Hall of Fame

ASUN Celebrates Hall of Fame Class VIII, Gumbart Inducted as Fourth Member

ASUN Celebrates Hall of Fame Class VIII, Gumbart Inducted as Fourth Member

Previous Hall of Fame Classes

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The opening evening of the ASUN's 2023 Spring Meetings being held on the campus of Bellarmine University featured the ASUN Conference's Hall of Fame Ceremony for Class VIII, which was streamed live on ESPN+ and hosted by Jordan Griffitt. The inductees for Class VIII were FGCU's Casey Coleman, Lipscomb's Adnan Hodzic, former member UCF's Stephanie Best and also included the additional induction of retiring ASUN Commissioner Ted Gumbart as the fourth member of the class.

See below for more information about this class of inductees.

Stephanie Best
UCF | 2002-05 (Softball)
Stephanie Best's name remains littered all over the ASUN and UCF Softball record books. She still holds Knights' records for career batting average (.384), runs scored (216), RBIs (213), hits (285), home runs (71), slugging percentage (.756), total bases (562), on-base percentage (.487), walks (147), intentional walks (28), assists (558) and games played (272).
 
Best was an NCAA National Woman of the Year nominee in 2005 and earned her third consecutive ASUN Player of the Year distinction the same year. She earned Louisville Slugger/NFCA All-Southeast Region honors as a sophomore, junior and senior, while also being named to the ESPN The Magazine All-America squad the same three seasons. A three-time ASUN All-Conference First Team selection during her career, Best also garnered ASUN Player of the Week accolades six times, the second-most selections in league history.
 
Her 71 career home runs still tops the ASUN ledger and ranks in the NCAA Division I top 10, while her 26 round-trippers in 2005 led the nation and remain the conference's season benchmark. As a senior in 2005, she led the Knights to 47 wins and their first NCAA Championship regional appearance. During her playing career, the shortstop became the most decorated Softball player in UCF history.
 
The slugger still holds numerous season and game records at UCF, including her record of 11 RBIs versus Army in 2003 when Best tied the NCAA record for RBIs in a game after belting three home runs, including two grand slams in the same inning.
 
Best competed professionally in National Pro Fastpitch for five seasons. In 2007, Best and the Washington Glory won the 2007 NPF Championship, the World Series of professional Softball. Following her collegiate career, she spent five years as a UCF Softball assistant coach.
Casey Coleman
FGCU | 2006-08 (Baseball)
Casey Coleman made FGCU history by becoming the program's first major league player making his debut on Aug. 2, 2010 for the Chicago Cubs. A 15th-round selection in the 2008 MLB Draft by the Cubs, Coleman was an integral part of the 2008 FGCU team that posted a 38-15 record and won the ASUN regular-season title in the program's first season in Division I.
 
Over his three seasons with the Eagles, Coleman went 16-6 on the mound with 171 strikeouts, helping lead FGCU to a 119-49 record over that span. Splitting time at second base, shortstop and third base, he was also a force at the plate where he batted .318 with 98 runs scored, 156 hits, 26 doubles, nine triples, eight home runs and 97 RBIs. Despite only playing three seasons, Coleman still ranks among the top 10 in three FGCU career categories - triples (9, 4th), saves (6, 9th) and wins (16, 10th). His six saves recorded during the 2006 season still ranks as the seventh most in FGCU history, while his 29 strikeouts looking are tied for eighth.
 
In 2006, Coleman also collected recognition to the Division II All-South Region Team, the All-Independents Second Team and garnered the Independents Collegiate Athletic Association Division II Freshman of the Year honor. He was named to the 2015 U.S. Pan American Baseball Team.
 
Professionally, Coleman played for four years in the MLB. He covered 58 games with the Chicago Cubs and Kansas City Royals, with an 8-13 record, a 5.72 ERA and 123 strikeouts over 177.2 innings pitched. Overall, he played a combined 433 games in the major leagues, minor leagues and internationally with an 81-68 record in 1,291.1 innings pitched. Coleman owns composite professional career marks of 976 strikeouts and a 4.11 ERA along with 40 saves and three complete games.
 
Away from the diamond, Coleman started a non-profit organization in 2018 called True Competitors, which has the purpose of connecting children facing life-threatening illnesses with major league athletes for support and encouragement.
Adnan Hodzic
Lipscomb | 2007-11 (Men's Basketball)
Adnan Hodzic is not only one of the best basketball players in Lipscomb history, he proved-to-be one of the best in ASUN Conference history, averaging 16.5 points, 6.9 rebounds and 58.6 percent shooting from the floor during his four seasons with the Bisons. Hodzic started 105 of his 121 games played racking up 2,002 points and 840 rebounds for his career to rank 9th all-time in the ASUN in scoring and 12th in rebounding. He stands as the second-leading scorer and rebounder in Lipscomb's Division I era.
 
One of only 11 players in league history to earn three All-Conference First Team selections, Hodzic claimed ASUN Player of the Year honors in 2009 along with Honorable Mention Associated Press All-America and NABC All-District 3 First Team after leading Lipscomb to its first-ever ASUN regular-season championship. He averaged 22.7 points and 9.1 rebounds that season while also being named Second Team Mid-Major All-American by CollegeHoops and the ASUN MVP by CollegeInsider.
 
