For men’s soccer head coach John Lynch and women’s volleyball head coach Taylor Mott, it’s been a challenging experience since Flagler moved to NCAA Div. II and the Peach Belt Conference. Yet, both have achieved remarkable success since beginning conference play.

Mott’s teams have won more than 20 games in each season since 2001, and her level of expectations for her players didn’t change simply because of the move to the NCAA. After a 26–15 record in the final NAIA campaign in 2006, her teams went 20–15 and 20–16 in their first two seasons in the NCAA.

“For me, the biggest challenge really was recruiting during that transition,” Mott said. “We were uncertain if we would be accepted into the Peach Belt Conference and what our future really would hold, so we had to sell players as we always do on the program and the school as a whole, but get them in during what I can only describe as an interesting time.”

In 2009, Mott’s perseverance paid off. In the college’s first season in the Peach Belt Conference, her team went 36–9, won the Southeast Regional and advanced to the NCAA Division II Final Four. In 2010, the team finished 29–9 and won the conference regular season and conference tournaments for the second straight year before falling in the regionals.

“It’s hard to describe, but I’ve never thought of our team as underdogs ever since the transition to the NCAA,” Mott said. “We’ve been able to achieve some great things, but I think that’s because our players always believed in themselves, no matter the affiliation.”

“It’s hard to describe, but I’ve never thought of our team as underdogs ever since the transition to the NCAA.” — Taylor Mott, Volleyball Coach

Lynch, on the other hand, had his worst year as a coach during the team’s first NCAA season, winning just two games while struggling to adjust to what he called “a different level of fitness.”

“No matter what you do for a living, people always say that when you’re challenged in a way you haven’t been before, you come out of it stronger,” he said. “Experiencing that transition was one of the toughest things I’ve ever gone through as a coach. But I learned a lot about coaching through adversity, and I think my players learned that sometimes you have to work even harder.”

The results were not immediate, but in 2010, the hard work paid off. Led by senior goalkeeper Matt Gilman, who transferred in before the 2009 season, and junior midfielder Johan Bergfeld, who earned All-America honors, the Saints finished the season 14–5–1 overall and 6–2 in the Peach Belt Conference, before losing in the first round of the Southeast Region Tournament.

Flagler went 14–6–2 in 2009, took the Peach Belt Conference title in their first year and notched their most wins since 2002. Lynch also was named Peach Belt Conference Coach of the Year.

“The progress we’ve made each year since the move has been great,” Lynch said. “I think our team is so much more physically fit today, and the kids deserve a lot of the credit.”

Despite many news outlets claiming that print media and magazines are dying, there are certainly success stories. Talk to industry insiders and they’ll tell you the magazines that will succeed are ones that are smart, creative, niche-based and personal to their readers. One of them is the Atlanta-based Occasions Magazine, founded by 2002 Flagler graduate Heather Vreeland in early 2009.

Occasions was originally a web-only idea by the communication major, who previously served as a director of marketing for a spa company and a bridal consultant for David’s Bridal. Vreeland wanted to focus solely on weddings before she discovered that there was a craving for events of all kinds by local residents. She also noticed a hole in resources for the Atlanta area.

“When I started really looking at it, there was no comprehensive resource for people planning events here other than TheKnot.com, my main competitor,” Vreeland said. “But because The Knot is a major national brand, they don’t have that local knowledge and touch, and sometimes it was really tough for people here to find exactly what they were looking for.”

After Vreeland created the website, she started cold-calling local businesses and visiting them to explain her business model and generate leads. But she quickly realized that selling a web-based property could only net so much revenue. Rather than visiting clients to sell cheap online advertising, she began securing $4,000 to $6,000 annual contracts to advertise in print. When she printed her first issue in July 2009, she had over 40 advertisements.

“I know this is going to sound terrible, but when I go to industry events and people ask about revenue and advertising, the expectation is you’re going to say it’s bad,” Vreeland says. “But for me, it’s been great. I think for some of the big national brands it can be tough. I’m not Condé Nast, though. When I talk to advertisers, they’re talking to not only the publisher of the magazine, but the editor as well. It’s a unique business interaction, and I think that personal touch gives them added comfort in their investment.”

Today, the magazine is described as a print and online editorial resource for Atlanta event planning.

Looking back on her days at Flagler, Vreeland fondly remembers her classes with communication professor Rob Armstrong. She speaks of Armstrong not only as a professor, but as a mentor who helped her get an internship at the CBS News affiliate in Jacksonville. After six months as a broadcasting intern, she realized she was more interested in the business end of the business, and all of that has come full circle now that she works on both the business and editorial side of her publication.

In terms of future growth, Vreeland would like to take her brand to additional cities and regions where similar services will be needed, but to grow organically without losing the personal touch.

For spring 2009 graduate Ryan MacManus, the past four years has had its lows – like being diagnosed with the debilitating Crohn’s disease that nearly ended his cross country running career.

But there have been far more highs, like battling back to top running form and being named 2008 Independent Runner of the Year. He even landed an internship with the FBI in what he hopes will eventually lead to a career as a criminal profiler.

