Joe Bean, the men's soccer coach at Wheaton (Ill.) College whose 607 wins are the most in men’s intercollegiate soccer history, has been selected as the 42nd member of the Hall of Fame of the National Soccer Coaches Association of America, the nation’s largest coaching organization.

“Joe Bean has set the standard for other coaches to follow for a long time,” said NSCAA President Louise Waxler. “While Joe’s record number of wins is one aspect of his coaching career that stands out, even more important are his countless hours of service to the sport and the NSCAA, as well as the hundreds of young men whose lives he has influenced in a positive manner.”

With a career record of 607-184-59, Bean is the first men’s soccer coach and only the second in the sport to reach the 600-win plateau. Anson Dorrance, the women’s coach at the University of North Carolina, holds the record for number of victories with 620 entering this weekend’s NCAA Women's College Cup in Cary, N.C.

Bean’s team advanced to the 2006 NCAA Division III championship game, where it fell to Messiah by a score of 3-0. It marks the fourth time he has guided his team into the national finals, generating two NCAA national titles (1984, 1997) and a pair of runner-up finishes (1999 and 2006). His squad established a national record by going undefeated in 66 consecutive matches (62-0-4) between 1996 and 1998.

In 38 seasons at the Wheaton helm, Bean has had 44 players earn All-America recognition and all-region selection 75 times. He has missed the NCAA Tournament only six times in those 38 years, along the way winning 10 regional championships. Prior to taking the reins at Wheaton in 1969, he established the men’s soccer program at Quinnipiac College. There he compiled a record of 20-9-0 from 1962 until 1964, when he moved to the University of Bridgeport and built a 31-15-2 record in four seasons.

Bean also has demonstrated his commitment to the game off the field. A former member of the NCAA Men’s Soccer Rules and Tournament committees, he was the editor and secretary of Midwester Soccer News for 17 years. The NSCAA’s president in 1978, he received the Association’s Honor Award in 1989. That same year he was inducted into the National Intercollegiate Soccer Officials Association (NISOA) Hall of Fame. The former chairman of the NSCAA’s Ethics Committee, he was the inaugural recipient of the NSCAA/NISOA Merit Award, presented by NISOA to recognize sportsmanship and integrity.

Bean will be inducted into the NSCAA Hall of Fame at the annual NSCAA Awards Banquet, which will be held on Friday, Jan. 12, 2007, as a part of the association’s annual convention in Indianapolis, Ind. He will be enshrined in the NSCAA exhibit at the National Soccer Hall of Fame in Oneonta, N.Y., the following August.

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