College of Charleston has named three-year assistant Bora Yatagan to the position of interim head coach, making him just the third head coach in the program’s 36-year history.
“I am really excited for the opportunity to be a head coach at the College of Charleston and to get a chance to represent this great institution,” Yatagan said. “We have a young, but very talented group of athletes this season, and I believe that they will have a strong presence in the CAA this year and in years to come.”
The Cougars are coming off of one of their better seasons in the last decade, where their men took 2nd at the CCSA Championships and their women were 4th. They broke in total 21 school records during the year. The Turkish-born Yatagan spent three years as an assistant at Fairmont State, and before that as a volunteer assistant at West Virginia.
Former head coach Bruce Zimmerman, meanwhile, has been named as the new head coach at Division II Saginaw Valley State, who in May announced that they will start both a women’s (in 2014-2015) and men’s (2015-2016) programs in the next three years.
This appointment comes just in time for CoC to open their season on Saturday against the University of South Carolina on Saturday, which they’ll follow a week later with a big rivalry showdown against Davidson, again at home.
we love our boss bora
Pretty confident that Coach Z new the program was on the chopping block and was looking for a new gig. He lobbied for a new faciilty at Patriot Point when he came to the program early on and was summarily shot down. The facility in downtown was old, antiquated and litterally falling apart. While I certainly wasnt a fan of Coach Z’s bedside manner, I cant blame him for jumping ship.
Good riddance! BZ was the worst.
Interesting, but probably not unjustified. Brand Spankin’ new program to call all yours and foster whatever traditions and practices you want from now until whenever? Probably also higher pay to sweeten the deal….
I mean, moving to a developing program that you get to help build, or a rebuild is one thing. But being Numero Uno to a baby that you can make your mark on and affect forever? That’s a pretty sweet deal.
College of Charleston to Saginaw Valley State? Interesting career move….