Indiana's Yeagley closes out with a record sixth award, Westmont's Giuliano takes record third consecutive honor

Indiana University's Jerry Yeagley closes out his distinguished career with a record sixth NSCAA/adidas National Coach of the Year award, while Westmont College's Mike Giuiliano continues to carve his niche at the NAIA level with a record third consecutive national honor. National coaches of the year for intercollegiate, interscholastic and youth play were announced by the NSCAA at its annual Awards Banquet, being held as part of the 57th Annual NSCAA Convention in Charlotte, N.C.

Yeagley completed his 31st and final season as coach of the Hoosiers by winning his sixth national title in Columbus, Ohio, last month. Giuliano's team earned its third consecutive NAIA women's championship in November.

Capsule summaries of each recipient follow:

Jerry Yeagley, Indiana University, Division I Men
Jerry Yeagley retired after 31 years as head coach at Indiana University, and his players sent him out in style with his sixth NCAA championship and a record sixth NSCAA/adidas National Coach of the Year award. As he rides off into the sunset, Yeagley’s numbers speak for themselves: six NCAA titles and 16 trips to the College Cup, both second-most in NCAA history; 12 appearances in the championship game, and every Indiana player has competed in at least one College Cup, a claim that no other program can make. Since he guided soccer to varsity status on the Bloomington campus in 1973, no other team has won more NCAA Championships or appeared in more College Cups. The consistency the Indiana program has maintained under Yeagley’s tutelage is unmatched. Yeagley has led the Hoosiers to 27 NCAA tournament berths, the third-most in NCAA history, including one in each of the last 16 seasons. Yeagley has led his Hoosiers to 10 Big Ten tournament championships since they began 13 years ago, and his squads have been on top of the regular-season conference standings the past eight years. Yeagley’s overall career record closes at 544-101-45 (.821) and he posted a winning record in all 31 of his seasons in Bloomington. He is only the second coach in NCAA Division I men’s soccer history to post 500 career wins. His 544 career wins ranks No. 1 among Division I men’s coaches.

Anson Dorrance, University of North Carolina, Division I Women
What’s the best way to cap a season that brought 27 wins, no losses or ties and an NCAA championship? How about a fourth National Coach of the Year award. That sums up 2003 for the University of North Carolina’s Anson Dorrance. Just when observers were thinking that Carolina’s era of dominance had ended, the Tar Heels came roaring back. Powered by two Hermann Trophy finalists, North Carolina roared to an NCAA-record 27-0 mark and claimed its 18 national championship. The last time a Division I women’s team was undefeated all the way to the championship was 1993, when a Mia Hamm-led North Carolina team went 25-0. Dorrance now has 559 wins to his credit, more than any coach at the Division I level, regardless of gender. His selection this year marks a record-tying fourth time he has earned National Coach of the Year honors, but he is the only coach to claim the honor for both men’s and women’s play.

Mike O'Malley, Chico State, Division II Men
With a 21-5-1 record in 2003, Mike O’Malley’s team achieved its potential and delivered O’Malley his first NSCAA/adidas National Coach of the Year award. After completing the regular season with a 17-4-1 mark and an NSCAA/adidas National Ranking of No. 10, the Wildcats stormed through the NCAA tournament to the championship game. There they met Lynn University and surrendered a hard-fought 2-1 decision, with the deciding goal coming in the 80th minute. O’Malley’s team bounced back from a 6-13-1 record in 2002 to finish as the national runner-up and No. 2 in the final NSCAA/adidas National Ranking.

Rob King, Kennesaw State, Division II Women
In just two short seasons, Rob King has gone from starting from scratch to claiming an NCAA championship and moving his Kennesaw State program to Division I status. King and the Owls have had meteoric success since their inaugural season in 2002, when the team had only a long tie to blemish its record in 19 games. Kennesaw State has compiled an astonishing 43-1-1 record under King, including a 25-1-0 record in 2003. The program’s elevation to Division I play ensures two things: that there will be no defense of the title in 2004, and that the Owls will not compete in the College Cup next year, as NCAA rules prohibit them from competing for a championship until 2006.

Lenny Armuth, Drew University, Men’s Division III
Lenny Armuth’s tenth season at Drew was one to remember. He guided his Rangers squad to the title game of the NCAA Division III tournament, the highest post-season finish for any Drew team regardless of sport. Along the way the team posted a 20-2-3 record, including a string of 16 consecutive victories, and its sixth consecutive Freedom Conference championship. In 10 years at Drew, Armuth has compiled a 163-43-12 record, and his .775 winning percentage is tops among men’s coaches at the school.

