It’s been a busy year for Southeast Bulloch athletic director Mark Oliver. He has had to try and find replacements for his head football coach and flag football coach. On Wednesda,y he announced that the Jackets have named Matthew Meeks as the new head of the softball squad as Aimee Civalier stepped down after 21 years as the Jackets' head coach.

Civalier has put up some impressive numbers over her 21 years, including posting a 436-186-4 record with 18 state playoff appearances. She also led the Jackets to eight region titles with six runners-up finishes, advanced to 11 Elite-8 appearances and made two trips to the Final-4.

"I love softball, but 21 years is a long time in what I consider is one of the toughest sports to coach,” Civalier said. There are a lot of long grinding practices and games in the heat. Me and Sabrina (Kight-Civalier) debated stepping down last year but we felt we had the kind of team that could make another run. We were right as we made another trip to Columbus for the Elite-8 and we just felt like this was the right time to hand things over to Matthew Meeks, who I think will do a great job here.”

Civalier has plenty of fond memories of her coaching time at SEB including last year’s run to the Elite-8 and some of her more recent teams which include a pair of players currently playing at Georgia Southern.

"I feel like there's seasons where we over accomplished and under accomplished,” Civalier said. “We were able to make it to four-straight Elite-8 appearances my first four seasons. We just thought that was the way it was supposed to be. I think that kind of laid the groundwork for what came after.

"I think we had a great shot to win it all when Alana Barnard and Delanie Thames were here. We finished in third place one of those years and when they were underclassmen we may have had a more talented team but we celebrated a little too much after our first win and in hindsight, we probably should have kept our eyes on making it all the way and then celebrated.”

Civalier gives all the credit of her success to the players and her assistant coaches she has had over her 21 years of coaching. She feels last year was one of the most special seasons and one she will always remember.

“The series with Lumpkin in Dahlonega to get us to the Elite-8 was amazing,” Civalier said. That was a really special series. We lost the first game 15-0 and battled back and won the next two games. The last one, we won 1-0 nothing in 9 innings in a great atmosphere with over 600 fans which was the most I have ever seen for a high school softball game. It’s been a great ride and that was a great finish.”