During his career, Hodzic led the ASUN in field-goal percentage for four consecutive seasons and also concluded his time ranked fourth in field goals made (799), eighth in field-goal percentage (58.6), 14th in free throws attempted (576) and 16th in free throws made (403). He led the nation in field-goal percentage (60.4) in 2009 and ranked second in the nation in scoring. He is still only the third player in the nation to average at least 22.5 points, 9.0 rebounds and shoot 60 percent from the floor since the 1992-93 season.
 
Hodzic had a 72-game streak of netting 10-plus points in his career and tallied 30-or-more points five times, 20-or-more in 48 games and eclipsed the 10-point threshold in 100 of 121 games played. He finished his career with 26 double-doubles (ninth all-time in the ASUN) and shot better than 50 percent in 89 of 121 games (74%). His 22.7 points per game as a junior was the highest single-season average in the ASUN since the 1989-90 season and it still ranks as the ninth-best total in ASUN records.
Ted Gumbart
ASUN | 1991-23 (Administration)
For over three decades, 32 years and eight months to be exact, Ted Gumbart has been a guiding light and driving force behind the growth and development of the ASUN Conference. His dedication and commitment to putting Students First and always looking ahead with a plan has allowed the ASUN to become and remain a leader in college athletics. Gumbart had a hand in nearly every aspect of conference administration during his career.
 
Gumbart, the fourth full-time commissioner of the conference and the longest-serving among that group, became the commissioner in January 2007 after beginning his service with the conference, then known as the Trans America Athletic Conference (TAAC), in 1991 as its first assistant commissioner. He was promoted to associate commissioner in 1997, and to senior associate commissioner in 2004, before wrapping up his tenure having served the last 16 years and six months as commissioner.
 
Among his roles with the ASUN, Gumbart oversaw the championships program, the addition of Women's Soccer, Men's and Women's Indoor and Outdoor Track and Field, Men's and Women's Lacrosse and Beach Volleyball. He led the development of and remains the president of the Coastal Collegiate Sports Association (CCSA), which sponsors Men's and Women's Swimming and Diving and Beach Volleyball. Gumbart also led the development of officiating programs in several sports, as well as the growth of the officiating consortium with the SEC, which covers Men's and Women's Basketball, Baseball and Softball.
 
He directed the ASUN marketing program and all ASUN business administration operations. He coordinated the development of the first ASUN syndicated television package, the first conference-wide digital broadcast network, ASUN.TV, and led the move to become the first collegiate conference with 100 percent campus-based ESPN production capabilities. Gumbart managed the ASUN IT systems, developed the first conference website and directed conference sports scheduling.
 
Under Gumbart's leadership, building membership strength remained a focus. In an ever-changing membership landscape, Gumbart helped the ASUN navigate through a varierty of conference lineups, including the addition of five new universities in the last three years, allowing the conference to initiate ASUN Football. Central Arkansas, EKU and Jax State joined for the 2021-22 season, with Austin Peay and Queens University of Charlotte coming on board for 2022-23. All but Queens sponsor Football programs, joining Kennesaw State and North Alabama for the ASUN's historic inaugural season in the fall of 2022.
 
The ASUN Hall of Fame had its debut class inducted in 2015 during his tenure. In the spring of 2016, the ASUN debuted a new logo and branding campaign, launched through student-athletes on social media. Additionally, Gumbart garnered extensive national committee service experience, including multiple NCAA and CCA appointments.
 
The ASUN was one of the four founding conferences of the Coastal Collegiate Swimming Association, now the CCSA. Gumbart was instrumental in the organization of the league in 2007, and its 2015 expansion to sponsor Beach Volleyball. His dedication to providing playing opportunities for all sports resulted in him being the recipient of the 2022 Extra Man Award from the Intercollegiate Men's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IMLCA) after leading the return of Men's Lacrosse back to the ranks of ASUN sponsored sports. 

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The ASUN, a Division I conference member of the NCAA, boasts a membership of institutions that share visionary leadership, bold ambition and creative innovation. As a nimble adaptive conference, unafraid to blaze a national pathway for better service to our student-athletes, teams, and institutions, the ASUN has a proud history of firsts, national academic and athletic achievements and a conference culture that walks the walk with its four ASUN Beams. Students First! Rise. Connect. Impact. #ASUNBuilt by Austin Peay (Clarksville, Tenn.), Bellarmine (Louisville, Ky.), Central Arkansas (Conway, Ark.), EKU (Richmond, Ky.), FGCU (Fort Myers, Fla.), Jacksonville (Fla.), Jax State (Jacksonville, Ala.), Kennesaw State (Ga.), Liberty (Lynchburg, Va.), Lipscomb (Nashville, Tenn.), North Alabama (Florence, Ala.), North Florida (Jacksonville, Fla.), Queens (Charlotte, N.C.) and Stetson (DeLand, Fla.).