Left: Chris Godfrey Middle: Sara Smith Right: Drake Robison

 

Gulf Coast Athletics Welcomes New Assistant Coaches

Gulf Coast welcomed new head coaches for many sports teams, and we have an array of new assistant coaches joining the athletic department this year. Each coach brings experience, teaching and coaching methods, and different personalities to their program. Each assistant is excited for this year, and all coaches expressed that their teams will be competitive and surprise audiences with their talent. 

Get to Know the New Assistant Coaches

Chris Godfrey

Chris Godfrey is joining the women’s basketball team for his first season as assistant coach. Godfrey is a Detroit, Michigan native with seven years of coaching experience. He graduated from St. Johns University with degrees in Journalism and Sports Management. While at St. Johns, Godfrey was a male practice player for the women’s basketball team. He then coached at colleges, including Prairie View A&M University and Northwest Florida State College. Women’s basketball head coach Rory Kuhn had crossed paths with Godfrey many times but decided it was time for them to rejoin the Panhandle Conference. 
Godfrey says he likes assisting Kuhn because of the positive environment and how he embraces simplicity. He says that learning to put the time and effort into treating and respecting the player’s quality of life over just winning ball games has become vital. He also enjoys the environment of Gulf Coast. He says all the coaches are willing to help each other and have created a very light-hearted environment. Godfrey does feel their team will be very competitive and surprise a lot of people. This job has been rewarding for Godfrey because he sees the girls trusting the coaches and buying into and believing in the program.

Sara Smith

Sara Smith joins the Commodores for her first season as a college coach. Smith is from Warner Robins, Georgia, where her dad inspired her to become an athlete and coach. She first played for two years at South Georgia State College, winning the 2018 Georgia State championship. She then continued to Radford University in Virginia. She completed her degree in Sports Management in 2020 and started her master’s in the spring of 2021 while finishing out her softball career. When deciding where to start after finishing playing, she was caught between finishing her master’s as a Graduate Assistant at Coastal Carolina or taking the job at Gulf Coast. She felt drawn to Gulf Coast because of Coach Thomas and the way he talked made her feel this was the place she was supposed to be.
Smith likes Coach Thomas because he approaches recruiting; she feels he does not sugarcoat anything and is honest with his recruits. She also really enjoys the people and other coaches at Gulf Coast. She says her players reminded her of herself when she was in college, making the job exceptionally fun. Smith also feels that since she played junior college and continued to a Division I university, she brings in knowledge and experience. Smith believes the softball team can be as good as they want to be, and the sky’s the limit for this group.

Drake Robison

Drake Robison is from Machesney Park, Illinois. He originally started playing college baseball at Iowa Western Community College. After two years he transferred to the University of Mississippi but decided it was not a right fit after only one year there. He then transferred to the University of Iowa, where he played for only one year after sitting out a year because of NCAA transfer rules. He obtained his degree in mathematics. After graduating, he began coaching at Iowa Western. Next, he coached at Chattanooga State Community College for two years. He is now starting his first year at Gulf Coast, where he is excited to coach under Coach Younger. 
He likes Younger because he is not a screamer and likes to talk through things with his players and let them learn. He also wants to let the players play and evaluate them and then talk about their performance. He also referred to his team as having enough pieces to surprise people and make a good run in the season. Robison also said that he enjoys coaching here because of the players and their different personalities. Last, Robison included, he enjoys having the other coaches in the department because they make it fun to be here and is excited to see how this season goes.