Aeolian 2014
HURRICANE NEWS GSW to name basketball court for retired coach and AD Randolph Barksdale there that should be given credit for all of the wins and things that happened while I was there.”
With 378 wins as coach at Georgia Southwestern and 540 career wins, Randolph Barksdale left his mark on the landscape of college basketball in Georgia. On Thursday, Jan. 23, 2014, a permanent reminder of Barksdale’s impact on GSW Athletics will be in place as the University will name its basketball court after him – “Randolph Barksdale Court.” “It’s an honor to have the court named after me,” Barksdale said. “There are a lot of people that had a lot to do with my success
In 1985, he guided the men’s basketball team to their first-ever national tournament appearance, advancing to the “Sweet 16.” That same year, he was named District 25 Coach of the Year for the second year in a row and led the ‘Canes to win the conference for the second consecutive year. In all, he led the Hurricanes to six conference titles, six national tournament appearances, and was named conference coach of the year four different times.
Barksdale spent 27 seasons as a college head basketball coach. Between 1979 and 2006, he coached GSW men’s basketball for 18 seasons (Dekalb College, 1987-1995). Prior to GSW, he served as an assistant coach at Georgia State University, Vanderbilt University and the Georgia Institute of Technology. Barksdale served as GSW athletics director from 2001 until his retirement from athletics in 2008. “Credit goes to Dr. (Bob) Clark and Dr. (William) Capitan for hiring me the first time, Dr. (Michael) Hanes and Steve Cobb when they hired me the second time, then Dr. (Kendall) Blanchard who has really been a pleasure to work with, and my assistant coaches and players,” said Barksdale. “Lastly, credit goes to the community that got behind the program and made it possible for us to recruit players and have the success that we had.”
“When I went down there the first time, I think Southwestern had one conference title in the history of the school and had always been sort of at the bottom of the pack,” said Barksdale. “Everybody sort of laughed because they thought we couldn’t win without scholarships, which led us to start the Hurricane Club. So, that first conference title and first trip to the national tournament will always be special.” During Barksdale’s sevenyear stint as athletics director, ‘Canes sports teams won three conference championships and
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