Southeast Arkansas College is seeking a new softball coach after Belinda Hendrix, the college’s first-ever hire for the sport, and her husband, Assistant Coach Jimmy Hendrix, left more than two weeks ago to take the same positions at Garden City Community College in Kansas.
The Hendrixes led SEARK through an abbreviated inaugural season this spring. The Sharks canceled the remainder of their season March 6 after starting 4-13, citing injuries that decimated their roster.
“I got contacted by Garden City just to see if I’d be interested,” said Belinda Hendrix, a former national championship coach at Chipola College in Florida who came to Pine Bluff from East Tennessee State University. “We both loved Pine Bluff and the direction SEARK was going. But Garden City is a Division I school here, meaning we can offer more scholarship money, and that puts us in a better position athletically.”
Division I schools in the National Junior College Athletic Association can offer athletic scholarships to cover tuition, books, fees, room and board, and up to $250 in course-required supplies. For Division II schools including SEARK, athletic scholarships do not cover room and board.
Belinda Hendrix said it took her and Jimmy a while to decide whether to leave SEARK after just being hired last spring. Their last day in Pine Bluff was April 17, and she said they’ve only been in Garden City for about a week.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
“I hated leaving,” she said. “My youngest daughter (Jade) will graduate, and my oldest daughter (Madison) is also a student at SEARK.”
Jade Hendrix was a utility player for the Sharks. The team got off to a 2-0 start but struggled while dealing with an ACL tear to an outfielder and labrum tear to a pitcher, leaving the Sharks with nine players (two of them pitchers), Belinda Hendrix revealed.
“I’d hate for something to go wrong in the outfield for a pitcher,” Belinda Hendrix said. “There was an opportunity for the girls to save eligibility for another year, so we made the decision to cancel the season.”
The coach added the decision to leave SEARK was tough because she loves the players she had there, as well as Athletic Director Chad Kline and other members of the school community.
Kline said a search committee of four will meet next week to sort through the 20-plus applications he’s received in hopes of paring the pool to three to five finalists.
SEARK recently completed its first baseball season under Toby Cornejo, who took over in August after initial hire Steven Adams Jr. left. The college will play its first men’s basketball season under Kline and first women’s basketball season under Sam Waniewski in the fall.