Jay Engeln, the former boys coach of Doherty High School in Colorado Springs, has been selected as the 68th recipient of the National Soccer Coaches Association of America’s Honor Award. He was presented the award Friday evening, Jan. 15, at the Association’s annual Awards Banquet, held in conjunction with the 2010 NSCAA Convention in Philadelphia, Pa.

As a biology teacher at Colorado Springs’ Mitchell High School, Engeln organized the first high school soccer team in southern Colorado. In 1975, he moved to Doherty, where his squads earned two state championships and four district titles. The 1985 National High School Coach of the Year as named by National Coach magazine, he also is a two-time NSCAA Regional Coach of the Year and won Colorado State Coach of the Year honors three times. He concluded his interscholastic coaching career with a record of 110-40-14.

In addition to his on-field achievements, Engeln has enjoyed tremendous success as an administrator. Moving from coaching and teaching into administration, he was recognized by the National Association of Secondary School Principals as the 2000 National High School/Middle School Principal of the Year after revitalizing William J. Palmer High School in Colorado Springs during his tenure there from 1993-2000. His next challenge was to oversee the opening of Mountain Vista High School in Highlands Ranch, Colo., which he did from 2000-02 before becoming a consultant in the areas of school/business partnerships, school reform initiatives and the employability of youth with disabilities.

The NSCAA president in 2000, Engeln spent 13 years on the Association’s Board of Directors. He has coordinated an NSCAA partnership with the University of Colorado that awards college credit for the NSCAA’s coaching education classes. Since completing his service on the NSCAA Board of Directors, he has been instrumental in the formation and growth of the NSCAA Foundation, which provides scholarships for coaching education opportunities for disadvantaged and underrepresented groups. He also made two trips to work as a volunteer supporting the works at Ground Zero after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack.

A graduate of Evanston (Ill.) High School, where he was all-state in soccer and ice hockey, Engeln holds a bachelor’s degree from Colorado College and a master’s from the University of Colorado. He and his wife, Priscilla, have two children: Anna, a first-year resident in emergency medicine in Denver, and James, a graduate of Macalester College who resides in Breckenridge, Colo.

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