About Covenant College

Facts and Mission Founded……………………………………………1955 President………………………………Derek Halvorson VP for Student Development………………Brad Voyles Director of Athletics……………………...Tami Smialek Assistant Director of Athletics…………….Tim Sceggel Assistant Director of Athletics……………..Kyle Taylor Senior Woman Administrator………..Meredith Atwood SAAC Advisor………………………….Aaron Messner Faculty Athletics Representative………...Rodney Miller Motto………………..“In All Things Christ Preeminent” Mascot……………………………Scots and Lady Scots Colors……………………………Royal Blue and White Our Mission The mission of Covenant College is to explore and ex-press the preeminence of Jesus Christ in all things. We educate Christians to engage culture and cultures, to ex-amine and unfold creation, and to pursue biblical justice and mercy in community. With the student-faculty rela-tionship and strong teaching and scholarship at the foun-dation, our Christ-centered community seeks to help stu-dents mature in three primary areas: • Identity in Christ • Biblical frame of reference • Service that is Christ-like Our Core Beliefs • Confession: We affirm our Reformed historic

roots. • Calling: We value our specific calling for teaching,

mentoring, and learning, and for joyfully celebrat-ing and stewarding the gifts and callings of our stu-dents.

• Creation & Culture: We affirm the value of God's creation and its development in and through human cultural forms.

• Church: We embrace the communities of faith in which we do our work and will serve the church through our academic mission.

• Community: We value God's covenant faithfulness to us and his calling on us to be faithful to him and to one another in a primarily residential community.

History For more than 50 years, Covenant has pursued its mis-sion to explore and express the preeminence of Jesus Christ in all things. Early Growth. Founded in 1955 in Pasadena, California, Covenant College needed to expand into new facilities after just one year. Several professors helped Covenant move to St. Louis, Missouri, into a building donated by Catholic sisters. Over the next eight years, the institution in-creased in size and outgrew its facilities. A Castle in the Clouds. The Lookout Mountain Hotel, built in 1928 with the South’s largest ballroom and 200 guest rooms, came up for sale when Covenant once again needed more space. The once-posh “Castle in the Clouds” seemed an ideal location for the College, and Covenant purchased and moved into the hotel in 1964. Since then, the College has significantly developed the campus and cultivated important ties with the Chattanooga community. An Enduring Symbol. Serving as a symbol of Covenant’s his-tory and purpose, the purple-flowered thistle was borrowed from Scotland’s national emblem. According to Scottish legend, the thistle played a vital role in victory at the Battle of Largs in 1262. Apparently, a barefoot invader unwittingly stepped on a thistle, howl-ing in pain and notifying Scottish defenders of the at-tack from King Harco’s men. The Scots won the battle and credited the thistle.

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Philosophy of Athletics

Covenant College values the positive contributions that athletics make to the mission and educational purpose of the institution. The College endorses the study of athletics in its academic curriculum and promotes cocurricular opportunities for athletic competition among its students to forward their progress toward achieving a maturing identity in Christ, acquiring a biblical frame of reference for all aspects of creation and human endeavors, and encouraging Christ-like service to edify its principal constituencies and the wider culture.

Within the curriculum, Covenant College supports a Physical Education Department to study the subject of athletics as an academic discipline. Sports and athletic competition are featured prominently in the Department’s course offerings as its faculty members examine the role of sports in the broader culture, teach the theory and practice of holistic wellness, explore the social and ethical aspects of athletic competition, provide foundational instruction for students pursuing callings in coaching or sport ministry, and promote the benefits of lifelong participation in individual and group recreational sports from a Reformed perspective.

The College also provides its students with opportunities to participate in athletic competition on campus through three co-curricular programs: intercol-legiate sports, club sports, and intramurals. Each of these programs has its own objectives, yet shares a common goal to contribute positively to the over-all educational purpose of the institution. Although subordinate to the priorities of academics, competitive athletic experiences funded by the College do complement and reinforce the academic enterprise when properly designed, administered, and assessed. Contrary to widely held cultural assumptions, Covenant does not believe that competitive athletics automatically produce positive character development among its participants. Athletics is part of fallen creation, and like all expressive human activities, can influence participants either positively or negatively. The College expects players, coaches, administrators, and spectators to critically evaluate athletics using a biblical frame of reference in order to reclaim it for the service of Christ and the edi-fication of others. As a school subscribing to the Westminster Confession of Faith, Covenant views competitive athletics as a practical means of

• glorifying God

• enjoying His physical gifts with gratitude

• increasing opportunities for service to others, and

• participating in God’s global gospel mission such that “being united to one another in love, they have communion in each other’s gifts and graces, and are obliged to the performance of such duties, public and private, as do conduce to their mutual good, both in the inward and outward man” (Chap. XXVI, 1).

