Some guys just know how to coach, regardless of the sport. Give them a team and they produce winners.

Alvy Early is one of those guys.

Alvy Early has coached everything imaginable in a career that began in 1967, producing winners and champions in football, women¹s basketball, tennis, track, cross country and now softball.

Early coached the UAM women¹s basketball team for 21 seasons, guiding the Cotton Blossoms to 426 wins, 211 losses, 18 winning seasons, 11 seasons with at least 20 victories, and a runner-up finish in the NAIA national tournament.

In 1997, the same year he was named director of athletics, Early took over the reigns of UAM¹s fledgling softball program and turned the Blossoms into a Gulf South Conference powerhouse.

Early¹s first team posted a 20-18-1 record, his second improved to 31-15 and his third to 39-17. In 2000, Early guided the Blossoms to a record of 41-23-1 and the school¹s first GSC West championship. He repeated the feat in 2001, leading the Blossoms to a 37-13 mark, a 17-3 record in league play and a second consecutive GSC West title, then followed with a third straight western division crown and a 37-16 mark in 2002. In 2003, Early guided the Blossoms to their first ever appearance in a NCAA Regional after winning a fourth consecutive GSC Western Division Championship with a 42-12 record, including an impressive 18-4 conference mark.

The Blossoms followed in 2004 with a 36-13 mark, capturing their fifth straight GSC-West crown on the strength of a 19-5 conference record. In 2005, Early guided a young team to a 34-24 record and UAM¹s eighth consecutive berth in the GSC tournament.

Since Early¹s first season as softball coach, 23 Blossoms have earned All-GSC honors, ten have been named to the NCAA All-South Region team and two have earned All-American honors.

Early¹s collegiate coaching career began in 1979 when he took over an already successful women¹s basketball program at UAM and guided it to new heights.

Under Early¹s guidance the Blossoms played for the national championship in the finals of the NAIA Tournament in 1990. In 1994-95, the Blossoms captured the final Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference championship, then won the last AIC Tournament championship over archrival Arkansas Tech.

In 1996, Early pulled off one of the greatest achievements of his coaching career, guiding the Blossoms to the GSC West Division championship in UAM¹s first season of NCAA Division II competition.

Early produced 11 basketball All-Americans, won the AIC Coach of the Year Award four times, and the NAIA District Coach of the Year Award twice.

A native of Fort Smith, Early grew up in Pahokee, Fla., and has been a part of the UAM family since the 1960s. He attended UAM when the school was known as Arkansas A&M, graduating with a bachelor¹s degree in 1967. He later earned a master¹s degree from the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville.

As a UAM student, Early earned letters in football, baseball and tennis and later coached at West Fork High School.

Early and his wife, Nancy, have three sons who are all coaches.

Preston Early is the head women¹s basketball coach at Rogers (Ark.) High School; Brian Early is an assistant football coach at the University of Central Arkansas and Kent Early is the head softball coach at Bentonville High School.