for eight seasons, where he led the Cowboys to a national title in 2006 and a national runner-up finish in 2010. He was an assistant coach at OSU when the Cowboys won the 2000 national title.

McGraw led Oklahoma State to five Big 12 titles and was named Big 12 Coach of the Year five times in his eight seasons as men’s golf head coach. The Cowboys won 30 total tournaments and advanced to the NCAA Championships seven times. His players earned 30 individual medalist honors and he produced 21 All-Americans while he was men’s team head coach at OSU.

Mulkey comes to Baylor as the Bears’ third Acrobatics & Tumbling head coach.

In her five seasons at Oregon, Mulkey guided the Ducks to a 43-3 overall record while winning four national titles and 30 event titles. She coached 11 student-athletes to All-America honors with two earning athlete of the year awards.

Off the mat, Mulkey works tirelessly in growing the sport of Acrobatics and Tumbling. She continues to play a key role in the progression of Acrobatics & Tumbling’s effort to gain NCAA sport status.

Prior to her stint at Oregon, Mulkey built the Kennesaw State competitive cheer program into a national powerhouse. The Owls captured national titles in 2004 and 2005.

Bear Foundation announces another record year

The Baylor Bear Foundation announced in June a 10th consecutive record year, having reached all-time highs with more than 4,600 members and a record $12.7 million raised in scholarship support for Baylor’s student-athletes. BBF membership has nearly doubled in the last three years, while scholarship support jumped 36 percent over the last year alone.

Meanwhile, Baylor’s status as a hot commodity in the world of collegiate athletics was backed by numbers showing the University’s licensing royalties have more than tripled in the last five years. Those numbers included an almost 20 percent jump in the last 12 months, as Baylor’s success has led to increased sales of apparel, housewares and other items bearing the university’s marks.