EDITOR'S NOTE: This is part one of a three-part question-and-answer series in which the Northeast Mississippi Community College sports information department caught up with all spring sports head coaches to get their thoughts on their respective 2019-20 seasons and the current coronavirus pandemic as it relates to their program.

BOONEVILLE, Miss. - The Northeast Mississippi Community College golf program successfully returned from a two-year hiatus only to have the rug pulled out from under them once again.

The Tigers saw their 2019-20 season first suspended and then cancelled in mid-March by the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) due to the worldwide coronavirus pandemic.

Northeast benefited from participating in three Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges (MACJC) sanctioned tournaments during the fall semester in Amory, Gulfport and Raymond.

The Tigers also got to compete in the Coastal Alabama Invitational in February while most MACJC teams awaited the restart of conference competition, which was scheduled for right after spring break from March 23-24 at Meridian.

Northeast appeared at No. 15 in the final GolfStat poll for NJCAA Division II. The Tigers also boasted three of the top 100 players in the country according to the GolfStat individual rankings in Dylan Moulton, Carson Wilder and Jake Kilcrease.

Coach Derek DeVaughn was quite pleased with the progress his team made in its initial season back on the links and is equally excited to get back to work with the 2020-21 campaign tentatively set to begin in late September.

SID: Your team was pretty fortunate to play one spring tournament plus all your fall matches. What are your thoughts on where your team was at coming out of that tournament in Alabama when things paused?

DeVaughn: Well we were just really taking our stride I guess you'd say. I had a couple of kids that were getting a lot better. I'm getting reports now where one kid over the last four rounds he's played (at his home course) is 16-under-par. It's really heartbreaking that I've got a sophomore that's not going to play again and the freshmen aren't getting the experience that they needed.

SID: The first reports we got indicated the conference was going to postpone play for a couple of weeks. Then eventually the NJCAA cancelled the rest of the season. What was your emotion during this time?

DeVaughn: The unknown is what's so bad about it because we really didn't know what was going on and I was thinking that everybody was overreacting. I didn't want to stop. I wanted to keep going. But now that everything's come out, it's worse than what we thought. I wish things were different. I'm ready to get back to normal.

SID: Things came so quickly that you didn't get to meet with your players in person, but what did you tell your players and what was their reaction to all this news that came out of nowhere?

DeVaughn: My reaction was to just try to put myself in their shoes. I tried to answer any questions that they had and just try to do whatever I could for them. The one that's real bad is my sophomore (Moulton). He took it about as bad as you could take it because he knew that it was over with. He's getting a two-year degree and so he's fixing to get in the real world and have a job.

SID: You mentioned him and my next question was going to be about Dylan. Talk about Dylan with him being your only sophomore.

DeVaughn: He had been playing about as good as he could play. Dylan's a good kid. He was the most consistent player I had. He came from Faulkner (Ala.) University. I've had probably five or six schools that contacted me about him, but because of his degree he's not going to keep going.

SID: The NJCAA is granting everybody an extra year of eligibility. What are your thoughts on that development?

DeVaughn: I like the ruling, but I don't think it's going to benefit a lot of kids. If they've got a chance to go compete at a four-year institution, then it's going to benefit them. The kids that just planned to play two years at a junior college are going to play another year and have three (seasons of eligibility) left and never use them because most of them will go on to another school and finish up their degree and go on with life. 

SID: Are you looking at things differently in regards to recruiting moving forward?

DeVaughn: What's hurting me is most of the high school kids only got to play one match. So it's hard to recruit when you don't fully know what's out there. I encourage prospects to get on our website and send me an email.

SID: What are your thoughts on your incoming signing class for this fall?

DeVaughn: So far I've only signed one, but I've had several reach out to me. Taylor Dean from Water Valley played real good his junior year, but it looks like he's not going to have a senior year. I think we're going to be better next year than we were this year because we'll have more experience.

SID: Go through a performance or two from the fall and one spring match that you'll remember the most from this season.

DeVaughn: I guess the last trip we had to the gulf coast Carson really showed out. He really played great during that tournament. He was really consistent and I think he ended up in the top 20. That was probably the most difficult course that we played all year as far as the setup and the speed of the greens. And then Dylan when we went to ICC. He played very good at that tournament.

SID: It was the first year for the golf program to be back and we finished with a top 15 national ranking with more room to grow. Overall, how would you assess this first year and seeing where the program has come?

DeVaughn: This has been a very good year as far as what my vision was. I never envisioned being in this situation of course. But it was my goal to be ranked and to have a chance at going to nationals. I'm hoping next year is even better.

SID: When that first tee shot is hit to begin the college golf season next year, how awesome is it going to be coming off everything that's been going on around the world and our nation?

DeVaughn: It's going to be a sigh of relief, I'm telling you. This is so much of a roller coaster because you're up-and-down, up-and-down. You're just wanting it to end. Everybody is wanting to get back to normal and getting back to doing the things that they're accustomed of doing. I just can't wait for that day.