Tracy Ranieri, Oneonta State, Women’s Division III
After this season, no one could call Tracey Ranieri triskaidekaphobic. (That’s fear of the number 13.) In her thirteenth season as head coach of the Oneonta State women’s program, she led her squad to the NCAA Division III national championship, the first national title in school history. The Red Dragons posted 21 victories, a school record, against only one loss and three ties, defeating two teams from the final NSCAA/adidas National Rankings along the way.

Scott Morrissey, University of Rio Grande, NAIA Men
With 15 years of coaching under his belt, the past two may have been the most rewarding for Scott Morrissey. After earning NSCAA/adidas National Coach of the Year honors last season, he becomes only the ninth coach in NSCAA history to win back-to-back national coach of the year honors. This season he led his team to an undefeated season, posting a 24-0-1 record while claiming the NAIA national title. He is the first to claim back-to-back national coach of the year honors in the NAIA men’s category and places his name along such greats as Jerry Yeagley and Chris Petrucelli.

Mike Giuliano, Westmont College, NAIA Women
Mike Giuliano becomes the first coach in NSCAA history to claim three consecutive NSCAA/adidas National Coach of the Year awards. No coach in intercollegiate soccer has received as many honors as Giuliano has in so short a time. With his fourth NSCAA/adidas National Coach of the Year award in the past five years, he has reached that mark faster than any other coach. He has guided the Westmont program to national prominence, claiming NAIA national championships in four of the last five years while averaging more than 19 wins a season during that span. With its third consecutive NAIA crown in 2003, Westmont is the first NAIA team to win five women's soccer championships. Under Giuliano, the Warriors have appeared in the NAIA National Tournament nine times in the past decade, including a string of eight straight. All this while playing a schedule that features nationally-ranked opponents from NAIA and NCAA Division II and III levels. During his tenure, Warrior players have garnered 27 NAIA All-American honors and claimed NAIA Player of the Year awards in three of the past four years, including twin sisters who have won the past two years.

Dr. Sandy Zensen, NCCAA Division I Men
Leading his Bryan College team to an 18-3 record, Dr. Sandy Zensen earned NSCAA/adidas National Coach of the Year honors at the NCCAA Division I level. A string of 15 consecutive wins during the season helped propel Zensen to the award. His squad finished the season as the runner-up in the Appalachian Athletic Conference. He also was recognized as a National Coach of the Year in 1995, before the NCCAA’s association with the NSCAA.

Jim Hunter, NCCAA Division III Men
This past season, in only his fourth year as the coach of the Faith Baptist Bible College team, Jim Hunter put together a squad that was crowned Northwest Region Champions and appeared at the NCCAA Div II National Championship Tournament. The trip to Nationals was the first in school history for Faith, and Hunter was named NCCAA Div II National Coach of the Year by a committee of his peers.

Jonathan Meade, Mount Vernon Nazarene, NCCAA Women
In his fifth season as the first coach of his alma mater’s women’s program, Jonathan Meade claims his first NSCAA/adidas National Coach of the Year award. After guiding the team to a 4-7-1 mark as a club team in the fall of 1999 against mainly varsity competition, Meade led the Lady Cougars to a respectable 59-28-2 record in the program's first four varsity seasons (2000-2003). This year, his squad posted a 20-3-1 record and the NCCAA national title. His teams have never experienced a losing season in the four years Mount Vernon Nazarene has been in intercollegiate competition.

Linda Huddleston, Junior College Women Division I
Under the direction of second-year coach Linda Huddleston, Dixie State College claimed the NJCAA national championship and Huddleston earned Junior College Women’s Division I National Coach of the Year honors. Not bad for a volunteer. Two years ago Shauna Haney stepped down as coach, and budget cuts forced the school to reduce its paid coaching staff. That’s when Huddleston stepped forward as a volunteer to lead a program she had previously guided when it was a club sport. After the program was elevated to intercollegiate status, it enjoyed great success on the national stage. So successful, in fact, that one of its prior coaches, Rob Dahl, claimed NSCAA/adidas National Coach of the Year honors in 2000. In her first season back at the helm, Huddleston led the Rebels to a 20-3 record and a third-place finish at the NJCAA tournament. This year the record slipped to 17-4-1, but the final result was far more satisfying as her team claimed the NJCAA crown.

Mauricio Ingrassia, Long Beach City College, Junior College Women’s Division III
Mauricio Ingrassia completed his ninth season at Long Beach City College with a record of 22-0 to finish in the No. 1 spot in the NSCAA/adidas National Rankings for the second consecutive year. The team also claimed its fourth consecutive California Community College title, a record fifth league championship for the program. Ingrassia’s career mark now stands at 184-24-8, an .870 winning percentage.

