SeArk College recently announced that they will begin a new athletic program in the fall of 2023 with baseball and softball being the inaugural sports for the program. The SeArk Sharks will be a member of the National Junior College Athletic Association and will begin in Division Two of the NJCAA.
SeArk President Dr. Steven Bloomberg and new SeArk Athletic Director and Head Basketball Coach Chad Kline joined Floyd Donald and Luke Matheson on 99.3 The Beat Tuesday morning to discuss the hire, plans for athletics, and more.
Bloomberg started with a brief introduction of Kline and some of the early responsibilities he will have.
Kline said he believes the Pine Bluff area is a recruiting hot bed and he believes that with the right coaches they can have early success.
Kline said the first order of business is to get coaches hired and facilities up to par to play on.
The recruiting game has changed in recent years with the addition of the transfer portal, and four-year colleges aren’t recruiting as many high school players as they have in the past, especially in baseball, softball, and basketball. Kline said that he feels a Junior College can help some of those high school players.
Kline also said that the plan is to recruit both locally and nationally.
Bloomberg was asked if SeArk will be in competition with UAPB, and he spoke about a conversation he had with UAPB Athletic Director Chris Robinson last week.
Kline said he would like to form a partnership with UAPB for “sign and place” athletes who may sign with UAPB, but who are not academically eligible to play there. Those student-athletes could then be placed at SeArk College to play athletics while they work on obtaining eligibility with the opportunity to return to UAPB once they become eligible.
SeArk College will host a press conference at 10 a.m. Tuesday, March 14, at Seabrook YMCA to formally introduce Kline as athletic director and head basketball coach.
