2019 Regular Session ENROLLED
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 263
BY SENATORS BARROW, ALARIO, ALLAIN, APPEL, BISHOP, BOUDREAUX,
CARTER, CHABERT, CLAITOR, COLOMB, CORTEZ, DONAHUE,
ERDEY, FANNIN, GATTI, HENSGENS, HEWITT, JOHNS,
LAFLEUR, LAMBERT, LONG, LUNEAU, MARTINY, MILKOVICH,
MILLS, MIZELL, MORRELL, MORRISH, PEACOCK, PETERSON,
PRICE, RISER, GARY SMITH, JOHN SMITH, TARVER,
THOMPSON, WALSWORTH, WARD AND WHITE
A RESOLUTION
To commend Southern University (SU) Women's Basketball team and Head Coach Carlos
Funchess on an outstanding season.
WHEREAS, during the previous thirteen seasons, Carlos Funchess served as
associate head coach under former Head Coach Sandy Pugh, until he was named her
successor during the summer of 2018, after which the Southern University Women's
Basketball program has not missed a step; and
WHEREAS, Carlos Funchess holds the distinction of being the first coach in the
program's history to win the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) Regular Season
outright, the SWAC Tournament Title, and the SWAC Coach of the Year award in his first
season; and
WHEREAS, his twenty wins joins Herman Hartman as first-year coaches to win
twenty or more games in their first season as head coach in the program's history; and
WHEREAS, Southern University clinched the SWAC Regular Season title with a
dominant 60-49 road win over Texas Southern in Houston to capture back-to-back
conference championships for the second time in the program's history as a member of the
SWAC, and the school's third regular season title in the last four years; and
WHEREAS, with a gutsy 45-41 win over Jackson State University in the SWAC
Tournament Championship on March 16, 2019, Coach Funchess led SU Women's Basketball
team to the program's fifth SWAC Tournament Title and fifth National Collegiate Athletic
Association (NCAA) tournament appearance; and
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WHEREAS, Friday, March 22, 2019, marked the seventeen year anniversary of
Southern University's first NCAA Women's tournament appearance in 2002 in which
Southern won the SWAC Regular Season and Tournament Titles, earned the program's first
NCAA bid, and faced Colorado in the West Region as a 14-seed, the highest seed in SU
tournament history; and
WHEREAS, Southern University made its fifth NCAA Women's Tournament
appearance and the program's first trip since meeting top-seeded University of Connecticut
(UConn) in 2010, in Norfolk, Virginia; and
WHEREAS, the 2018-2019 season marks the second time in SU Women's Basketball
history that the team captured SWAC Regular Season, SWAC Tournament Title, and the
league's Coach of the Year award (Sandy Pugh in 2002, Carlos Funchess in 2019); and
WHEREAS, after leading the women's basketball program to both the SWAC regular
season and tournament championships, first year Head Coach Carlos Funchess earned the
2019 SWAC Coach of the Year award and received the Women's Basketball Coaches
Association's (WBCA) top honor, winning the WBCA Division I Maggie Dixon Rookie
Coach of the Year award.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Senate of the Legislature of Louisiana
does hereby commend Southern University Women's Basketball team and Head Coach
Carlos Funchess on an outstanding season and does hereby extend enduring appreciation for
the tremendous pride they have brought to the Southern University System, SU, the Baton
Rouge community, and the state of Louisiana.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to Head
Coach Carlos Funchess.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
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