Special to the News

Former Auburn swimmer Richard Long and long-time staff member Tom Healey will assume new roles with the Auburn swimming and diving team, head coach Richard Quick announced Wednesday.

Long enters his third season on the Auburn staff one season as the team’s videographer and another as a volunteer assistant. He now moves to the assistant coach position left vacant by Brian Barnes, who left be become the women’s head coach at Notre Dame.

Also stepping into a new position is Healey, who has been a part of Auburn swimming since 1985. He will take of the director of swimming
operations position left vacant by Dennis Pursley after he took the national team head coach position with Great Britain Swimming.

Softball announces fall ball schedule
The Auburn softball team will play eight games during its fall exhibition season, beginning Oct. 9, with a pair of games at Jane B. Moore Field. All games are open to the public.

The Tigers will host Shelton State and Georgia Perimeter in a round-robin format Oct. 9. with Auburn playing Shelton State at 3 p.m. in the first game and Georgia Perimeter at 7 p.m. in the last game of the day.

“We are looking forward to getting in some good work against some different teams,” Auburn head coach Tina Deese said. “Getting our younger players some experience in game situations is extremely valuable to them. For the returning players, it’s a good opportunity to carry over the work from practice and improve in every aspect as a team.”

Auburn returns 12 letterwinners from last season’s team that posted a 38-22 overall record, a 13-14 record in Southeastern Conference play and advanced to NCAA Regional play for the fourth time in the last five seasons.