HENDERSON — Freed-Hardeman University's Hall of Fame Committee met during the summer and is pleased to announce the class of 2026. Four individuals, Haylee Croom (Janiec), Whitney Newby (Tompkins), Josh Sears, and Mike McCutchen were selected.

The four new members will be honored at halftime of the men's basketball game during homecoming weekend on November 7 before being enshrined with a dinner beginning at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $30 per person and can be purchased here.
 

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A member of the 2018 national championship team, Haylee Croom (Janiec) was the most prolific rebounder in 30 years. As a Lady Lion, Janiec grabbed 1,241 rebounds, the second-most in FHU history.

She got her career off with a bang, recording a double-double in her eighth game with a 15-point, 11-rebound game on December 3, 2016 against Hannibal-LaGrange. She showed off what her future would look like in the February 23, 2017 game against St. Louis College of Pharmacy when she grabbed a season-high 15 rebounds. All told, her freshman season concluded with Janiec scoring 161 points while pulling down 182 rebounds.

In her sophomore season, she continued to show improvement, scoring points in 36 of the Lady Lions' 38 games and helping FHU claim their first national title. She had a string of four straight games in double figures, including a 17-point performance against Stephens College on January 11, 2018.

Then came the 2018-19 season. She exploded for 18 points in the season opener, but that was a flash in the pan. Her point totals consistently improved as the season wore on, dropping 27 points against Park University before going on a run of five 30-plus point games in the final two months of the season. She put an exclamation point on the season with a career-high 32 points in the national semifinal game against Montana Western. During her junior season, she posted a 56.2% field-goal percentage, the eighth-best mark in a single season in program history. She scored 684 points, ranking ninth all-time for a single season, while her 273 field goals made ranked sixth. She also pulled down 431 rebounds, the third-most in a single season, and averaged 11.6 rebounds per game, which ranked sixth. She averaged a double-double with 18.5 points per game and 11.6 rebounds per game.

In her career swan song, Janiec picked right back up where her junior year finished, scoring double digits in the first 10 games of the season. The highlight of the year came on December 3, 2019, when she grabbed 24 rebounds off of Central Baptist - the second-most rebounds in a single game in FHU history.

All told, Janiec finished her career with 76 games with 10 or more points, 29 games with 20 or more points, and an astounding 51 double-doubles. Over her career, she shot 52.2% from the field, the ninth-best mark in program history. She also made 393 free throws, ranking seventh in program history, and averaged 8.6 rebounds per game, the sixth-best career mark in program history. Her 144 games played is tied for the most any Lady Lion has suited up in competition. She was selected as a first team NAIA All-American in 2019 and in 2020. She was the American Midwest Conference's defensive player of the year in 2019 while being the league's player of the year in 2020.

After FHU

She graduated in 2021 with a degree in history and secondary education. She stayed on as a graduate assistant for the Lady Lions before moving on to coach for two and a half years at Jackson Christian School. She is married to former FHU soccer star Luke Janiec and is now a full-time mom to their two girls: Campbelle and Reese
 

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Whitney Newby (Tompkins) began her career in 2009 by netting two goals in a 5-0 victory over Atlanta Christian College. Four games later, she secured her first hat trick with a four-goal game in a 10-0 win over Tennessee Temple. In 2009, she led the Lady Lions with 14 points, including a share in a team-high six goals.

In her sophomore campaign she anchored one of the best teams in Lady Lions history. After a 2-13-2 finish in 2009, the 2010 season saw FHU improve to a 10-6-3 overall record. Tompkins began with back-to-back games with goals scored including a brace against Atlanta Christian. She recorded points in the first four FHU games to close out the season with 26 points, the third-most in FHU history. 10 of those points came from assists, the second-most assists in a single season in program history.

While 2010 was a big year for assists, Tompkins' junior season was all about the goals. She netted a career-high 11 goals in 2011, including beginning the season with a hat trick against Harris-Stowe State. She followed that one four games later with another three-goal game, this time in a victory over Midway. By the end of the season, her 11 goals tied for the fourth-most in FHU history, while her 24 points had a share in the fifth-most.

In her senior season, she helped out with a multi-goal game against Louisiana College in a 5-1 victory. By the end of her career, she amassed 75 points and 17 assists, both the second-most in a career for a Lady Lion. Her 29 goals landed her in third place on the FHU career leaderboard.

After FHU

Tompkins graduated in 2013 with a degree in exercise science. She is married to former Lion baseball player Eric Tompkins, and is the full-time mom to her two children: Chloe and Camden.
 

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From his first year in maroon and white, Josh Sears showed opposing pitchers what his bat could do. In the ninth at-bat of his career, Sears used his lone trip to the plate against the Lane College Dragons to smash his first career home run. It was far from his last. That two-run smash granted him a spot as FHU's starting designated hitter where, two games later, he had his first three-hit game where one of his home runs helped him drive in a pair of runs. Sears continued to smash the big fly until his home run against Lyon tied FHU's decade-old single-season home run record with the 17th of the year.

