Southeast Arkansas College has announced several changes to its athletics department, naming an interim athletic director and hiring new head coaches for its men’s and women’s basketball programs.
Softball coach Doug Wingler will serve as interim athletic director while continuing to lead the Lady Sharks softball team. The appointment follows the recent departures of inaugural athletic director and men’s basketball coach Chad Kline and women’s basketball coach James Thatcher.
SEARK President Tyrone Jackson previously said a permanent athletic director is expected to be selected later this fall.
The college also hired James Voight as the second head coach in the history of its men’s basketball program and Chad Killinger as the third head coach of its women’s basketball team.
The 2026-27 season will mark SEARK’s third year of basketball competition.
Wingler recently guided the Lady Sharks through the softball program’s first completed season after its first two campaigns were shortened due to low roster numbers.
The team qualified for the NJCAA Division II Region 2 Tournament as the No. 8 seed. Before arriving at SEARK, Wingler spent seven seasons as head coach at Mendocino College in California and also coached at the high school level for 10 years.
Voight brings 15 years of head coaching experience and most recently led the University of the Southwest in Hobbs, New Mexico, from 2021 to 2025.
During his tenure, the program advanced to the Red River Athletic Conference championship game in both his third and fourth seasons after entering his first year following a winless conference campaign.
According to SEARK, his overall coaching record is 250-165.
Killinger joins the college with 28 years of coaching experience, including 18 seasons at the NJCAA level and previous coaching stints at NCAA Division I programs including Indiana State, Nicholls State, East Carolina and Marshall.
He compiled a 147-71 record while leading Moberly Area Community College in Missouri, including a 32-1 season in 2017-18, and previously guided Lincoln Trail College to its first NJCAA national tournament appearance.
Most recently, he was hired by Wabash Valley College in Illinois after serving as head coach at Indiana State.
