SWAMP SIGHTINGS (Vol.1 for 2009)

• Former Francis Marion University women’s basketball coach Sylvia Hatchell, who recently addressed FMU’s 2009 graduating class and was awarded an honorary doctorate degree, has been inducted into both the South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame and the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame this spring. She coached at Francis Marion for 11 seasons (1975-1986) and compiled a 272-80 record and two national championships. Now the head coach at the University of North Carolina, she has recorded 540 more wins and another national championship in her 23 seasons in Chapel Hill. She is also a member of the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Tenn.

• FMU graduate (‘86) Greg Elliott (Georgetown, SC) has been named the boys’ varsity head basketball coach at Summerville High School. Elliott coached for 13 seasons at Hilton Head High School compiling a 152-179 record, and also served as the school’s athletic director for 10 years. He previously coached at Choppee High School and as an assistant on the college level at Virginia Tech and the University of Southern Mississippi.

· FMU graduate (’91) and former baseball player Denny Beckley (Ladson, SC) was recently named the South Carolina AAA Baseball Coach of the Year and the state Coach of the Year for all divisions. He guided the Bulldogs to a 23-9 record this past spring and an appearance in the AAA state championship series. He has been at Camden High School for 10 years. Playing a variety of positions, Beckley batted .256 in 60 career games over three seasons at FMU.


· Patriot graduate (’99) and former track and field athlete Kyle Pifer (Antioch, TN) is in his second year as assistant director of compliance at the University of Washington. He previously worked in the compliance office at Oregon State University and Gonzaga University. Pifer, a mathematics major at FMU, graduated summa cum laude with a 3.951 GPA. He threw the hammer and javelin for the Patriots and was named the team's most valuable player in 1999. He was a GTE Academic All-American, the 1998-99 Peach Belt Conference Outstanding Male Student-Athlete of the Year, and twice received the Patriots Brigade Academic Award.


· Former Francis Marion men’s basketball assistant coach Bruce Martin has been named the head coach for men’s basketball and assistant athletic director at Davis & Elkins College in his home state of West Virginia. Martin served on head coach Lewis Hill’s Francis Marion staff for the 1995-96 and 1996-97 seasons. He is a graduate of Clemson University and a former Tiger player. He has also served on the coaching staffs at Clemson, the University of Wyoming, Radford University, and the University of Texas-Pan American.