The562’s coverage of Long Beach State athletics for the 2025-26 season is sponsored by Marilyn Bohl.

The Long Beach State softball program welcomed in the fifth head coach in program history with the hiring of Kendall Fearn, who will get her first crack at a head coaching job with the Beach.

Fearn comes to Long Beach from San Diego State, where she was the top assistant and recruiting coordinator with the Aztecs for the past three seasons. It was a successful stretch at SDSU, which included a Super Regional appearance in 2023, with the Aztecs ending up a win away from the Women’s College World Series.

A native of Carlsbad, Fearn was thrilled to get the chance to move up to the role of head coach while remaining in Southern California, and she said she’s had an admiration for the history of the Long Beach State program. So when the job came open following the retirement of head coach Kim Sowder after her 19 years at the helm, it was an opportunity she couldn’t pass up.

“That’s one thing that’s really drawn me to Long Beach is the community,” said Fearn. “This is a place that has a lot of pride in what makes Long Beach great, and I want the team to reflect our community. I think that it’s a very hard-working, proud, gritty, and culturally diverse place, and I love it.”

As an athlete herself, Fearn was a four-year starter as an infielder at UNLV, playing for Long Beach State coaching legend Pete Manarino. After her playing days, she immediately transitioned into coaching–first with the Rebels, then at Georgia Southern and at Marshall.

Fearn spent five seasons as the Associate Head Coach at Indiana before returning home to Southern California to coach at San Diego State in 2023. At each stop, she’s worked with the offense and defense, but her specialty may lie on the recruiting trail, which will be a major point of emphasis in keeping LBSU among the top programs in the Big West.

“Being able to continue that success, it’s all about a high level of recruiting, which has been a huge part of my career,” Fearn explained. “I have a process, our staff is really gifted with recruiting, and then once you get great athletes in the program to go with the current ones that we have, it’s all about culture, player development and relationships. And when those things are taken care of, the wins take care of themselves.”

Fearn acknowledged the importance of the transfer portal in modern college athletics, and said a solid portion of Long Beach State’s roster will be filled out via the portal each season. She’s already made a splash in her first month on the job, bringing in a handful of Division I transfers already.

All five of those transfers are Southern California natives, including Long Beach Poly High grad Bella Alonso, who has pitched at conference rivals CSUN the past three seasons. She’ll join pitcher Jailynn Banda (St. John’s), infielder Jiselle Hernandez (Penn State), catcher Audree Mendoza (Penn State) and infielder Brooke Subia (Portland State) as incoming players for the Beach in 2026.

Long Beach State also offers some added familiarity for Fearn, who worked with LBSU Athletic Director Bobby Smitheran at San Diego State, along with Deputy AD Gladie Jaffe. Fearn is the latest high-profile coaching hire to join the Beach from SDSU, following the likes of men’s basketball head coach Chris Acker.

“They’re incredible leaders, they’re innovative, and driven to make Long Beach State successful,” Fearn said. “Bobby has family ties to Long Beach State, and there’s a lot of pride there. And I want to win for this admin. My experiences with them at San Diego State, when we went to Super Regionals, they were a huge piece of our support team, helping provide a great experience for not only our players, but our coaching staff.”

Fearn said her first call in filling out her coaching staff went to Tyler Heil, who accepted the position of assistant coach at the Beach. He was the head coach at Santa Barbara City College last season, and has Division 1 coaching experience at New Mexico and UCF.

Heil will help oversee the offense and defense for the Beach, and Fearn said she’s planning to build a roster that has a “robust combination of speed and power”, as she hopes to put an aggressive, fast-paced product on the field that puts pressure on the opposition.

Beyond softball, Fearn said she’s committed to creating a welcoming culture that focuses on more than just wins and losses, and provides a platform for her athletes to succeed not just on the diamond, but wherever life takes them.

“I’m a transformational coach that’s deeply invested in their process and in their journey, and I want to give them all the tools to be successful on the field, off the field, socially, academically, all those things,” Fearn explained. “The goal is championships, but at the end of the day, the goal is building strong, confident women to take on not only college softball, but also life after.”

The Saxon Success Program was launched last fall with a goal of providing broad-based training to student-athletes, coaches, and athletics department staff. Five core components comprise the program: life skills, leadership, staff professional development, sport psychology/mental training, and academic success.

The program is supported in part by The Fahey Fund, which was established in 1998 by Russ Fahey ’58 and his wife, Patricia, as a way to help first-year football players make the needed adjustments to college life. Russ, who earned a bachelor’s degree in ceramic engineering and participated in football and track and field at Alfred, served on the university’s Board of Trustees from 2003-08.

“So many kids get to college and the school doesn’t have the necessary discussions with players” on what they need to do to succeed, Russ explained “So they fail. I saw kids leaving and not coming back. I thought, this is crazy. Why isn’t someone helping these kids?”