Intercollegiate sports offer students the highest level of athletic competition at the College. Under the direction of qualified coaches and administrators, this cocurricular program emphasizes that participants are students first, but recognizes the enormous potential for developing leadership skills, cultivat-ing ethical and responsible action, and encouraging the pursuit of excellence to honor the gospel of Jesus Christ. Coaches are valued members in the academic fellowship of the College, fulfilling roles as educators and mentors. They are expected to understand the mission and values of the College, to articulate its priorities to recruits, and to promote the pursuit of godly academic achievement to all students who participate in intercollegiate athletics. As a highly visible ambassador representing the College and the Presbyterian Church in America to external audiences, the intercollegiate athletics program plays a significant role in advancing the reputation of the Covenant community.

Club and intramural sports provide students with competitive athletic experiences in a less structured environment than that required for intercollegiate sports. Volunteer coaches or advisors may furnish club teams with instruction and guidance, but the value of this program resides in the initiative and commitment of students who function not only as players, but as managers and even administrators for individual teams. Intramural sports are provided by the College to facilitate student, faculty, and staff opportunities to participate together in athletic competition. As cocurricular activities, intramural and club sports support the educational philosophy of the school and contain objectives consistent with those articulated in the academic program.

Regardless of the level of athletic competition, Covenant College promotes particular principles to guide participants (players, coaches, administrators, and spectators) in their quest to express faithfully the preeminence of Christ in all things. Athletic events are viewed as opportunities to engage in a joyful celebration of God’s physical gifts that incorporate

• a biblically-based understanding of their significance among larger priorities

• the importance of disciplined, conscientious preparation

• the value of intense effort, and

• a genuine appreciation for all participants as image-bearers of God. The College believes that in striving for excellence to the glory of God, teams and individuals have an obligation to compete to win honorably, while understanding that success in athletics is not measured solely by the outcome of the contest. Covenant expects all of its athletic participants to experience winning and losing with appropriate demonstrations of humility and grace. Verbal or physical abuse of opponents or officials is never tolerated. Good sportsmanship and ethical behavior is expected to be displayed by all involved whatever the circumstances. The field or the arena are not venues for self-aggrandizing actions, but occasions to exhibit counter-cultural Christian virtues of self-control, kindness, gentleness, patience, joy, faithfulness, and love. Using this biblical frame of reference, athletic contests function as a tool to speak the truth of the gospel to a watching world.

Therefore, athletics at Covenant College operate legitimately and advantageously within the mission of the institution as a field of study and as cocur-ricular activities allowing members of this Christian academic community to practice their extraordinary callings in ordinary places.

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Head Coach

Kyle Taylor (4th Season)

Kyle Taylor is entering his fourth year as the head coach of the Covenant College men’s basketball team. During the time that Taylor has been here the team has increased the win total each year, and is steadily becoming a quality basketball program on the court.

Coach Taylor is encouraged by the improvements he has seen in the program each year. He is insistent about changing the culture of the program and focused on de-veloping his guys into godly men on and off the court. Meekness, Servanthood, Accountability, Discipline, and Passion are the core values Taylor has imple-mented for the men’s basketball program over the past three years. He feels blessed by the opportunities he has had to communicate with some great recruits and enjoyed the opportunity to coach many of them.

On the court, Taylor is committed to working toward developing a team that is a successful regional power each year. He is passionate about coaching a team that is exciting to watch, competitive, disciplined, up tempo offensively, and great in transition play. The final year (2012-13 season) of transition into the NCAA Divi-sion III will be used as another year to develop the team into a strong contender for when Covenant joins the USA South for the 2013-14 season.

