Travis to Coach at Emory, Assistant McFarland to Run Marlins' Squad

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. --- Virginia Wesleyan College athletic director and head men's soccer coach has resigned from the Marlins' athletic department, effective in early August.  He is leaving the College that has been a major part of his life since 1989.  VWC's head men's soccer coach for 18 years and the athletic director for the past eight, Travis has decided to accept an offer to coach the Emory University men's soccer team beginning this fall.

"It was a very, very tough decision for me," said Travis.  "I am going to miss my players, the relationships that I have established at Virginia Wesleyan as well as the soccer community in Hampton Roads that I have known for the past 18 years."

Travis fills a position vacated by Mike Rubesch, the Eagles' mentor for the past 19 years, who resigned earlier this spring to take a head coaching position with a professional team in South Africa.

"Sonny Travis has always conducted himself as a gentleman, as someone who sees himself as an individual who helps shape the lives of the young men he coaches," said VWC President William T. "Billy" Greer. "He's a winner in every way.  We are indebted to him and wish him the very best in this new career opportunity."

On the soccer field, Travis is respected as one of the leading Division III coaches.  Entering the 2006 season, he was ranked No. 17 among the nation's winningest active coaches with a 74.1 winning percentage and No. 22 in total victories.  He is also ranked No. 14 among Division III's all-time most successful coaches with a career record that stands now at 294-92-37, including a 270-74-31 mark at Virginia Wesleyan.  His overall career mark includes three years as head coach at Kentucky's Centre College.

"Sonny has done a remarkable job with our men's soccer program for 18 years and for that we'll always be grateful," said VWC Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students David Buckingham.  "He's also been a fine leader for our athletics department and he will be missed by the coaching staff and many others.  We wish him the very best at Emory and we thank him for everything he has done for Virginia Wesleyan."

Buckingham revealed that Travis' long-time assistant Mike McFarland has agreed to accept the position of head men's soccer coach at the College.  McFarland is a 1993 graduate of VWC, where he was a soccer standout under Travis.  He is the program's only three-time All-American, the 1992 Division III Player of the Year, a four-time All-South honoree and a former professional soccer player.

"I'm very excited and thankful for the opportunity to take over the VWC men's soccer program and continuing the strong tradition that Sonny Travis has put in place," said McFarland.  "I've been part of the VWC community as both a student-athlete and a coach for many years and I'm confident the transition will be a smooth one.  I'm familiar with the program and the way it runs and I'm excited to be able to implement some of my own ideas."

While Travis' place on the field has already been filled, a new Athletic Director will not be hired until the College has completed a national search.  Travis leaves some big shoes to fill in that position as well, as he guided a coaching staff and overall program that enjoyed unparalleled success in eight years.  Marlin teams won over 61 percent of their competitions and placed among the top three teams in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) in various sports 43 times.

VWC has increasingly garnered national attention in athletics, highlighted by the men's Division III basketball championship in 2006 and the runner-up finish in 2007.  The women's soccer team also advanced to the final four tournament in 2007 and Travis' men's soccer team qualified for the NCAA tournament for a VWC-record 13th time.  VWC's men placed first in winning percentage this year among all small colleges and universities in Virginia in an annual survey conducted by the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame and the College placed fourth among all Virginia schools and 81st overall in the U.S. Sports Academy/USA Today/NACDA Directors' Cup competition that ranks the top athletics departments in the nation.

"In many ways Sonny has been the architect of an athletics program that has come to be recognized year-in and year-out as one of the top Division III programs in the country," said Greer.  "For a number of years now we have walked off with the award given to the top athletic program in the Commonwealth of Virginia and he certainly gets a lot of credit for that."

Travis was only the eighth head coach in VWC's 38-year-old men's soccer program, one of the oldest competitions at the College.  He guided Marlin teams to nine first place regular-season finishes in the ODAC and eight league tournament titles.  His 13 teams that qualified for NCAA competition advanced to regional finals six times, including 2006.  VWC enters the 2007 campaign riding 22 consecutive winning seasons, one of the longest streaks in the nation.

An avid Marlin fan, in any sport, Greer let his "silver and blue" surface in a recent phone conversation with Travis.  He wished him good luck, but with one light-hearted modification.

"I told Sonny that I'd be pulling for him," said Greer," except when we played him. Then we'd just have to beat him."

This release is courtesy of the Virginia Wesleyan sports information department.