COACHes

HEAD COACH: EVAN GIBSON

In Fall 2008, Coach Gibson will be entering his fourth season as the head golf coach at Southeastern University.

Coach Gibson was named the 2007 NCCAA National Coach of the Year after leading the Fire to the school's first ever NCCAA National Championship on the strength of the Fire's two-day total of 597.

The NCCAA National Championship was the school's first national championship ever won against scholarship schools.

Coach Gibson led the Fire to its fourth straight NCCAA II National Championship in 2006. The Fire also won the 2007 Polk County Male Collegiate Team of the Year Award.

Capping off a remarkable fall semester in 2007, the Fire won the 2007 Lake Wales Fall Invitational by 15 shots and fired a school-record 569 (279-290).

The Fire won two tournaments and finished in second place twice in 2006-2007.

In 2005, Coach Gibson also led the Fire to its best finish yet in the NCCAA I National Tournament, the team walking away tied for 2nd place in the country.

Gibson played basketball for Southeastern from 1997 to 1998 and graduated in 2001 with a BS in communication.

Upon graduation, Gibson was hired by The Ledger (Lakeland, Fla.) and worked in the sports department of that newspaper from 2001 to 2004.

In 2003, he enrolled in the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary and graduated with a Master's degree in Christian Ministries in April, 2004.

Coach Gibson has worked in the golf business at Dande Farms Country Club (Akron, N.Y.) and Grasslands Golf & Country Club (Lakeland, Fla.) just so he could be close to the game he loves.

He also loves the PGA Tour, traveling to such PGA events as the 2002 PGA Championship (Rochester, N.Y.) and the 2005 and 2006 Players Championship (Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.), among others.

Coach Gibson served as the college pastor at Garden Grove Assembly of God in Winter Haven, Florida, from 2003 to 2005 and worked as an adjunct professor in the religion and communication departments at Southeastern from 2004 to 2005.

 

ASSISTANT COACH: DREW ANDERSON

In Fall 2008, Coach Anderson will also be entering his fourth year as an assistant coach at Southeastern.

He has been Coach Gibson's top assistant the past three years and has played a key role in the success in the Southeastern golf program.

He has been playing golf all his life and has great passion not only for playing the game but also for teaching it to others.

Coach Anderson graduated from Southeastern University in 2001 with a BA in secondary social science. He played basketball for a bible school in Sweden from 1997 to 1998 and for Southeastern from 1998 to 2001.

After graduating from Southeastern, Coach Anderson worked as a teacher in Indiana from 2002 to 2004. He was also the head golf coach at South Side High School in Fort Wayne, Indiana, in 2004.

In 2004, he and his wife, Stephanie, decided to move back to the Sunshine State, where he is currently employed by Polk County Public Schools as a social studies teacher.

Coach Anderson has had success as an amateur golfer, finishing second in the Grey Goose Golf Club's (Decatur, Ind.) club tournament in 2002 and third in Brookwood Golf Club's (Burton, Mich.) club tournament in 2003, where he shot a 69 in the final round.

Though he attends other professional golf events, his favorite PGA tournament is the Masters Golf Tournament (Augusta, Ga.), which he visits every year.

Coach Anderson is very excited about mentoring student athletes and being back at Southeastern University.

"Southeastern golf is lucky to have Coach Anderson on our staff," said Coach Gibson. "His golf knowledge is unquestionably solid, but more importantly, he is passionate about doing what God wants him to do. He will be a great example of what a Christian man is supposed to be, especially to my players."

 

ASSISTANT COACH: ROB CUMMINGS

Coach Cummings is entering his first season as an assistant coach for the Southeastern golf program.

Cummings was a four-year player for the Fire and helped guide SEU to four straight NCCAA II National Championships between 2003 and 2006.

Cummings was a three-time All-Region player and the 2003 South Region Player of the Year.

Cummings looks to graduate in the spring of 2008 with a degree in finance and accounting, and he also does missionary work in Honduras.

"I am very excited to have Rob join our coaching staff this season," said Coach Gibson. "Rob will bring plenty of tournament golf experience and a better sense of what the players really need from a coach, seeing he just finished his college golf career last spring."