Athletics 6/7/2022 4:00:00 PM

State of the Panthers: Celebrating a Record-Setting 2021-2022 Year

June 7, 2022

Dear Panther Family,

I hope that everyone enjoyed a safe Memorial Day holiday and was able to celebrate with family and friends, remembering our heroes who allow us to live in a free society. I was able to see the new Top Gun movie and it is fascinating to realize that the original was released when I was in high school!

It is also fascinating to reflect on our 2021-2022 seasons as I feel confident saying this year is now the standard for our athletics program to gauge success. Remember with me successes for the year:

Cumulative GPA for GSU student-athletes of 3.21 (third highest in program history).
Three Sun Belt Conference post-graduate scholarship winners (Grace Kiser - Women's Soccer; Diego Padilha - Men's Tennis; and Vazha Shubladze - Men's Tennis), the most for any university.
Four NCAA Tournament teams – Men's Basketball, Men's Soccer, Men's Tennis, and Women's Beach Volleyball – is the second-most in school history and most since 2008-2009.
Three NCAA Tournament team victories – Soccer (1) and Beach Volleyball (2) – equals the total number in school history (Men's basketball with two wins in 2000-2001 and 2014-2015 and Women's Tennis in 2013-2014).
Football bowl game victory for the second season in a row and third straight winning season.
Three Conference Tournament Championships in Men's Basketball, Men's Tennis and Women's Beach Volleyball, plus regular-season titles for Men's Tennis and Women's Tennis.
School-record win totals in Football (8), Women's Beach Volleyball (28) and Women's Tennis (17).
One of only five 'Group of Five' schools to win a bowl game and make the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament
Wins over ranked teams:
- Women's Beach Volleyball: 12 wins vs. ranked teams (highest ranked was No. 2 TCU, which equals the highest-ranked team GSU has defeated in any sport)
- Football vs. No. 21 Coastal Carolina
- Baseball vs. No. 15 Clemson
- Men's Soccer: No. 13 Akron and No. 14 West Virginia
Women's Beach Volleyball's final No. 7 ranking is the highest final ranking for any GSU program
Remarkable turnaround in Women's Tennis by first-year head coach Hannah Keeling, who took over a team that was 2-19/0-10 Sun Belt in 2021 and went 17-6/9-1, winning a share of the regular-season title.
Baseball reaching a program high of No. 30 RPI after beating Georgia Tech during the season.

I was recently asked why I think we enjoyed so much success this season. My simple answer is that we have good people – coaches, staff, and student-athletes – in our program, who are committed to our Core Values and building our Culture of Success.

I hope that you enjoy the summer and look forward to reconvening in August!

Don't forget to buy your tickets and donate to the Panther Athletic Club!!

Respectfully,

Charlie Cobb
Director of Athletics

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