[AWARDS] Ken Lolla, who led No. 1 seed Louisville to the Men’s College Cup championship game, and
NCAA Division I Men
Lolla guided the Cardinals to their first appearance in the NCAA championship game and concluded the season with a 20-1-3 record. The 20wins were the most in program history. The Cardinals played before cards of more than 5,000 in each game of their NCAA tournament run. Two of his players earned NSCAA All-America honors this season.He has a career record of 269-113-44 in 21 seasons as a head coach.
NCAA Division II Men
Basalyga led the Norse to its first NCAA title, closing the season with a 20-2-3 records. In his eight seasons at NorthernKentucky, he has compiled a record of 116-39-19. Before moving to the collegiate ranks, he was a highly successful high school coach, claiming three Ohio state championships in 22 winnings seasons.His daughter, Lindsay, is the women’s coach at Eastern Kentucky University.
NCAA Division III Men
Chris Yeager, Lynchburg
Yeager’s team made a stunning run to the national championship game, ending the season with a 20-5-1 record and falling inovertime in the final. The Hornets entered the NCAA tournament unranked, yet scored wins over the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 6 teams in the nation to make it to the championship. The 20 wins were asingle-season school record and improve Yeager’s career mark to 103-62-16 in nine seasons at Lynchburg.
NCAA Division I Women
Waldrum’s Fighting Irish won their third national championship, the second during his tenurein South Bend. During their tournament run, Notre Dame outscored their opponents 15-1 to close their season with a 21-2-2 record, boosting Waldrum’s career mark to 253-36-11 in 12 seasons withthe Irish and 360-86-23 in 21 seasons as a collegiate head coach.
NCAA Division II Women
DiIanni’s squad captured its second consecutive NCAA national championship in 2010, becoming the Division IIwomen’s team to repeat in nine years. The Lakers concluded the season with a 22-1-2 record, boosting DiIanni’s record to 157-15-10 in eight seasons at Grand Valley State. This is hissecond NSCAA National Coach of the Year award after earning the honor in 2006.
NCAA Division III Women
Marcus Wood, Hardin-Simmons
Wood’s team ended Messiah’s dominance inthe NCAA title game to give Hardin-Simmons its first NCAA championship. HSU outscored its opponents by a margin of 113-6 on the way to a 24-0-1 record, improving Wood’s record to 198-24-19 in 11seasons. He is a three-time NSCAA Regional Coach of the Year and a six-time American Southwest Conference Coach of the Year.
NAIA Men
After reaching the semifinals in 2003 and 2005, Kranjc’s team finally broke through in 2010,claiming its first NAIA national championship, running the table to close the season at 25-0. In his 11 seasons at Hastings, Kranjc has won eight conference titles and has a record of 209-47-16.
NAIA Women
Ted Flogaites, Hastings
Under Flogaites’ direction,the Hastings women advanced to the NAIA national championship game before falling to three-time champion Lee University. Standing 1-4-1 after the first six games of the season, Hastings proceeded towin 16 of its next 18 games and advanced on penalties in the two ties. Flogaites has a 57-19-8 record in four seasons at Hastings and a 104-82-12 career record in 10 seasons.
Jason Crist, Spring Arbor
In his eleventh season at the SpringArbor helm, Crist and the Cougars claimed their first NCCAA national title, closing the season with an 18-5-2 record. Spring Arbor has emerged as a power in the Midwest, posting a 112-34-13 record inthe past seven years. In his 11 seasons at Spring Arbor, Crist has an overall record of 176-69-18.
NCCAA Division II Women
Rodolph directed the Crusaders to their best finish ever in the NCCAA tournament,advancing to the championship game before falling to Manhattan Christian. The team’s 13-7 record in 2010. The Crusaders have qualified for the NCCAA tournament each of the two seasons Rodolphhas been the head coach.
NCCAA Division I Men
Jose Gomez, Palm BeachAtlantic
Faced with a rebuilding year, Jose Gomez instead reloaded his Sailfish squad. With only four seniors, he took his team to the NCCAA Division I title with a 15-6 record after a3-3 start. His teams have earned NCCAA post-season berths in five of his six seasons. The 15 wins were a single-season record for the program.
NCCAADivision II Men
James Whitaker, Clearwater Christian
Whitaker claims his second consecutive National Coach of theYear award after his Cougars successfully defended their NCCAA national title in 2010. The team posted a record of 14-5-1, with a 9-0-1 mark against NCCAA opponents. Whitaker now has a record of38-14-7 in three seasons at Clearwater Christian.
Junior College Division I Women
Kacey Bingham, Paradise Valley Community College
Bingham guided her team to a record of 24-0 and the NJCAA national championship. The Pumas took the title by outscoring their foes16-1 and shutting out their final three opponents. The head coach at Paradise Valley since 2006, she has a career record of 87-12-6, including 43 wins in the past two seasons.
Kristin Hauge, San Bernardino Valley College
Intheir fourth consecutive playoff appearance, Hauge’s team won the 2010 CCCAA California State championship with a record of 20-1-4. Her team has won three straight Foothill Conference titles. Insix seasons at San Bernardino Valley, she has fashioned a career record of 90-30-19.
Junior College Division I Men
Steve Clements, Tyler Junior College
Clements earns his second National Coach of the Year award in as many years after his team won its secondconsecutive NJCAA national title. The Apaches are undefeated in their past 42 games. In their three post-season tournament games, Tyler outscored their opponents 11-1. Clements also won NationalCoach of the Year honors in 2000 while at Meridian (Miss.) Community College.
