Many new faces have arrived on campus since the start of the new school year. Among those are new coaches that vary to nearly every sports at ACU.
Five programs added to their coaching staff over the summer, many of them being assistant positions, with the exception of one.
Erika Lambert was brought on to join the women’s basketball program as an associate head coach.
Lambert enters her eighth year in collegiate coaching and sixth at the NCAA Div. I level. Her responsibilities with the Wildcats include coordinating all recruiting efforts, oversee post player development, and lead the program’s alumni relations and community outreach efforts.. Head coach Julie Goodenough and Lambert have previously worked together during the 2011-12 season at Charleston Southern University.
“ACU is an exciting place to be right now and I’m thrilled to be on board,” Lambert said. “To work at an institution that is so intentional about developing difference-makers is a great privilege. Coach Goodenough and her staff have done a tremendous job ushering in the Div. I era of ACU Women’s Basketball, and this team is poised for success.”
The men’s basketball team also received a new coach in Ron Holmes. Holmes was McMurry Universities’ head basketball coach from 1990-2009. Holmes – who resigned as the director of athletics at McMurry in January 2014 – will be able to go on the road to recruit as well as coach on the floor at practice and in games. He’ll also be on the road with the Wildcats during the season.
“I’ve known Joe (Golding, head coach) for a long time and I want to help he and Brette Tanner (associate head coach) get the ACU men’s basketball program moving forward.”
Wildcat soccer added on Tori Hale as an assistant coach this summer as well. Hale is coming to ACU after having a decorated three-year career at Texas State University. She is also an Abilene native where she played for Abilene High.
Heather Barton will be joining twin sister, Ashley Reeves and head coach Bobby Reeves as an assistant coach for the softball team this season. Barton played under Bobby Reeves at Texas Tech during the mid-2000’s where she started almost every game at shortstop during her junior and senior seasons. Barton will look to help turn around the softball team’s record this season, keeping it a family affair.
“The team is very excited to have a coach of Heather’s caliber joining our program,” Bobby Reeves said. “Our players will quickly find that her knowledge as a former collegiate infielder and coach is quite valuable, and I expect that she’ll also help us in our hitting, on the recruiting trail and making sure the team stays on top of their classwork.”
Rounding out the new hires is Brad Flanders, pitching coach and assistant recruiting coordinator for ACU baseball. Flanders spent the 2014 season as a volunteer assistant coach at Arkansas. Not only will he coach pitchers and assist associate head coach Brandon Stover in recruiting, he’ll also work with the catchers.