Russ said he himself struggled initially after arriving on campus as a first-year student in 1954. He recalled Fred Gertz, dean of students at the time, engaging him in a frank discussion about his prospects for continued enrollment at Alfred. “He told me, you have to pay attention, or you won’t be here next year. So, I did. But there were many others who didn’t make it. For me personally, that changed my life. I know the value of having someone to talk to.”

The Fahey Fund “started out as a retention program,” Pat added. “We wanted to design something to help the freshmen football players, teach them skills like time management, how to make up missed classes and tests; how to get along with their roommates; keeping a checkbook—skills that many student-athletes were lacking.”

The initiative eventually expanded to include serving all first-year student-athletes and now, as the Saxon Success Program, provides guidance to all student-athletes enrolled at Alfred.

“There have been success initiatives in the past for student-athletes, but this is far more comprehensive,” said Deb Steward, Associate Vice President for Student Experience, Athletics and Recreation. “This is process focused. If we execute the process correctly, the success will come. We need our students taking care of business in the classroom; that shows they are committed to the process.”

Under the program’s life skills component, student-athletes participate in 45-minute seminars, called “huddles,” which are offered according to their class year. First-year students’ seminars focus on areas aimed at helping them acclimate to life as a college student-athlete. Sophomores are taught about researching careers and securing internships, networking, and personal empowerment. Juniors’ huddles teach students how to market their athletics careers to potential employers, setting their career plans in motion, and becoming vocal leaders. Seniors’ discussions include securing their financial futures, developing an identity post-athletics, and prioritizing lifelong fitness and health.

Student-athletes are taught leadership skills through the LEAD (Learn, Empower, Achieve, Develop) model. Students leaders from each varsity athletics team—self nominated or chosen by their coaches—engage in a leadership curriculum and summit while applying their leadership skills to their teams and also in a seminar with underclass students.

LEAD athletic workshops are led by Dr. Chrissy Holm Haider, a Minneapolis, MN-based sports psychology consultant. The athletics department partners with the Judson Leadership Center in the LEAD Summit to provide student-athletes leadership training “in a collaborative team setting,” Steward said. “The goal is to help students develop leadership skills through various experiential learning activities, which they will then apply to their teams, in class, and in other settings.”

Steward pointed to the benefits of fostering leadership skills in student-athletes, which benefit them on their teams and in the classroom, and also long-term in their lives after graduation. “Everything in athletics is transferrable to everyday life,” she said. “We want our students to go out as citizens engaged where they live and work, as leaders in their families, their jobs, and their communities.”

Holm Haider leads four one-hour professional staff development sessions focusing on leadership as well as sports psychology/mental training sessions for student-athletes and teams. The latter sessions address topics such as performance anxiety, confidence, and building goals.

The athletics department tracks student-athletes’ performance in the classroom. An academic success committee headed by Erin Schurr, associate athletic director, monitors student-athletes’ compliance with minimum academic standards and ensures that they are utilizing the resources available to them. Dr. Nicole Bernsen, director of the rugby program and head women’s rugby coach, and Adair Milmoe, head field hockey coach, also serve on the committee; both have backgrounds in academic success programs at their previous institutions of higher education.

Mike Moskowitz, seventh-year head women’s basketball coach, said student-athletes have provided the Athletic Department feedback on the Saxon Success Program. “It is ever evolving, and we are constantly looking for ideas to improve their lives as members of their teams, our athletic department, and campus community as a whole. This has certainly led to our student-athletes feeling supported across the board, with opportunities for growth and a stronger connection to the athletic community.”

The impact of the Saxon Success Program from an academic standpoint is evident. There was an increase in overall grade-point averages of all student-athletes as demonstrated by the Fall 2023 GPA of 3.18 for 487 student-athletes to the Fall 2024 GPA of 3.26 for 527 student-athletes. In addition, there has been an increase among students with a GPA 3.50 or higher, with 74 more student-athletes achieving that mark or higher in Fall 2024 as compared to Fall 2023.

“This will increase retention, persistence, and graduation rates,” Steward said. “It is an enrollment driver; a tool coaches can use for recruiting.”

Moskowitz agreed. “When we meet with recruits and their families, this is a big talking point. We often talk about being a program that focuses on developing people and these additional resources offered by our department help us do just that,” he said.

Alyssa DiMillo, a senior member of the women’s basketball team, touted the benefits of the Saxon Succes Program during her time as a student-athlete at Alfred. “I have become more self-aware of my strengths and weaknesses and have learned how to become a better leader for my team, and how to build confidence in myself and others,” said Alyssa, a business administration major from Syracuse.

Steward credited the Faheys for making the Saxon Success Program possible and for their continued support of Alfred University student-athletes. “I can’t emphasize enough the generosity of the Faheys and how it has allowed us to enhance the opportunities for our student-athletes,” she said, adding that the Saxon Success Program also receives support from Saxon Nation, the fundraising organization for the athletics program.

“We’re very happy with how it has grown,” Pat says. “So many people have brought new ideas and have improved it far beyond what I’d ever imagined it would become. This helps these kids not only become good students, but also good employees and good citizens.”