The men’s basketball program is committed first to developing players that repre-sent Christ on and off the court. As young men who will graduate and go into all kinds of disciplines, the coaching staff believes it is important that players learn to represent Christ, Covenant College, their academics, and their families with class. The basketball program at Covenant is therefore both a place to understand how to play competitive basketball for the glory of God and also develop into godly men who will continue to be used for Kingdom work upon graduating.

An important part of the basketball program during Coach Taylor’s time at Covenant has been the opportunity to travel on missions trips in order to use bas-ketball as a tool for sharing the Gospel with others. In May 2011, Taylor took his team to Greece, and in August 2012, several of his players traveled to Newark, New Jersey to conduct basketball clinics and share the Gospel. The team plans to travel on a missions trip to Costa Rica in December 2012. Coach Taylor is a native of Salinas, CA. Taylor graduated from UCLA in 2005

with a double major in Business/Economics and Political Science. He received his M.S. in Health and Physical Education from Northwest Missouri State in 2008. Kyle and his lovely wife Shannon have two children (Kade and Quinn), and reside on Lookout Mountain. They are members at Rock Creek Fellowship.

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COACH PROFILE

Covenant Record…………...17-61 Career Record……………….17-61 College………………………….UCLA Bachelor’s Degree…Business/ Economics; Political Science Master’s Degree…………Physical Education (M.S.) Contact Information Address: 14049 Scenic Highway, Lookout Mountain, GA 30750 Phone: 706.419.1516 Email: kyle.taylor@covenant.edu

Assistant Coaches

Full-Time Assistant

Brian Millar (1st Season)Brian Millar (1st Season)Brian Millar (1st Season)Brian Millar (1st Season)

College: PepperdineCollege: PepperdineCollege: PepperdineCollege: Pepperdine

Bachelor’s Degree: ReligionBachelor’s Degree: ReligionBachelor’s Degree: ReligionBachelor’s Degree: Religion

Master’s Degree: Physical Education (M.S.)Master’s Degree: Physical Education (M.S.)Master’s Degree: Physical Education (M.S.)Master’s Degree: Physical Education (M.S.)

Phone: 706.419.1530Phone: 706.419.1530Phone: 706.419.1530Phone: 706.419.1530

Email: brian.millar@covenant.eduEmail: brian.millar@covenant.eduEmail: brian.millar@covenant.eduEmail: brian.millar@covenant.edu

Millar arrives at Covenant for the 2012-13 season having spent the past six sea-sons at Oaks Christian High School in Westlake Village, Calif., where he served as an assistant coach, video coordinator, and strength and conditioning coordina-tor to the boy’s basketball team. In 2010 Millar helped lead Oaks Christian to a C.I.F. Division IV Championship.

Millar also served as a physical education instructor at Oaks Christian School and Calvary Christian School, where he designed weight rooms, taught classes, and developed training programs for the two schools’ athletes and students. He also served as the athletic director for Calvary Christian from 2006-10.

Head coach Kyle Taylor and the rest of the Covenant Athletics Department will no doubt benefit from his coach-ing experience and the vast array of knowledge he will bring to the Scots’ strength and conditioning department. Millar graduated from Pepperdine with his B.A. in religion, and holds an M.S. in physical education from Azusa Pacific University. The California native also carries certifications in Performance Enhancement and Personal Training from the National Academy of Sports Medicine.

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2012-13 Season Preview

Head Coach Kyle Taylor has a lot to look forward to this year on the court. As he sets off to begin his fourth full season as the men’s head coach, he is excited to see his first recruiting class, made up of six seniors, lead the team on and off the court. He is very proud to see how these men have grown and improved throughout their time at Covenant and he is confident that their hard work and dedication to the program will pay off in their last season as Covenant Scots players.

Taylor will be looking for strong leadership from senior captain, Jon DeVries, who has not only already earned the coach’s respect, but also all of his teammates. The Scots will also depend on senior Callum Sears who has led the team in scoring the past three sea-sons and has great potential for ending his career as a Scot in simi-lar fashion. Another senior, Sam Bowman, has returned to play this season after taking a year off serving as a middle school youth pastor at Orangewood Church in Maitland, Fla. He will also pro-vide a strong presence on the court as the senior class looks to lead the other returning players and incoming freshmen.

