Two head coaches in the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff athletic department issued its championship golf coach a challenge.
Solomon Bozeman of the men's basketball team and Alonzo Hampton of the football team both told Roger Totten: "We're coming for you," as they gave updates on their programs during a State of the Athletic Department meeting open to the public inside the school's 1890 Extension Building on Saturday. The message, which Totten happily welcomed, was that Bozeman and Hampton aspire to match Totten's success and bring more Southwestern Athletic Conference championships to the school.
Totten's men's golf team won its first conference championship on Wednesday in decisive fashion, and has earned an automatic berth to an NCAA regional tournament, which will be announced during the first week of May. But Bozeman, who's heading into his third season at UAPB, acknowledged Totten did something particular in winning the SWAC tournament: "You set the bar high."
Totten, a 35-year college coaching veteran who's spent most of his career as a football assistant, accepted Bozeman's and Hampton's challenges, adding "When one wins, we all win."
And it wasn't just the team championship UAPB won. Patrick Mwendapole won the medalist honor as the individual champion, and teammate Ismael Garcia, who finished second overall, was the freshman medalist.
"At the end of the day, we were just hungry enough," Totten told supporters.
Totten recalled how some teams traveled to the SWAC tournament at Flowood, Miss., in Mercedes-Benz vans and another team wore fancy shoes on the course, but it was UAPB that led after each of the three rounds.
"We're going to make it work with what we've got," Totten said.
Bozeman's basketball team took a hard fall to end the season, losing 9 straight to finish 10-21 and 6-12 in the SWAC and miss the conference tournament. But he offered a brighter forecast for 2023-24, adding the Lions are "heading in the right direction" by retaining 10 players from this season's team and seeing key players bulk up from the time they first stepped on campus.
"We've got 10 guys coming back who love to be at UAPB," Bozeman said. "Our main focus is getting stronger."
Hampton, who spoke before coaching his team in the spring game, said his staff will recruit every high school in Arkansas from May 8-26.
"We can build a fence around the state of Arkansas," said the Warren native, who was hired in December. "There's no reason we can't sell out every home game."
UAPB cut into a $3 million deficit in its athletic budget from last year, making up for $1 million of that through fundraising and cutbacks in other aspects, Athletic Director Chris Robinson said.
"We are still working through that," Robinson said. "That is something we've been working with through the years based on where our budget is relative to other budgets in the conference. Some schools are right at $6 million budgets, and that's $6 million more than what we have. We look at our business practices. We look at the things that are there, and we try to make more intentional decisions. Through some of the partnerships with the community and other supporters, they helped to close that gap a lot better."
UAPB men's golf coach Roger Totten listens to remarks during a State of the Athletic Department meeting on campus Saturday. (Pine Bluff Commercial/I.C. Murrell)