After another memorable NCAA Division III tournament run, Central College is among 10 schools to receive ATEC/NFCA Regional Coaching Staff of the Year honors.
The award is determined by a vote of NFCA member head coaches.
Coach George Wares, the winningest coach in Division III history with a 1,265-450-3 (.741) mark, was cited along with associate head coach Alicia O’Brien, pitching coach Brenda Coldren and assistants John Edwards, Eric Fay and Keith Jones. They guided the Dutch to a 33-13 record, including a 13-3 American Rivers mark, good for the program’s 14th conference championship. It was Central’s 29th 30-win season, all under Wares. Central gained a record 32nd NCAA tournament berth, claiming its 14th regional championship and first since 2015.
The veteran Dutch staff was earlier named the American Rivers coaching staff of the year for the 10th time. It’s the third time the Central staff has received the regional award and the first since being named the NFCA’s national Division III staff of the year in 2003, after the Dutch captured their fourth national title.
Wares, a member of the NFCA Hall of Fame, completed his 40th season at Central. O’Brien has helped Central compile a 512-204 (.715) mark since joining the staff in 2006. She previously was head coach for 16 seasons at Western Connecticut State University and has a combined career coaching mark of 935-417-3 (.691). She also serves as Central’s senior associate athletics director, Deputy Title IX Coordinator for Equity in Athletics and as the athletics department’s senior woman administrator and compliance officer.
Coldren, a 1989 Central grad, was an all-America pitcher for the Dutch. She served as head coach at Indiana State University from 2002-11 and now provides private pitching instruction through Elite Skills in Marietta, Georgia and Knoxville, Tennessee. She’s served as Central’s pitching coach for two seasons.
A part of the Central staff for an astonishing 52 years, Edwards joined the softball staff as a volunteer assistant in 2018. He retired as Central’s associate athletics director for operations in 2015. A 1972 Central grad, Edwards was the school’s baseball coach for 25 years and an assistant football coach for 24. He continues to work part-time helping maintain the outdoor portion of the A.N. Kuyper Athletics Complex.
Fay, a retired investment management executive in Hartford, Connecticut, completed his second campaign as assistant coach, journeying from his home in Middlebury, Connecticut in late winter to spend the season with the Dutch.
Jones is a professor of psychology, psychology department chair and the Mark and Kay De Cook Endowed Chair in Character and Leadership Development. He began coaching while on sabbatical in 2013 and has remained on staff ever since.