College greets new athletic director
Tuesday was the first day of athletics at Southeast Arkansas College, campus President Steven Bloomberg proclaimed.
The statement was only ceremonial, but it was the day the college publicly welcomed Chad Kline as athletic director and men’s basketball head coach at an assembly at SEARK’s Seabrook Activity Center, where the Sharks will play starting in the 2024-25 school year. SEARK athletics will officially come to fruition starting next school year, when the baseball, softball and e-sports teams begin competition.
Donning the same lapel pin of a shark he wore during his on-campus interview last month, the former head coach at Arkansas Tech University said he was “humbled and thrilled” to be the college’s first athletic director.
“Excited to be part of the Pine Bluff community, and like every speaker has said, I think Pine Bluff is a hotbed for athletics,” Kline said. “We just need to get a baseball and softball coach hired, let them do their thing and start recruiting the athletes, and hopefully we can be an asset to the community and UAPB.”
Kline and Bloomberg share the vision of helping local student-athletes prepare to compete on the NCAA Division I level, where the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff competes in the Southwestern Athletic Conference. UAPB athletic director Chris Robinson attended Kline’s formal introduction moments before he led a pep rally celebrating the Lady Lions’ first-ever appearance in the SWAC tournament championship game.
Kline, a Kansas native, said he would like to have baseball and softball coaches hired within the next month.
“I don’t know if that’s pos
sible; we’ve still got to do interviews and the job just posted,” he said. “A month would be great. Women’s basketball, I would like to hire someone by next fall. That way they have an entire year to recruit.”
Kline was named AD from a trio of leading candidates in late February and has already begun working at SEARK. Ka’Lisa Stanfield, another finalist, has been hired as dean of students and will help in the athletic department as a lead adviser.
“My focus is that once they leave here, they can go and play at the next level,” said Stanfield, a Pine Bluff native who was most recently interim athletic director at Alabama A&M University. “A lot of students in my previous years have had to go into majors they may not have wanted to be in just because of the classes they take. Coming from previous institutions, I’ll be able to give them an inside scoop of what may transfer and give them some insight of potential majors.
“We’ll also be doing some campus activities not only for our students but our general population as well,” he said.
Waiting an extra year after baseball and softball begin at SEARK to tip off basketball is just fine with Kline, who most recently coached and was athletic director at Dyersburg State Community College in Tennessee. That gives him time to prepare the Seabrook gym, which was lit with purple strobes Tuesday, with a competition-grade hardwood floor, among other things.
“I’ve got a lot on my plate trying to start an athletic program, so it’s almost a blessing I don’t have to recruit a team,” Kline said. “My standards and Dr. Bloomberg’s standards, we don’t want to just put a team out there that’s just average. We want to put a team out there that people want to come watch and get up and down and hoop.”
Kline will have a solid local pool to recruit from given Pine Bluff High School’s
5A state championship victory last week and Watson Chapel’s undefeated run in Conference 4A-8.
Wabbaseka native and former University of Arkansas guard Ernie Murry shared his excitement for SEARK’s athletic program with those in attendance. Murry attended a junior college in Blytheville before he walked on at Arkansas in 1989, just in time for the Razorbacks to begin a run to the NCAA Final Four.
“Thirty-something years ago, if Pines Vo-Tech [a precursor to SEARK] had athletics, I would have never gone to Blytheville, Arkansas,” Murry said, adding that he was jealous. “I would have played here in the confines of Jefferson County. There are tons of Ernie Murrys in Jefferson County, Lincoln County, Desha County … you go all around … wondering what’s going to happen in May when school is out and it’s time for the rubber to meet the road.”
Murry ended up at Mississippi County Community College (now Arkansas Northeastern College) before landing in Fayetteville after being recruited by a coach at the state All-Star game. Murry had never heard of the school before signing.
“Guys, we need to rally behind this and make this a big success,” Murry petitioned Sharks supporters.
Bloomberg also announced a campaign to raise $3 million for the athletic department. Relyance Bank donated the first $250,000 and presented a giant check to the school.
“In the very near future, we will be changing the branding on this building to reflect Relyance’s gift to the college,” Bloomberg said.