by Grant Ledgister | May 22, 2019 | News Slider, Sports
Due to the academic successes of its athletes, all of Lipscomb’s sports programs have escaped classroom-related penalties from the NCAA for the 12th straight year. The Academic Progress Rate (APR) is a system put in place by the NCAA to help measure whether Division I schools are ensuring their student-athletes are doing well academically. First enforced in 2003, APR is a statistic that tracks the “eligibility” and “retention” of athletic programs and their athletes nationwide. APR is calculated by giving one point per student-athlete in a given athletic program that is receiving financial aid for athletics, and another point if those students remain above the mandated academic thresholds. These points are added up, then divided by points possible, and finally multiplied by 1,000 to get the program’s total APR score. Programs with low APR scores will be penalized, with the first penalty being a limitation on practice time (16 hours over five days instead of 20 over 6). The NCAA also averages out the APR scores from the past four years to see if the program meets the minimum 930 standards it has set, and if the program does not, it is in danger of receiving a ban from participation in championship games. “It correlates an athlete’s ability to do the coursework,” said Lipscomb Athletic Director Philip Hutcheson. “A system that has some standards as opposed to not having any is probably the better approach,” In a year that saw 12 programs across 20 schools receive penalties, all of Lipscomb’s programs received scores high enough to avoid the one of their own. Men’s and women’s golf received the highest...
by Erin Franklin | May 3, 2019 | News Slider, Sports
Lauren Sumski says she’s always been the “baby” in the room. The new head coach for Lipscomb women’s basketball is only 27 years old — making her one of the youngest coaches in Division I right now. She was the youngest head coach in Division III when she coached at Rhodes right before the move to Lipscomb. As I sat down with Sumski to hear her thoughts on her new role, she recalled this trend in her life, reflecting back to when she was an eighth-grader playing on the varsity team. Not only was she just playing on the team as a middle schooler, but she was serving as varsity captain. And again, at age 13, she played on a 17U team while still in middle school. She jokingly added she still even has trouble getting a rental car sometimes since companies don’t think she looks old enough. “When I was in middle school, I was playing up,” Sumski recalled. “I was playing 17-and-under basketball when I was 13. So all of my teammates were just a lot older than me. They had a lot different interests than me, and I was just the baby of the group.” But she said she thinks God has blessed her with a special maturity to be able to relate to those older than her. This, coupled with her natural intelligence (in college, she was accepted to medical school in Memphis before deciding to pursue coaching), has come in handy as she’s often stepped up to serve in roles typically reserved for those older. Throughout her life, she’s been able to develop this intergenerational openness,...
by Russell Vannozzi | Apr 25, 2019 | News Slider, Sports
The last few weeks brought plenty of change to the Lipscomb men’s basketball program. But one of the team’s steady leaders is staying put. Associate head coach Roger Idstrom will remain on staff, new Lipscomb coach Lennie Acuff announced in his introductory press conference Wednesday. “A big for part for me in taking over the job is that I felt like we needed someone that had been here,” Acuff said. “The more I talked to people, there was no doubt that Roger Idstrom needed to be a part of our staff. “Roger’s a good man and a really good basketball coach, and he’s had an awful lot to do with [Lipscomb’s] success. I really thought he’d make our transition a lot smoother.” Idstrom served as Lipscomb’s interim coach after Casey Alexander departed for Belmont. He talked with recruits, worked on next year’s schedule and kept tabs on the players, even while his own future was up in the air. “Yeah it’s crazy, and it’s been stressful,” he said. “It’s probably been more stressful for my wife and family, just the unknown part of it. But really for me, it’s been focusing on the day-to-day of this program and making sure that our guys are doing what they need to be doing in the classroom.” The 1989 Mars Hill College graduate has also served on the staffs at his alma mater, UNC Asheville, Montreat, Wabash Valley College, Gardner-Webb and Stetson. Idstrom followed Alexander to Lipscomb in 2013 to become associate head coach. Idstrom’s presence brings a welcomed familiarity for Lipscomb’s current players. Rising senior guard Michael Buckland said he is thrilled Idstrom...
by Russell Vannozzi | Apr 25, 2019 | News Slider, Sports
Lennie Acuff once wanted to play basketball for Lipscomb, but he admitted that he “wasn’t good enough” for Don Meyer’s legendary NAIA teams. Instead, the longtime Alabama-Huntsville skipper now gets his chance to coach the Bisons. Lipscomb officially introduced Acuff as its next head coach Wednesday, beginning a new era for a program that is coming off one of its most successful seasons – a year that ended one victory short of an NIT championship. But Acuff was familiar with the Bisons long before they joined the NCAA Division I ranks. He attended Lipscomb basketball summer camps as a kid, and he continued to learn from Meyer as an adult, even visiting his house on at least one occasion. “I think it’s important that everybody knows that I understand what Lipscomb basketball is about,” he said. “[Two] of the guys on my high school team played on the [1986] national championship team – Anthony Jones and Bob Ford. “I would’ve loved to have been a Bison. [Coach Meyer] was the best teacher the game has ever had. I cannot tell you how much he taught me, how much I learned from him and the level of respect I have for what he built here.” Acuff seems like a natural fit for the Bisons. He’s down to earth, family-oriented and speaks with a Southern drawl. He’s also bald, just like Meyer and Casey Alexander – arguably the two best coaches in Lipscomb’s history. But, perhaps most importantly, Acuff has the basketball resume to keep the Lipscomb program on an upward trajectory. His track record at UAH, which includes 437 wins,...
by Lumination Staff | Apr 24, 2019 | Galleries
It’s been a busy two days for Lipscomb basketball. Yesterday, Lipscomb welcomed Lauren Sumski as the new head coach for women’s basketball. And today, Lipscomb introduced Lennie Acuff as the new head coach for men’s basketball. Acuff is the winningest coach in the history of the Gulf South Conference, amassing 437 wins over 22 seasons at the University of Alabama-Huntsville. He has a total of 550 wins in 29 seasons. Acuff said he believes that encouraging those around him is crucial. “The most powerful thing you can say to someone is ‘I believe in you,’” Acuff said. Sumski is the former D-III coach at Rhodes College. She said she plans to “reset” the program, rather than “rebuild” it. “This is just a reset,” Sumski said. “This isn’t a rebuild. We’re going to take every single day, and we’re going to work to be the best people we can be, the best students we can be, the best athletes we can be.” Photos by Mckenzi Harris and Erin Franklin « ‹ of 2 › »...
