Mulkey Named Ducks' First Team Stunts and Gymnastics Coach
Felecia Mulkey, who has guided Kennesaw (Ga.) State University to top-four national finishes in the National Cheerleading Association (NCA) and National Dance Alliance (NDA) Collegiate Cheer and Dance Championships each of the past eight years, has been named the first head coach of the University of Oregon’s Team Stunts and Gymnastics program, according to an announcement Thursday by the Ducks’ Director of Athletics Pat Kilkenny.
The university’s second women’s athletic program to be added on an intercollegiate basis in the last five years will become the Ducks’ 11th women’s sport when it officially begins competition during the 2009-10 school year. The addition of the sport was initially announced on July 13, 2007, along with the reinstatement of Oregon’s baseball program.
Kilkenny also announced that the university has already received a significant financial gift in the name of long-time Oregon supporter and friend Mary Thorin, which will fully endow a scholarship for the new sport.
Mulkey (7/16/74) has built the Owls’ competitive cheer program that finished fourth in this spring’s All-Women’s Division I Collegiate Championships after capturing national championships in 2004 and 2005.
The 1998 Kennesaw State health and exercise science graduate and Atlanta, Ga., native has overseen the development of a program that has finished no worse than third nationally from 2001 through 2007. Her success resulted in the program ascending to the Division I level in 2006.
“The University of Oregon has gained a national reputation as a forward-thinking and innovative institution, and the addition of this sport only enhances that perception,” Mulkey said in response to what attracted her to Oregon. “The opportunities this is going to present to females across the nation is exciting and other schools are going to follow.”
Prior to transferring and taking over the head coaching reigns at the Kennesaw, Ga., school in May 1997, Mulkey cheered for two years at Southern Union State (Wadley, Ala.), and led the Bison to an eighth-place national finish in 1995.
In addition to directing the Owls’ spirit program, she has served as the school’s sports operations director for the past two years. Mulkey also worked as marketing director of the American Lung Association in Smyrna, Ga., from July 1998 through July 2000, as well as the sports marketing and promotions director at her alma mater from 2000-06.
Mulkey admitted that part of a challenge of building any program that differed from mainstream sports programs would be to overcome the critics.
“There is a stereotype because competitive cheer started with cheerleading and people do not want to let that go,” Mulkey said. “It conjures up images of cheerleaders on the sidelines, which is not what we are. There is no cheerleading going on in competitive cheer, which is why we changed the name. I’m hoping people can drop the stereotype. When they see what we’re doing with team stunts and gymnastics they will see that it’s something completely different than what the people on the sidelines are doing. And hopefully that will change the thought process that I think is really holding the sport back.
“In four words, I would describe our sport as choreographed, athletic, stunts and tumbling -- that’s exactly what we do.”
Executive Senior Associate Athletics Director Renee Baumgartner said that Mulkey’s hiring one year before the program begins competition will allow her to recruit and build the foundation for the sport in order for it to be nationally competitive from the outset. The same philosophy was implemented when the university added women’s lacrosse and baseball.
“Felecia’s credentials speak for themselves -- a two-time national championship coach and the energy that her team possessed when I went back to Daytona Beach, Fla., (site of the national championships) and watched them come out on that floor was outstanding” Baumgartner emphasized. “Her personality and what we’re trying to do at the University of Oregon, as well as the national scene, will go a long way in positioning ourselves among the national leaders in this sport for years to come.
“If we didn’t have Felecia Mulkey, it would make the process of starting this program very challenging,” Baumgartner admitted. “What this hiring is going to do is allow us to be competitive on the national stage immediately, as well as trying to get other institutions to develop the same model that Maryland and Oregon have chosen. “
Mulkey will officially begin her duties July 30, 2008.
Mulkey’s Year-by-Year Coaching Record
Year National Finish
2008 4th
2007 3rd
2006 3rd
2005 1st
2004 1st
2003 2nd
2002 2nd
2001 2nd
2000 5th
1999 9th
1998 12th
2008 NCA & NDA Collegiate Cheer and Dance Championships
Final Results
1. Maryland
2. Ohio State
3. Louisville
4. Kennesaw State
5. North Carolina State
6. Quinnipiac
7. New Hampshire
8. Rutgers
9. Massachusetts
10. South Carolina