Those accomplishments seemed out of reach in the spring of 2006 while MacManus was running on Flagler’s cross country team. He was experiencing constant fatigue, stomach aches and head aches, and finished last in a race in Gainesville – far from ordinary for an extraordinary runner.

He was eventually diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, a severe inflammatory bowel disease that leads to an obstruction of the intestine and the formation of scar tissue. “I went from running 10 to 15 miles a day and loving it, to being told that walking up the stairs could put my heart into arrest,” he said.

MacManus was forced to cease strenuous activity for three months. “It certainly put things into perspective,” he said. “It gave me a new appreciation for being healthy and watching what I put into my body, because every decision can make a difference. And most importantly, running became more fun than ever.”

The results of MacManus’ newly found dedication were never clearer than during the 2008 season when he led the Flagler team to a 17th-place finish in the NCAA Division II South Regional.

His time in the classroom at Flagler, where he was a psychology major with a criminology minor, also ended pretty spectacularly. MacManus spent the spring semester interning at the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Quantico, Va., in the Behavioral Sciences Unit. He worked with field agents gathering research on subjects like workplace violence, sexual offenders, child pornography and counterterrorism.

Eighty-five miles off the Colombian coast, in the eastern Pacific Ocean, a small boat speeds through international waters headed north. Loaded with illegal narcotics like marijuana and cocaine, the boat is more than likely headed for U.S. soil, where the “runners” on board will sell the drugs for a higher premium to a buyer on the mainland.

The runners may make $10,000 each on this one mission — a typical day in the international drug trade. Unless they encounter HITRON and Flagler graduate Matt Rother.

When the U.S. Coast Guard determines one of these vessels is what they call a “go-fast” boat, they deploy their Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron (HITRON), based out of Jacksonville’s Cecil Field. This specialized unit focuses on high threat drug trafficking, and their armed helicopters intercept and apprehend suspected targets.

Rother, a 1989 graduate with a double major in English and communication, is now in his 22nd year with the Coast Guard and his second year as a commander with HITRON. His main role is training pilots and gunners for counter narco-terrorism, along with leading them in homeland security initiatives, namely protecting ports, waterways and coasts. He just returned from a deployment in the Pacific, where he was trying to stop drug traffickers.

“I’ve always been driven by service to my country and to my fellow man,” Rother said. “Growing up in Oklahoma, I was definitely a militaristic child. My father was an air force pilot, so all I ever wanted to do was follow in his footsteps.”

When an office of DEA agents in Jacksonville set up a drug bust, they typically gather one pound of cocaine. That process sometimes takes upwards of a month from start to finish. During Rother’s tenure, the HITRON’s largest bust on record was 6,800 pounds of cocaine on one boat, which translated to an import value of more than $90 million.

Just this fall, they busted a boat with 3,900 lbs. of cocaine, worth a little over $50 million.

Rother didn’t grow up dreaming of the Coast Guard, but when he came to Flagler College in 1985 he quickly realized that there was more to life than combat. In his own words, he became a “humanist.” He decided he could still serve his country by enforcing laws and saving lives closer to home — all by joining the Coast Guard.

He started by entering the reserves in his junior year at Flagler. Upon completing his degree, he entered officer candidate school. When he went to become a Coast Guard pilot, people questioned his qualifications in math and science, the typical background subjects required for the job. He moved forward despite that, quickly establishing himself within his units as a talented pilot.

“I can’t understate the importance of the education I got at Flagler,” Rother said. “My time there made me a well-rounded officer with what I learned about speech and writing as an English and communications major. The most important thing you need to be a successful pilot is to be a good manager with a well-rounded skill set. I had all of that.”

McCuen came to Flagler from Gainesville Community College in Georgia, played two years under Scott and was a two-time NAIA All-American, graduating in the class of 1983 with a double major in recreation management and history. He went to Georgia State University with intentions of being graduate student that fall, but was quickly named the school’s tennis director, thanks in large part to a gleaming recommendation from Scott.

In 19 years, McCuen coached the Panthers to five conference titles and took them to three NCAA tournaments. He was named conference coach of the year five times and propelled Georgia State into a top-70 nationally ranked program. Perhaps most importantly, McCuen and wife Linda contributed much of their time to Atlanta youth tennis programs and were instrumental in creating the first collegiate wheelchair team in the United States.

“I’ve been coaching tennis for 26 years now, and it’s been a life-changing experience every day,” McCuen says. “From having the opportunity to start the wheelchair program, to building a solid program at Georgia State, and now becoming the top guy at Clemson, it’s been quite a ride.”

McCuen still credits much of his coaching success to the instruction of Scott – along with the legendary Chuck Kriese, whom McCuen is replacing at Clemson.

“I have to give all the credit to Peter Scott,” McCuen says. “He helped me get on my feet at Georgia State, and I’d be lying if I didn’t mention that I used the drills, the language and the philosophy that he taught me while at Flagler.”