Four sophomores, TJ Cox, Bryant Engbers, Nate Frierson, and Colton McGriff, played significant minutes for the Scots last season. Taylor expects them to build on their one year of collegiate experience and provide strong con-tributions again this season. Some incoming freshmen will likely bring notable strengths to the team early on in the season. Taylor is excited to add freshmen Chris Boyd, a 6’6” forward from Cherokee High (Ga.) and Dante Moss Jr., a 6’5” wing from Buckhorn High (Ala.). These two players will provide great defense and rebounding, allow-ing the Scots to break out in transition quickly.

In just the short time that Taylor has been the head coach of the men’s basketball program at Covenant, the team has shown significant improvements. The coach believes strong senior leadership, increased team depth, and com-petitive practices will allow the team to contend well in this upcoming season. “Our team is ready to take the next step in rebuilding the Covenant basketball program. Our No. 1 goal this season is to finish with a winning record and if we achieve some of our other goals (committing fewer than 15 turnovers a game, being accountable on and off the court, and playing hard every day), we will accomplish that goal,” said Taylor.

The Scots face a tough schedule again this year, playing familiar teams such as Maryville, Sewanee, Berry, and LaGrange. Their schedule is highlighted with a tournament (December 7-8) at Hope College in Holland, Mich. There they will have the opportunity to play Hope College who was ranked in the top five of D3hoops.com for

most of the year last season. The Scots are looking for-ward to a good trip up north where they will face tough competition, but also have the opportunity to be sup-ported by many Covenant fans, alumni, and students who reside in Michigan.

Another highlight to the season this year is the Score In-ternational mission trip (December 14-21) to San Jose, Costa Rica. The men’s and women’s basketball programs are traveling down together and will spend two weeks there. Along with playing basketball games against local teams they will also spend their time at an orphanage, run a basketball clinic for kids, and work with a couple of very poor communities tracking food distribution and

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2012-13 Schedule

Date Opponent Location Time Sat., Nov. 10 at Gardner-Webb+ Boiling Springs, N.C. 7:30pm

Thu, Nov. 15 at Berry Mount Berry, Ga. 7:00pm

Fri, No.v 16 Emory & Henry Barnes PE Center 7:00pm

Tue, Nov. 20 at Millsaps Jackson, Miss. 8:30pm

Wed, Nov. 28 LaGrange Barnes PE Center 8:00pm

Sat, Dec. 1 Oglethorpe Barnes PE Center 4:00pm

Tue, Dec. 4 Sewanee Barnes PE Center 8:00pm

Fri, Dec. 7 at Hope ^ Holland, Mich. TBA

Sat, Dec. 8 Spring Arbor or Grace Bible^ Holland, Mich. TBA

Fri, Dec. 14 - Fri, Dec. 21 Costa Rica Missions Trip

Wed, Jan. 2 Crown (Minn.) Barnes PE Center 4:00pm

Fri, Jan. 4 Johnson University % Barnes PE Center 7:00pm

Sat, Jan. 5 Hiwassee % Barnes PE Center 6:00pm

Tue, Jan. 8 Rhodes Barnes PE Center 5:00pm

Thu, Jan. 10 Berry Barnes PE Center 8:00pm Wed, Jan. 16 at Maryville Maryville, Tenn. 8:00pm

Sat, Jan. 19 Florida Christian Barnes PE Center 3:00pm

Tue, Jan. 22 at Sewanee Sewanee, Tenn. 8:00pm

Sat, Jan. 26 at Piedmont Demorest, Ga. 3:00pm

Wed, Jan. 30 Maryville Barnes PE Center 8:00pm Mon, Feb. 4 at Emory & Henry Emory, Va. 7:00pm

Wed, Feb. 6 at LaGrange LaGrange, Ga. 8:00pm

Wed, Feb. 13 at Birmingham Southern Birmingham, Ala. 8:00pm

Sat, Feb. 16 Huntingdon Barnes PE Center 4:00pm Thu, Feb. 21 at Huntingdon Montgomery, Ala. 7:00pm

March 7-9 NCCAA Mid East Regional Chattanooga, Tenn. TBA

March 13-16 NCCAA National Tournament Winona Lake, Ind. TBA

Bold denotes Home Game

+ denotes Exhibition game

^ denotes Holland Sentinel Classic hosted by Hope College

% denotes Covenant College Tournament (Jan. 4-5)

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