Georgia Southern Extra: Clay Helton about to start first spring with Eagles football team

Are you getting excited, Georgia Southern football fans? Maybe a bit antsy? Maybe a lot antsy for the Clay Helton era to begin?

Georgia Southern opens spring football practice March 22 and is slated to play the Blue vs. White Spring Game on April 23. The football games count for real next fall with a 12-game schedule starting Sept. 3. 

As Helton sets the foundation for his tenure as the Eagles' head football coach, we've made a way, way too early prediction for his first season before the concrete dries.

Check out the story linked in this newsletter or at https://www.savannahnow.com/story/sports/college/football/2022/03/14/georgia-southern-football-schedule-2022-eagles-sun-belt-conference-games-appalachian-state-louisiana/9408094002/

Eagle Club Tour dates

Can't make it to the 2022 2022 Georgia Southern Eagle Club Tour this Wednesday, March 23 at the Nessmith-Lane Center in Statesboro? 

Here are other upcoming dates, including stops in Savannah and Effingham County:

Jacksonville, Florida: Monday, March 28, at Top Golf Jacksonville, 6 p.m.;

Dublin Laurens County: Monday, April 4 at Dublin Country Club, 6:30 p.m.;

Evans County: Monday, April 11 at Evans County Wildlife Club, 6:30 p.m.;

Middle Georgia: Wednesday, April 13 at the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame, 5:30 p.m.;

Savannah: Monday, April 18 at The Armstrong Center, 6:30 p.m.;

Greater Augusta: Monday, May 2 at Top Golf Augusta, 6 p.m.;

Effingham County: Thursday, May 5 at Effingham County High School, 6:30 p.m.;

North Atlanta: Wednesday, May 11 at Mutation Brewing Company, 6:30 p.m.;

Atlanta- Network of Black Alumni: Thursday, May 12 at Atlantucky Brewing Company, 6:30 p.m.;

South Atlanta: Friday, May 13 at The Hazelhurst House, 6:30 p.m.

Scheduled to appear at the March 23 event at 6 p.m. in Statesboro are Georgia Southern University President Kyle Marrero, director of athletics Jared Benko, head football coach Clay Helton and numerous other coaches.

The cost is $25 per person, free for children 5 and younger. Tickets can be purchased at GSEagles.com/EagleClubTour. The cost includes dinner, a drink ticket, entry into a door raffle and updates from athletics coaches and staff.

Honoring Faye R. Kirschner

Georgia Southern on Sunday, March 13, dedicated Court 3 at the Wallis Tennis Center on campus in honor of Faye R. Kirschner — recognizing an important and longtime supporter of the tennis program with ties to both Georgia Southern in Statesboro and the Armstrong campus in Savannah.

Kirschner graduated from Armstrong Junior College in 1965, then received her bachelor's degree from Georgia Southern University in 1967 in early childhood education.

Following a long and distinguished career teaching in the public school system in Savannah, Kirschner joined the faculty at Armstrong State and taught physical education courses, including tennis, up until and through the merger of the school with Georgia Southern.

On Sunday, March 13, prior to the Eagles' Sun Belt Conference-opening match against Coastal Carolina, Georgia Southern unveiled a sign and her signature marking Court 3 at Wallis Tennis Center as Faye R. Kirschner Court.

Director of athletics Jared Benko said March 13 was a special day.

"It's very clear that this university and the Eagle Tennis program hold a special place in her heart," Benko said in a press release. "For us to be able to honor her in this fashion, after she has already given so much of herself in teaching many young men and women in our community, is fantastic. The example she has set as an educator, a supporter and as a fan of the Eagles is inspiring."

Sean McCaffrey, who coached both the men's and women's tennis teams at Armstrong and now is at the helm of the GS women's squad, called Kirschner "one of the most genuine and caring people that I have ever met."