Junior College Division III Men
Frank Vertullo, Suffolk County
Vertullo led Suffolk to its first NJCAA national championship last season with a 19-0-1 record. Along the way theydefeated Richland Community College and Herkimer County Community College, two teams which combined had won the past 12 national titles. Since taking the rains at Suffolk four years ago, Vertullo hascompiled a 67-3-6 record, the best in junior college play during that span.
Youth Coach of the Year
Executive Director of Soccer for Lonestar SC overseeing both boys and girls programs.Sean joined Lonestar in 2005 when the club consisted of 900 players. Today Lonestar has 5000 players! As a coach Sean’s Lonestar teams have won dozens of state titles, four regionalchampionships and last summer the 91G from Lonestar became the first girls team from South Texas to win a national championship. Sean has been a Region III ODP coach for years and has helpedhe’s put 100’s of players into college. Sean holds a UEFA ‘A’ license.
High School Assistant Coach of the Year
Graham Kennett, Byram Hills
Since 2006, the Byram Hills boys team has compiled a record of 97-8-8, winning five league championships, foursectional and three regional titles and the school’s first state championship. According to head coach Matthew Allen, the success is directly attributable to Kennett’s tactical vision andhis ability to communicate that vision in a way that his high school athletes can understand and implement. Kennett also coaches with the Manhattanville College women’s team, and in 2007 hisyouth girls team won the Kick-It World Championships in 3 v. 3 soccer.
Glenn “Mooch” Myernick Collegiate Assistant Coach of theYear
Jared Embick, Akron
During his four years on the University of Akron’s staff, Embick has helped theZips to the pinnacle of Division I men’s soccer. Akron earned its first national championship in December and since Embick joined the staff four years ago the team has posted a 77-8-9 record. Inthe past two seasons, the team has lost just one game during the regular run of play, with a 45-2-3 record. In that time they set NCAA records with 11 consecutive shutouts and a 39-game unbeatenstreak at home.
High School Girls Division I
Alex Aiman, Blue Valley West (Kan.)
Aimanhas guided his Jaguars two back-to-back Kansas 6A state titles while playing in the highly-competitive East Kansas League. In the last two girls’ seasons, they have a record of 39-3-0. Theyconcluded the spring 2010 season No. 18 in the NSCAA national rankings. He also led his boys team to the state title last fall with a 20-1-0 record.
High School Girls Division II
Hank Tenney, Rivendell (N.H.)
Tenney concluded his final season at Rivendell’s helm in style,winning the school’s first Vermont Division IV state championship with a 17-1 record. He is retiring after 30 years of coaching with a career record of 432-79-17, including a 36-12-1 mark inthree seasons at Rivendell. This is Tenney’s second National Coach of the Year award after earning the honor in 2001.
High School GirlsPrivate/Parochial
Jimmy Weekley, The Baylor School (Tenn.)
Weekley led his team to a record of 17-0-2 and theTennessee Division II state title. It was the seventh state title for the team in 11 trips to the championship game. Ranked No. 2 in the final NSCAA national poll, the Baylor School has won 13 of thelast 16 regional championships, including an active string of seven straight. Weekley has a 257-26-26 record in 15 seasons as coach.
High SchoolBoys Division I
Jeff Hoham, Lincoln East (Neb.)
Hoham’s Lincoln East side posted a spotless 24-0 record, themost wins ever by a boys high school team in Nebraska. The picked up their fourth state championship and completed the spring 2010 season ranked No. 3 by the NSCAA. Hoham also is a TOP soccervolunteer and a clinician for the Nebraska Coaches Association.
High School Boys Division II
Pinkham’s team earned their 14th Division III state title while outscoring their opponents by a 111-3 margin. They havereached the finals 23 times in the past 34 years. His teams have established national records for fewest goals allowed (three), longest unbeaten streak (133 games) and consecutive championships(10).
High School Boys Private/Parochial
Paul Rose, Sacramento Jesuit(Calif.)
Rose’s Jesuit team went undefeated in 30 matches this season to win the Division I championship. They were ranked No. 3 in the final NSCAA boys fall poll and have won arecord nine section titles, including six in the past 10 years. This is the third time Rose has won National Coach of the Year honors, having earned the distinction in 2003 and 2006. He has an overallrecord of 631-93-95.
It’s great to be a coach of the year, a tribute which underlines an outstandingperformance on the field for the playersas well. The next step is to augment that performance with a crowd which respects that accomplishment. Every coach, and not just the above winners, should pledge to work at getting a crowdto see their products. Pledge a minimum of 100 spectators at every game; if 100 is already the average, shoot for 500; if 500 is the average, shoot for 1000; if 1000 is the average, shoot for 2500; if 2500 is your average, shoot for 5,000. To develop the game we need fans who support games at every level.That will build your program, build thecollegiate level, the pro level, the national team level, for both genders.If we want a successful game in the USAand at the world level, we need to provide that fan support base. It’s ashame that the MLS and WPS aren’t getting the attendance they deserve. If they did, we could provide the funding we need to attain World Cup achievement.
It’s great to be a coach of the year, a tribute which underlines an outstandingperformance on the field for the playersas well. The next step is to augment that performance with a crowd which respects that accomplishment. Every coach, and not just the above winners, should pledge to work at getting a crowdto see their products. Pledge a minimum of 100 spectators at every game; if 100 is already the average, shoot for 500; if 500 is the average, shoot for 1000; if 1000 is the average, shoot for 2500; if 2500 is your average, shoot for 5,000. To develop the game we need fans who support games at every level.That will build your program, build thecollegiate level, the pro level, the national team level, for both genders.If we want a successful game in the USAand at the world level, we need to provide that fan support base. It’s ashame that the MLS and WPS aren’t getting the attendance they deserve. If they did, we could provide the funding we need to attain World Cup achievement.