Athletics

Clare Short has been named the first head coach to lead the new Charlotte 49ers women’s lacrosse program. Short brings more than 10 years of experience, including the last six seasons as head coach at Queens University of Charlotte, multiple trips to the NCAA Division II Final Four and numerous regular season and tournament conference championships to the 49ers.

The Charlotte 49ers Athletics Department has announced its EverGreen Athletics Facilities Master Vision, which will integrate into UNC Charlotte’s overall campus master plan that is being updated. EverGreen includes substantial upgrades to existing facilities as well as the construction of new spaces to enhance the overall development of its entire program. 

Two-time Big South Coach of the Year Brandi Fontaine is the 49ers’ women’s soccer coach. Fontaine, who led High Point University to unprecedented heights in four seasons as head coach, becomes the fifth head coach for the 49ers’ women’s soccer program.

Charlotte 49ers will add women’s lacrosse, the fastest-growing sport on college campuses, as its newest sport with competition expected to begin with the 2024-25 academic year.

“We can’t wait to start competing in this exciting sport and are committed to building for success,” said 49ers Director of Athletics Mike Hill. “We were very deliberate in selecting women’s lacrosse because of its explosive growth and popularity locally, regionally and nationally. Fans will love watching the Niners lacrosse team play.”

Charlotte 49ers redshirt senior quarterback Chris Reynolds will be a counselor at the 2022 Manning Passing Academy, considered the premiere offensive skills camp for quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers and tight ends.

Hosted by the Manning family, the academy will be on the campus of Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, Louisiana, June 23-26. Archie Manning serves as executive director while his sons Peyton, Eli and Cooper are senior associate directors.

The Charlotte 49ers football program will hold its spring game at 2 p.m., Saturday, April 2. Head coach Will Healy will wrap up the team’s spring practice season with the annual Green-White scrimmage at Richardson Stadium. Doors will open at 1 p.m.

This event is free and open to the public. Parking is on a first-come, first-served basis, and the CRI Deck will be unavailable. Aside from certain reserved locations, seating is general admission. 

UNC Charlotte is using biomechanical data to enhance hitters’ performance, which has attracted the attention of Major League Baseball.

Tom Rinaldi, one of ESPN’s most prominent correspondents and storytellers, will deliver the 10th annual Chancellor’s Speaker Series presentation, which is part of the annual UNC Charlotte Civic Series presented by Bank of America.

Conference USA has announced its initial broadcast schedule for the 2020 football season, including broadcast plans for eight of the Charlotte 49ers’ 11 games.             The current confirmed schedule features games to air nationally by the league’s primary partners and every C-USA football game is expected to be available on traditional linear television or via streaming.             

The Charlotte 49ers and Appalachian State will meet for the third straight season after the two schools agreed to a game at Appalachian State, Sept. 12, in what is now the 49ers’ 2020 season opener.The schools decided to play the game in Boone due to the larger seating capacity at Kidd Brewer Stadium in a year in which attendance may be limited due to the pandemic.