Augusta University’s Men’s Basketball team will play its season opener on Nov. 12, but who will be coaching the players is an open question.
In the summer of 2021, Augusta University men’s basketball Coach Dip Metress and Assistant Coach O’Neal Armstrong were allegedly placed on administrative leave, according to a source within the university.
It remains unclear if Metress is still away from the team, but Armstrong is no longer listed as part of the AU faculty page while a job posting advertising an assistant coach position is listed on AU’s career portal.
A source within Augusta University said that at the Aug. 13 Jaguar Madness, an event held by AU each year at the beginning of the fall semester, all athletics coaches were present except for Metress and Armstrong. Zach Tinkham, who is listed as a volunteer assistant coach on the AU website, was present. The source said that not long afterward, they learned that the job listing had been posted for a new men’s basketball assistant coach. The job posting appeared on the AU career portal on Sept. 22 and still remains.
On Sept. 17, a story in Jagwire, an AU campus newsletter, stated that open tryouts for the basketball team would take place Sept. 22, the same day the job listing appeared on the university website. Participants were encouraged to email Tinkham for more information.
An AU student close to the team said the players were unsure what was going on or “maybe were being directed to not talk about it.”
“I asked one of the players, and they just kept saying [Metress] would be back soon. They just kept repeating that,” the student said.
No one within AU athletics or university leadership has responded to contacts via telephone or email. Those who have not responded to multiple phone calls and/or emails include: Metress; Kadija Dickens, interim director of athletics media relations; Clint Bryant, director of athletics; O’Neal Armstrong, former assistant men’s basketball coach; and Zach Tinkham, graduate assistant coach.
The office of AU President Dr. Brooks Keel referred to the communications and marketing department to obtain a quote or comment from the president.
The university has yet to respond to multiple open records requests for information regarding any communications related to the alleged administrative leave or disciplinary action involving Metress and Armstrong.
The first request was submitted Sept. 10. It sought certain documents from Bryant, Metress and Keel, as well as members of the university Athletics Committee, over a nine-month time frame. The university cited a cost of $5,463.12 to provide the requested documents, even though search and copying fees are not specifically required under the Georgia Open Records law. Many states waive fees for journalists or others who see government records on behalf of the public’s right to know. The federal Freedom of Information Act affirmatively provides for the waiver of fees when a journalist seeks documents to be used in a news story.
A Sept. 28 request with a six-month time frame and list of parties reduced to Bryant, Metress, Tinkham, Keel and Chris Melcher, university vice president and general counsel, brought proposed search and copying fees of $3,048.00.
A third request, filed Oct. 5, sought only documents related to Bryant and Metress. Cost of fulfilling that request, according to the university legal office, was cited at $2,426.
An Oct. 8 request with a two-month timeframe has not been responded to.
School officials have also not responded to an Oct. 12 request for personnel files on Metress and Armstrong. The university has also not yet responded to an Oct. 15 request for a copy of any records, either print or digital, related to formal complaints, administrative leave, employee counseling or disciplinary action filed in 2021 for/about Metress and Armstrong also has not been responded to.
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State agencies, including schools and universities, have three days in which to respond to open records requests, according to the Georgia law. If tracking down the documents will take more than three days, state agencies are supposed to respond within that time period with a description of the relevant documents they hold and a time table for providing them, according to the law.
Heather Henley of Augusta University department of communications and marketing said in an email, “The Augusta Press has recently asked for documents through an FOIA request, which should provide the information you need.”
Metress has coached the AU men’s basketball team for 17 years and has enjoyed much success, according to the AU athletics website. He has never had a losing season with the Jaguars. He’s led the team to a 359-136 record, and he has an overall record of 493-229 entering his 25th season as an NCAA head coach. He spent his first eight years of coaching at his alma mater, Belmont Abbey in Belmont, N.C. He earned his master’s in education in administration and supervision from Augusta State University in 1992.
Metress served on the Jaguars’ coaching staff from 1989-1995 under former head coach and now Athletic Director Clint Bryant.
Once becoming head coach himself, he was the Peach Belt Conference Coach of the Year in 2006-2007, coaching the Jags to the semi-finals of the NCAA South Atlantic Regional and earning a season-ending ranking on No. 18 in the nation.
The team was even better the next year, as the Jags had their best season in school history to that point, going 27-7 and advancing to the Division II NCAA Tournament’s National Championship game and a television appearance on CBS. The school reached No. 5 in the nation and clinched their first South Atlantic Region Championship.
The following year, the team went 30-5, reached a national ranking peak of No. 3, and lost in the national semifinals to Cal Poly Pomona. The team sported two All-Americans in Garret Siler and Ben Madgen.
In 2009-2010, the team was No. 1 in the nation and posted its third Peach Belt Conference title in the last four seasons, finishing 29-4. Now-former Assistant Coach Armstrong logged the second-most minutes on that team and started every game. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in communications in 2016.
He was named an assistant coach prior to the 2019-2020 season. Before that, he served as a volunteer assistant coach.
The AU men’s basketball season begins Nov. 12.
Tyler Strong is the Business Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach him at tyler@theaugustapress.com