Two games later, Sears went 3-for-4 against Cumberland to break the single-season record. Those home runs helped his RBI tally skyrocket, where his 72 runs-batted-in tied the single-season record. His freshman campaign ended with 21 home runs with a batting average of .374. His escapades helped Freed-Hardeman reach the Avista NAIA World Series in Lewiston, Idaho for the first time where the Lions finished the year as national runners-up. In 2018, he tied for 11th with 206 at-bats, tied for first with 21 home runs, 10th with a .743 slugging percentage, 12th with a 1.201 OPS, and third with 34 extra-base hits.

Needing just 13 home runs to match the most home runs in a Lion career, Sears reached 34 career home runs on April 6, 2019 at Williams Woods before waiting to return to Henderson to break the career record with his 35th homer against Cumberland on April 15, 2019. He would go on to finish his sophomore season by tying his previous mark of 21 home runs to help FHU return to Lewiston. Showing more than just raw power, Sears showed patience at the dish, drawing a career-high 49 walks in the sophomore season - tied for the second-most walks in a single season. In 2019, he ranked first in program history with 75 RBIs, tied for first with 64 games played, eighth with 79 hits, sixth with 217 at-bats, fifth with 33 extra-base hits, and 12th with a .714 slugging percentage.

Despite the COVID-shortened 2020 season where he hit four homers, he tied for ninth-best on-base percentage in a single season with a .500 mark. Sears returned for his senior year in 2021 picking up where he left off two years earlier, again tying his own single-season record with 21 home runs, while ranking fourth with a 1.305 OPS. His season saw him finish with the fifth-best on-base percentage with .518 while he tied for the sixth-highest slugging percentage with .787. Again showing his plate vision, his 45 walks was the eighth-most in a single season.

Sears is a two-time All-American, getting a first team nod in 2018 and 2019 while also earning an honorable mention in 2021. He was selected as the American Midwest Conference's Freshman of the Year in 2018 while earning the distinction as the league's Player of the Year in 2019. He was chosen to the AMC's All-Conference first team in 2018 and 2019 before FHU's move to the Mid-South Conference allowed him to earn a first team All-Conference selection in the MSC.

In addition to leaving future Lions chasing 67 career home runs, 216 runs batted in, and .740 slugging percentage, Josh Sears' name appears seven more times across Freed-Hardeman baseball's career record book. He ranks sixth in career hits with 242, fourth in walks with 134, 10th in runs scored with 156 and 11th in batting average at .369. He also ranks 14th in games played with 197, tied for 11th in at-bats with 657 and tied for 15th in doubles with 41. His presence among the career leaders in both production and plate appearances further highlights his consistency and longevity throughout his FHU career.

After FHU

Graduating from Freed-Hardeman in 2021 with a degree in business administration and an added year of eligibility, Sears played one season in the NCAA Division I ranks at the University of Alabama at Birmingham before signing to play in the professional Frontier League for two years. Since retiring from baseball, he is married to Lakelyn, and is now a budget analyst at NASA's Human Landing System, managing the budget for the lunar vehicles that will land people on the moon for the first time since 1972 and inevitably find some of his home run baseballs.

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Mike McCutchen joined the Freed-Hardeman staff in 1986 as the Lion assistant basketball coach before taking over as head coach in 1988. He spent the next three decades mentoring players, coaches, and anybody associated with Freed-Hardeman University either as coach or as athletic director.

McCutchen graduated from Freed-Hardeman in 1977 and worked one year at Trimble Elementary School before taking over as the head coach for Adamsville High School in 1978. While coaching the Cardinals he was a four-time District Coach of the Year before returning to FHU in 1986 as an assistant coach before taking over as the head coach in 1988.

As a coach, McCutchen remains both the longest-tenured basketball bench boss for FHU while also being the winningest basketball coach with 269 wins in 17 seasons. His best season was the 1997-98 campaign where he led the Lions to their first berth into the NAIA Men's Basketball National Tournament. During that time he led the Lions to six 20-win seasons. From 1998-2005, McCutchen served on the NAIA Basketball Tournament Championship committee and was a basketball rater from 2002-2005. He was the president of the NAIA-NABC in 2004-05 before serving both as the president of the TranSouth Conference from 2008-10 and on the NAIA National Administrative Council.

Hanging up the whistle to become FHU's athletic director in 2007, McCutchen led the charge to increase FHU's number of sponsored sports from seven to 15. During his tenure he was involved in the transition of Freed-Hardeman into several conferences, including their current home in the Mid-South Conference. He was twice selected as the TranSouth Conference Athletic Director of the year in 2011 and 2012, while being an Under Armour National Athletic Director of the Year in 2014. 

Beyond wins and losses, McCutchen's former players consistently recall his leadership, integrity, and deep investment into his players' lives - none more so than their spiritual lives. In addition to his work as an athletics administrator, McCutchen served the Henderson Church of Christ as a deacon from 1995-2000 and as an elder from 2000-2024.

McCutchen is married to Spring, has two children: Erin and Michael, and three grandchildren: Lennon, James, and Olivia. Since retirement in 2022, he has been ticking off items on Spring's to-do list while writing and performing music with his bands: Small Town News and Wildfire.