The Omaha Supernovas will compete in the new Major League Volleyball starting in January. On Tuesday morning, the Supernovas announced a merger between their former league, called the Pro Volleyball Federation, and Major League Volleyball.

The new league will be a continuation of the Pro Volleyball Federation. When the season starts in January, it will mark the third official season for the new league, according to a news release.

“Bringing together a group of powerful visionaries and business leaders is no simple task – and for pro women’s volleyball this is a great example of collective bigger picture thinking,” Omaha Supernovas co-owner Benjamin Priest said in the news release. “Beyond excited for what is to come.”

Last season, Omaha finished the regular season 21-7, earning the No. 1 seed in the playoffs. The Supernovas fell in the first round against the No. 4 seed Indy Ignite. The Ignite lost to Orlando in the championship. Omaha has led the league in attendance each of the first two seasons and won the league title in 2024.

“This is a defining moment for the Supernovas and professional volleyball in the United States,” Supernovas President Diane Mendenhall said.

Eight franchises were members of the Pro Volleyball Federation. In order of finish this year, those teams were Omaha, Atlanta, Orlando, Indianapolis, Grand Rapids, Michigan, San Diego, Las Vegas and Columbus, Ohio.

For 2026, a new team has been added in Dallas, while the status of the Vegas Thrill is pending.

According to a press release from Major League Volleyball, the Vegas Thrill are currently in the process of finding new ownership. If those details get sorted out, Vegas would have the opportunity to come back.

By 2027, two new teams will enter the fold. Those organizations will be in Washington, D.C. and Northern California, according to the release.

Omaha will continue to host its home matches at the CHI Health Center downtown.

Free agency opens at 4 p.m. Central Time on Thursday for members of Major League Volleyball. Since many players are on one-year contracts, free agency is important in building a roster, according to a Supernovas spokesperson. Schedule announcements will follow, the news release said.

The Head Coach of Bowling is responsible for leading the bowling program as an intercollegiate sport at Stephen F. Austin State University. This includes the management and administration of all phases of a sports program in a manner that upholds the philosophy and objectives of the Department of Athletics and Stephen F. Austin State University. Regularly exercises discretion and independent judgment when performing work. Reports to the Director of Athletics.

1. Adheres to all applicable National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), Conference, and university rules and regulations.

2. Oversees the recruitment and selection of student-athletes. Ensures compliance with NCAA guidelines for contacting and entertaining prospects. Initiates the process for determining academic eligibility and issuing National Letters of Intent.

3. Provides leadership and instruction in the personal and athletic development of student-athletes, including counseling team members in academic, disciplinary, and personal matters.

4. Monitors the eligibility status and promotes the academic progress of student-athletes. Assists in enforcing study hall attendance for referred freshmen and others with grade deficiencies. Supports the guidelines established by the Senior Associate Athletics Director for Student-Athlete Services.

5. Manages the sport’s program within the framework of a balanced budget.

6. Oversees the selection, purchase, fitting, and maintenance of team equipment, including uniforms, athletic equipment, and supplies.

7. Schedules and conducts regular practice sessions in and out of season, as permitted by NCAA rules and regulations. Develops and implements strategies for motivating student-athletes to perform at maximum levels as both individuals and a team.

8. Arranges a competitive event schedule in conjunction with the Director of Athletics and Senior Associate Athletic Director of Internal Affairs.

9. Ensures that team travel arrangements are in compliance with university, Conference, and NCAA rules and regulations, including monitoring the development of travel itineraries and coordination of travel plans.

10. Oversees the conditioning and training of team members ensuring student-athletes are physically prepared for competition.

11. Supervises assigned assistant coaches, part-time assistants, restricted earnings coaches, volunteer coaches, student assistants, and/or other support staff. Provides orientation, training, and guidance, as needed. Conducts performance evaluations and recommends salary increases, as appropriate.

12. Develops and publishes team rules regarding appearance, practice, class attendance, punctuality, dress code, and general standards of behavior, with the approval of the Director of Athletics. Enforces team rules, providing appropriate disciplinary action as warranted.

13. Ensures the safety of student-athletes and coaching staff through careful monitoring of the condition of athletics equipment and facilities utilized by the designated sport. Submits requests for repair, maintenance and improvement of facilities to the Supervisor of Athletic Facilities and Equipment.

14. Cooperates with all coaches within the intercollegiate athletics program to enhance overall departmental operations.

Required Experience and Training

Five years related experience is required. Experience coaching at the collegiate or high school level and/or competitive personal college or professional playing experience is required.

Required Education

Bachelor’s degree in a related field is required. Master’s degree is required if job responsibilities include teaching courses.

About Stephen F. Austin State University

Founded in 1923, Stephen F. Austin State University (SFA) is a comprehensive, public university located in Nacogdoches, Texas—the oldest town in the state. With a strong commitment to excellence in teaching, research, and service, SFA offers more than 120 areas of study across six colleges. Known for its personalized learning environment and close-knit campus community, SFA empowers students to discover their passions and prepare for impactful careers. The university is a proud member of The University of Texas System.

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