Stephen Peck Jr., Junior College Men Division I
In 2003, Peck led East Central College to the Central District championship. With a record of 15-3-2, his team claimed its third consecutive Region 16 title. Peck has a career record of 53-27-7 in seven seasons has a head coach and has a string of three Region 16 Coach of the Year awards.

Sean Worley, Junior College Men Division III
In his fifth year at the helm, Sean Worley guided Richland to its second NJCAA national title in as many seasons, posting a record of 18-6-0 in 2003. Tonight, he becomes only the seventh person, regardless of gender, to win back-to-back national junior college coach of the year honors in the 30-year history of the award.

Bill Holleman, Shiloh (Ga.) HS, High School Boys Division I
By the time you’re two years removed from receiving the NSCAA Honor Award, most people would expect you to have been retired from coaching and enjoying a simpler lifestyle. Not so for Bill Holleman. After winning the Honor Award in 2002, Bill just kept right on coaching, and last spring achieved a milestone: his 500th career victory. Along the way, his Shiloh boys team earned the Georgia state 5-A championship with a record of 18-3-1. It was Holleman’s fifth Georgia state title, to go with two he earned earlier in North Carolina. He now serves as soccer coach and athletics director at Peachtree High School in Gwinnett County, Ga.

Charles Engle, Mount Markham Central HS, High School Boys Division II
The New York State Coach of the Year, Chuck Engle completed his 37th season at Mount Markham Central High School with a 20-0-1and the Section III Class C title. His team allowed no goals from the field in its last 19 games. He now stands at 508 career victories, only one win away from the state career victory record.

Paul Rose, Sacramento Jesuit HS, High School Boys Private/Parochial
When the first poll of the 2003 NSCAA/adidas high school national rankings was released on September 15, Sacramento Jesuit High School stood at No. 1 with a record of 7-0-1. Nine weeks and 22 wins later, coach Paul Rose’s squad completed their run of the table, posting a 29-0-1 record and holding the No. 1 spot from wire to wire. By hanging on to the No. 1 ranking throughout the season, they joined an exclusive club that includes the Carmel, Indiana, girls team, which achieved the feat in 2002.

Tony Pesznecker, Wayzata (Minn.) HS, High School Girls Division I
Playing the role of defending state champions is a challenging one, since every team wants to make its mark by knocking you off the top of the mountain. Tony Pesznecker’s 2003 squad played the role perfectly throughout the regular season and through the state playoffs, reeling off 23 consecutive victories going into the state title match. Unfortunately, there the curtain rang down on the season and Wayzata had to settle for the runner-up trophy. Still, the team can be proud of being ranked as high as 15th in the NSCAA/adidas National High School Rankings and earning their coach his first NSCAA/adidas National Coach of the Year award.

Vicky King, Land O’ Lakes (Fla.) HS, High School Girls Division II
When it comes to winning coach of the year awards, Vicky King has had lots of practice. In her 16 years as a high school coach, she has received a total of 15 coach of the year awards, including five from each of the two Tampa Bay area newspapers. This year her team broke through to win the Florida state 2A championship with a record of 26-3, boosting her career record to 233-106-28 and earning her NSCAA/adidas National Coach of the Year honors. In addition to her coaching duties, Vicky is in charge of the Adaptive Physical Education Program and Special Olympics within her community.

Dave Prutting, St. Anthony’s HS, South Huntington, N.Y., High School Boys Private/Parochial
In 15 years coaching high school soccer, Dave Prutting has built a record of 246-28-7. Last season his team was undefeated in 19 matches, claiming a New York state championship. It marked his program’s 13th state title in his 15 years at the helm. A seven-time New York State Coach of the Year, he has claimed NSCAA/adidas Regional Coach of the Year honors six times and now earns his first National Coach of the Year award.

Kendall Walkes, Coatesville, Pa., Boys Youth National Coach of the Year
Walkes has served as an Eastern Pennsylvania Youth Soccer Association Olympic Development Coach for 19 years. His enthusiasm for the game is contagious. As the coach of EPYSA’s U-13 Olympic Development Program, he is in charge of not only identifying the top talent in the state, but also creating a fun and competitive environment that facilitates the development and identification of elite players. He has successfully identified many players who have moved on to regional and youth national teams. He also is a former coach of the Trinidad and Tobago U-23 National Youth Team.

Jerry Garlick, Simbury, Conn., Girls Youth National Coach of the Year
A member of the Simsbury Soccer Club, Garlick is a veteran of coaching at the recreational level and has coached travel teams for the past 11 years. He started a TopSoccer program for challenged players in his community. He enjoys the respect of his players, parents, referees and fellow coaches and inspires his players to do the best they can. One of his players describes him as "the definition of respect and sportsmanship, both on and off the field."

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