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Brevard College�s search for a football coach ended this week with an announcement by President Drew Van Horn that Tommy Laurendine will lead the Tornados onto the field in the fall.
With the hiring of Laurendine, Brevard College, which has not played intercollegiate football since the 1950s, is set to begin recruiting student-athletes. He will take over the day-to-day operations of the football program on December 13. �We are excited to have Tommy Laurendine carry on the football tradition that was established at Brevard College long ago,� said President Van Horn. �He is an outstanding football coach who has been a successful assistant coach and offensive coordinator and is ready to make the move into a head coaching position. In addition, he has strong experience coaching in NCAA Division II and that experience will lend itself well to being successful here.� Laurendine comes to Brevard College from Southern Arkansas University (SAU) where, beginning in 2001, he served as offensive coordinator for the Mulerider football team. Under his leadership as quarterback and running back coach in 2004, SAU�s quarterback set a career total offense record for most touchdown passes in a single season and total plays in a single season. His team�s offense set single season records for the most first downs, third down conversions, and were second in the Gulf South Conference in rushing. SAU�s running back also broke the career rushing touchdown mark and finished as the second leading all-time scorer in the school�s history. Prior to joining the coaching staff at SAU, he was offensive coordinator at the University of West Alabama in Livingston from 1997 to 1999; and offensive coordinator at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Va. from 1995 to 1996. Laurendine began his coaching career in 1990 as a student assistant at Lenoir-Rhyne College in Hickory, N.C., where he had an outstanding collegiate career. After graduation, he served as a graduate assistant at the University of West Georgia, where he coached wide receivers and tight ends. He also coached quarterbacks at Northwest High School in Dalton, Ga. As a standout quarterback in college, Laurendine earned two letters at Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C., before transferring to Lenoir-Rhyne in 1988. At Lenior-Rhyne, he was the 1988 and 1989 South Atlantic Conference Offensive Player of the Year, shattering several school records. A native of Oak Ridge, Tenn., he earned a bachelor�s degree in physical education from Lenoir-Rhyne in 1990 and a master�s degree from West Georgia in 1993. He is married to the former Shawna Sauls. The Laurendine�s have two daughters, three-year old Alexa Landry, and newborn Lakin Lee. �We�re very pleased to have Tommy Laurendine as our new football coach,� Athletic Director Tom Collins said. �He brings to Brevard a solid coaching background and the reputation as a creative offensive mind. Beyond that, he clearly understands the coach�s role in helping to build character and is committed to the integrating the football program into the traditional academic culture of the college. I believe he is a perfect fit for this opportunity.� Football is among a series of significant additions Brevard College has made to its academic, athletic and campus life offerings since transitioning to a four-year liberal arts college in 1997. Brevard College is in the process of transitioning from the NAIA to the NCAA Division II. The addition of football will bring the College�s intercollegiate offerings to 15 sports (Image provided by Brevard College.)
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