Men’s Soccer scores big in the classroom — again

PERKINSTON — Mississippi Gulf Coast men's soccer continues its dynasty of discipline, once again topping the conference academically.

Coach Chris Handy's Bulldogs are the MACCC Academic Team of the Year in their sport for the fifth time in six years. They put together a 3.54 GPA to lead 11 other teams that participate in the sport while making it to the NJCAA Championship for the second time in school history.

"The kids come in and, as soon as they set foot on campus, there's a standard set," Handy said. "They know in order to transfer out of here and achieve their goals, their GPAs have to be high. It doesn't take much motivation from us for them to succeed in the classroom."

Handy's teams have long been as successful in the classroom as they have been on the field. They were MACCC runners-up this year, and in the six years of this stretch, the Bulldogs are 69-29-10 overall and 48-12-6 in South Division or MACCC play. They've had two conference championships, one Region 23 title and two NJCAA tournament appearances.

Gulf Coast has long used the motto Two-Year School, Four-Year Program. The academic success is part of a blueprint which allows graduates to move on to the Next Level.

"Four-year schools are very expensive," Handy said. "Part of the way that we were able to get our kids out is through a massive amount of academic money, as well as success on the field. Without that academic money, a lot of these kids don't have the opportunities ours do. Our guys signed a bunch of scholarship money this spring, and a lot of that was academic. It's not possible for us to send as many kids on without their succeeding in the classroom first."

The Gulf Coast eSports team was also named Academic Team of the Year for the third straight year. The Bulldogs are coached by Courtland Johnson.

For more information on MGCCC's 12 intercollegiate athletic teams, follow @MGCCCBulldogs on Twitter and MGCCCBulldogs on Facebook, and go to mgcccbulldogs.com.