Alvy Early

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.

He's coached every sport imaginable in a career that began in 1967, producing winners - and champions- in football, women's basketball, tennis, track, cross country, and softball.

Early coached the UAM women's 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.

Early made history over the 2002 season, winning his 200th career game as UAM's softball coach, catapulting him into coaching's elite as one of the few coaches to win 600 games at the collegiate level. 

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

Early's 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 school's 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. The Blossoms continued their successful ways in the 2002 season, winning their third consecutive GSC West title on the strength of a 37-16 record, including a 15-3 record in league play. And the titles continue to roll in, as the Blossoms recently recorded their GSC record fifth straight conference championship in 2004.

Since Early's first season as softball coach, 15 Blossoms have earned All-GSC honors, nine have been named to the NCAA All-South Region team, and the 2002 squad produced the first-ever All American from the GSC West in senior Heidi Martin. 

Early's collegiate coaching career began in 1979 when he took over an already successful women's basketball program at UAM and guided it to new heights. Under Early's 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 with a 15-1 league mark, 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 Gulf South Conference West Division championship in UAM's 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 bachelor's degree in 1967. He later earned a master's degree from the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville.

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

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

Preston Early is the head women's basketball coach at Rogers (Ark.) High School, Brian Early is the linebackers coach at the University of Central Arkansas, and Kent Early is an assistant coach with the UAM program.