Lafayette alum named Director of Tennis at Young Harris

Young Harris College Interim Director of Athletics Jennifer Rushton recently announced Andrew Cobb as the Director of Tennis for the Mountain Lions.

“We are extremely excited to welcome Andrew Cobb to Young Harris College as the Director of Tennis,” said Rushton. “His overall experience, knowledge of the game and ability to recruit quality studentathletes will be a tremendous asset to the YHC tennis programs.”

Cobb comes to Young Harris after serving as the head women’s tennis coach at Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall, Minn., this past season. He helped the Mustangs to a 13-12 record, an improvement of seven wins over the previous season.

“I am very honored to be chosen as the next Director of Tennis at Young Harris College,” said Cobb. “First and foremost, I would like to thank Jennifer Rushton for the opportunity to lead both tennis programs. Secondly, I would like to thank Southwest Minnesota State University and Director of Athletics Chris Hmielewski for providing me my first NCAA Division II head coaching opportunity. I am looking forward to joining the Mountain Lion family and continuing the success of both programs on and off the court.”

Cobb came to SMSU following three seasons as the head men’s and women’s tennis coach at NAIA Montreat College in Montreat, N.C.

During just the second season of his tenure at Montreat, Cobb helped lead both the men’s and women’s team to their best record in more than a decade. He coached a pair of women’s players named to the conference All-freshman team and had numerous student-athletes named to the All-academic squad during his three seasons.

Prior to Montreat, Cobb spent two seasons as assistant men’s and women’s tennis coach at Reinhardt University in Waleska, Ga. During his time at Reinhardt, he helped coach the men’s team to a program high No. 15 national ranking, back-to-back winning seasons, and its first-ever conference tournament championship. The team also qualified for the NAIA national tournament and advanced to the Round of 16.

Cobb helped the Reinhardt women’s team to its first-ever back-to-back winning seasons and its first-ever regular season championship in 2015. The women’s team also earned a No. 22 national ranking and advanced to the conference tournament finals in both 2014 and 2015.

As a collegiate player, Cobb played four seasons at Reinhardt and earned All-appalachian Athletic Conference honors and Academic ALL-AAC accolades during his career. A three-time AAC Player of the Week honoree, Cobb was also recognized as a NAIA Daktronics Scholar-athlete.

Cobb is a graduate of Lafayette High School and a 2013 graduate of Reinhardt with a degree in business administration. He also earned his master’s degree in business administration from Reinhardt in 2015.

Cobb is also certified as a USPTA Elite Professional and has extensive experience as an academy coach.

The Heritage High School girls’ golf team of Caroline Bentley, Lauren Self and Kendall Harrell finished second in the recent Class 4A area tournament in Lagrange to qualify for state. The team is coached by Tanner Moore.

The Lafayette High School girls’ golf team of Emma Moore, Maci Johnson, Hannah Bowman and Shelby Whittle finished fifth in the recent Class 4A area tournament in Lagrange to qualify for state. The team is coached by John James.

The new wrestling training center, “Rock Solid Training Center”, recently celebrated its first two tournament placers, which came at the Georgia Games at Life University in Marietta. Cooper Mariakis (left) was the freestyle runner-up and the Greco-style runner-up in the 8-under, 70-pound division, while Bryson Drennen was freestyle champion and Grecostyle champion in the 10-under, 67-pound division. Rock Solid will operate out of Ridgeland High School this summer.