| After leading the No. 2 Lions to a 23-0-2 record and a national semifinal appearance this past season, women's soccer coach Paula Wilkins has been named NSCAA Division I National Coach of the Year. |
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; January 20, 2006 ?C Penn State women??s soccer coach Paula Wilkins was named the Division I National Coach of the Year Friday night by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) at the organization??s convention being held in Philadelphia, Pa., this weekend. The award, the first for Wilkins, comes on the heels of an historic 23-0-2 campaign by her squad and a final ranking of No. 2. The Harrisburg-area native has already taken the squad to two College Cup semifinals and captured the Big Ten Championship in each year of her young career.
??It is extremely humbling to be named National Coach of the Year by your peers. A great deal of this honor belongs to my coaching staff and my team. It was because of them that we accomplished what we did this year,?? said Wilkins. ??There were many other top coaches up for this award as well, all equally deserving and I feel both lucky and thankful to have been chosen. I??m proud of my team, I??m proud of our season and I??m proud of this program. I look forward to continuing the success we??ve had at Penn State.??
Four-time Big Ten Coach of the Year, Wilkins earned her first NSCAA regional honor this year when she was named NSCAA Mid-Atlantic Coach of the Year in December.
In just her fifth season as a head coach, Wilkins has accomplished a tremendous amount already in her young career. A 1994 Massachusetts grad, Wilkins began her coaching career as an assistant to Pat Farmer when the Penn State program began that fall. In 2001, she assumed the head coaching position upon Farmer's departure for the WUSA. Under Wilkins, Penn State has compiled a 101-14-8 (.854) career record. This year, she grabbed her 100th career win vs. then- No. 9 Texas A&M to advance the Lions to the NCAA quarterfinals for the fourth time in the past five years.
In 2002, Wilkins became the first woman to both play and coach in the College Cup after leading the Lions to the national semifinals for the first of three times thus far in her career, including two as a head coach (2002 and 2005). Wilkins' teams have won five straight Big Ten regular season titles to add to their previous three under Farmer equaling an unprecedented eight-straight. Under Wilkins' tutelage, Penn State players have either won or been the runner-up for the M.A.C. Hermann Trophy each year of her five years. Her teams own an unbelievable 51-1 record at home, a .981 winning percentage, including a 14-0 record at Jeffrey Field this year. Wilkins' record as a Big Ten head coach stands at 47-3-2 (.923). Wilkins' student-athletes have also achieved greatly off the field, with 2003 M.A.C. Hermann Trophy runner-up Joanna Lohman collecting her second-straight NSCAA Scholar-Athlete of the Year award the same year, and two of her players earning academic All-America honors this season.
This year, Wilkins helped guide the M.A.C. Hermann Trophy runner-up as well as a semifinalist, three first team All-America selections and seven all Mid-Atlantic Region picks. Five Nittany Lions earned first team All-Big Ten honors this year, including the Big Ten Offensive and co-Defensive Players of the Year.
Wilkins is the second coach in Penn State history to earn the honor. Farmer was named the NSCAA??s 1999 National Coach of the Year.
No. 2 Penn State finished its historic season at 23-0-2 with its highest final ranking ever. The Lions?? season ended after a 0-0 draw with Portland ended with the Pilots continuing to the eventual championship on penalty kicks. From sport-to-sport, the Wilkins?? women's soccer now became one of the few teams in NCAA history to finish with an undefeated record without winning a national championship. The Lions final rank marks the ninth consecutive year Penn State has finished in the NSCAA??s Top 10.