Ole Miss Daily: Rachel Martin named Ole Miss rifle head coach

Legendary rifle coach Marsha Beasley is calling it a career after more than three decades of excellence at the collegiate level, including the last seven seasons at the helm of the Ole Miss program. 

With Beasley’s retirement, it was announced that assistant coach Rachel Martin has been named the next head coach of the Rebels. Martin joined the team last July after two successful seasons as the head coach at her alma mater Nebraska.

“I have truly loved working at Ole Miss and cherish my seven years as head coach,” Beasley said. “I will forever be grateful that Ole Miss gave me this opportunity. I have been able to work with some amazing student-athletes, and I thank each of them for taking a chance on me in coming to Ole Miss, for their commitment and hard work, and for helping change the culture of Ole Miss Rifle. A coach can only be successful with student-athletes who are willing to bring their best every single day, are willing to do the hard work and understand the concept of team first.”

“Thank you Marsha for the incredible leadership she has provided our rifle team. Her impact on the sport is truly remarkable, and we are elated for her as she steps away from coaching and enjoys retirement,” said Keith Carter, Ole Miss Vice Chancellor for Intercollegiate Athletics. “We are equally excited to begin this next chapter for our program under Rachel’s guidance. She has experienced great success in both coaching and competition and has been a tremendous asset to our team in the past year. We look forward to continuing our program’s upward trajectory with Rachel at the helm.”

“I am grateful to Keith Carter and Jennifer Saxon for the opportunity to continue my work with a wonderful and passionate group of athletes,” Martin said. “Through my 20 years of experience in this sport, I have never experienced anything like the tremendous amount of support our team has received from all our staff and fans. Ole Miss has truly become my home and is a program I am proud not only to be a part of, but to now represent as a head coach.”

Martin guided the Huskers to NCAA Championship appearances in each of her two years as head coach. In her first season with the program, she guided her squad to a No. 4 ranking in the CRCA Poll, fired a program record 4707 in the NCAA Qualifier match and produced three All-Americans. Martin followed up a stellar first season with a sixth-place finish at the 2021 NCAA Championship, the school’s best performance since 2017.

Prior to arriving in Lincoln, Martin spent the 2018-19 season as an assistant coach at Army. In her lone season, she helped the Black Knights qualify for the NCAA Championship and take home a sixth-place finish at the event. Over the course of her coaching career, Martin has guided five student-athletes to nine combined All-American honors.

A former competitive shooter herself, Martin rewrote the record books at Nebraska from 2014-17, claiming an individual NCAA Championship in smallbore in 2015 and earning seven All-American honors over the course of her career. Her individual success helped Nebraska to four consecutive top-eight team finishes at the championship meet, including a pair of top-five finishes.

After graduating from Nebraska in 2017, Martin moved to Colorado Springs to train at the United States Olympic Training Center. She has been a member of the USA Shooting World Cup team since 2013, representing Team USA in seven World Cups, and is a seven-time national champion. Martin also served as an alternate for Team USA at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

“Under Coach Beasley this program climbed the national rankings, and I am excited to build on her legacy and guide this team towards a national championship,” Martin said. “Our primary focus at this time is to sustain the unity that has been cultivated in our team and create a legacy for future generations of our sport.”

Related: Ole Miss men’s basketball announces SEC opponents for 2023-24 season

Women’s basketball’s Marija Avljias to represent Serbia in 2023 FIBA U18 Women’s European Championship

Ole Miss women’s basketball has spread out all around the globe this off-season, with incoming freshman Marija Avlijas representing her home country of Serbia at the 2023 U18 Women’s European Championship in Konya, Turkey, from July 1-9.
 
Avlijas quite familiar with this stage, as the Belgrade native participated at the 2021 FIBA U16 Challengers. After averaging 25.2 points per game, Avlijas was crowned the tournament’s MVP. The guard has also been on the scene throughout Europe, playing in multiple Basketball Without Borders events presented by the NBA and the WNBA.
 
Serbia begins its quest at the FIBA U18 Women’s European Championship on July 1, set to play three games in the group phase in Group C. Following the group phase, Serbia looks to advance to tournament play with its sights set on gold. All results as well as tournament updates can be found through FIBA.
 
Avlijas is one of eight newcomers and five freshmen to join Ole Miss for the 2023-24 season as Ole Miss looks to reach the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive season. Following her national team commitment, Avlijas will join the Rebels in Oxford as the team prepares for its Foreign Tour in Italy from July 30 through August 8.

Ole Miss’ Rychlak continues as officer for SEC Executive Committee

Ole Miss Faculty Athletics Representative Ron Rychlak was named among the officers for the SEC’s 2023-24 Executive Committee, the Southeastern Conference announced Tuesday.

Rychlak continues his stint as Secretary of the committee, while University of Alabama President Dr. Stuart Bell will begin a two-year term as the group’s President and University of Tennessee Chancellor Dr. Donde Plowman as Vice President.

The SEC Executive Committee is comprised of the three officers of the Conference and four individuals elected at the regular annual conference meeting. The elected members are composed of a Chief Executive Officer, Director of Athletics, Senior Woman Administrator and Faculty Athletics Representative.

The primary responsibility of the SEC Executive Committee is to approve the annual operating budget of the Conference and oversee all financial and fiscal affairs of the Conference as administered by the Commissioner.

Joining the committee is University of Missouri President Dr. Mun Choi who will become Vice President in 2025. Continuing members of the committee are University of Arkansas Director of Athletics Hunter Yurachek, Mississippi State University Senior Woman Administrator Ann Carr and Texas A&M University Faculty Athletics Representative Paul Batista.

Rychlak joined the Ole Miss School of Law in 1987 and has served as the university’s faculty athletics representative since 2007. Among his Ole Miss honors, he was appointed as a Distinguished Professor in 2020, received the Distinguished Research and Creative Achievement Award in 2019 and was bestowed the Ben Hardy Faculty Excellence Award in 2017.