"She is passionate about tennis, about both of her alma maters (Georgia Southern and Armstrong), about her friends, and about leading her life with a clear focus of serving others," McCaffrey said in the press release. "When I first met Faye, it was on my first day in the office at Armstrong State back in 2014. She offered to help in any way that she could in order for us to continue the success that many before me had blazed the path for."

Kirschner also offered to help when McCaffrey became the Eagles women's tennis coach in June 2017. 

"Her infectious sense of positivity is so important for our program and our student-athletes," McCaffrey said. "She has supported us beyond the financial aspect. Faye has proven that one can overcome so many obstacles and still rise above anything thrown at her. We nearly lost her three years ago after a serious health scare. But she found a way to battle through, and she continues to live her life on her own terms."

SoCon honor for Eagles' Erin Ballard

Georgia Southern rifle team member Erin Ballard has been named the Southern Conference Smallbore Shooter of the Month for February.

Ballard, a sophomore from Reedsville, West Virginia, was named the 2022 SoCon Smallbore Champion, the first in school history and also earned SoCon Smallbore Shooter of the Year honors after a strong February performance. Earlier this month, she was named first-team All-SoCon in the smallbore discipline and was also a second-team selection in air rifle.

Ballard was named the SoCon Smallbore Shooter of the Month for January and February and helped lead the Eagles to a SoCon title. She posted a season aggregate average of 1,140.118 (third-best in program history) and averaged a school-record 572.182 in smallbore this season.

Eagles rifle coach Sandra Worman to retire

Head rifle coach Sandra Worman announced Friday, March 11, that she will retire from coaching when her current contract expires on April 30.

Worman leaves coaching on a high note as she guided the Eagles to the program's first Southern Conference team title this season.

In her five seasons as head coach, Worman led the Eagles to 58 match wins and five different SoCon team titles, was named conference coach of the year three times including 2022, and coached dozens of all-conference honorees and CRCA Scholastic All-Americans as well as a third-place finisher and first-team All-American in air rifle at the NCAA Championship.

Benko congratulated Worman on her retirement.

"Over the past five years, she has served our student-athletes in an exemplary way," Benko said in a press release. "We appreciate her dedication to promoting Georgia Southern University and the sport of rifle. Sandra has established very high standards and has positioned the program for continued success. We will miss her around here, but we look forward to seeing her and her family in Statesboro supporting the Eagles."

The Eagles went 7-0 in Southern Conference dual matches and went on to win both the smallbore (second year in a row) and overall team SoCon titles this season.

The Eagles finished the season ranked 17th in the country, a program best. For her efforts, Worman was selected the SoCon Coach of the Year and was also named a finalist for the Collegiate Rifle Coaches Association National Head Coach of the Year.

In a statement, Worman thanked the university, Benko and others in the athletic department, the student-athletes and Eagles fans "for an amazing five years."

"They say that coaching is a lonely road, so I'm very grateful to Eagle Nation for all the help and encouragement along the way," Worman said in a press release. "I'd also like to thank my fellow coaches, who have been a compassionate and supportive cohort. As the saying goes, 'Only the wearer knows where the shoe pinches,' and all coaches have the same cobbler."

Worman also had gratitude for Matt Horst and Ashley MacAllister of the Shooting Sports Education Center.

"This chapter has been extremely rewarding for my husband and me, and I am very grateful to have had this opportunity," she wrote. "We, along with my mother, will be staying in the community, and we look forward to continuing in the wonderful relationships that we've developed here.

"I particularly want to thank Georgia Southern and the athletic department for the high regard and esteem you've extended to the rifle program. You absolutely and purposefully always treated the program as an equal entity amongst the 17 varsity sports, and the team flourished and thrived in that love, support and attention."

For more coverage of Georgia Southern athletics, go to https://www.savannahnow.com/sports/college/georgia-southern/

Nathan Dominitz is the Sports Content Editor of the Savannah Morning News and savannahnow.com. Email him at ndominitz@savannahnow.com. Twitter: @NathanDominitz