Southern Collegiate
Athletic Conference
Sports Release

Austin College ● Birmingham-Southern ● Centre ● Colorado College ● DePauw ● Hendrix
Millsaps ● Oglethorpe ● Rhodes ● Sewanee ● Southwestern ● Trinity

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 30, 2008
Contact:  Dwayne Hanberry, SCAC Interim Commissioner

SCAC NAMES COACHES-OF-THE-YEAR FOR SPRING SPORTS

SUWANEE, Ga. - After exclusive voting by head coaches of each sport, the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) announced its 2008 Coaches-of-the-Year for men’s and women’s track and field and men’s and women’s golf.

Trinity University’s Jenny Breuer was selected as men’s track and field Coach-of-the-Year for the second consecutive year and third time since 2003. Behind seven individual titles, Trinity’s men won their second consecutive track and field championship at last month’s SCAC Spring Sports Festival. As a program, Trinity has won six men’s track and field titles – tying with DePauw University for the most by any school in the SCAC era. As for Breuer, this marks the seventh time in her career that she has been honored as SCAC track and field Coach-of-the-Year. In addition, to her three men’s track and field Coach-of-the-Year awards, Breuer was named women’s COTY in 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2007. 

Rhodes College’s Robert Shankman was named the league’s women’s track and field Coach-of-the-Year after leading the Lynx to their first women’s track and field title since 2002. The Rhodes women won eight individual events and both team relays in earning a 30.5-point win over DePauw. The award for Shankman is his fourth on the women’s side of the sport – having been previously honored in the team’s other championship years of 1996, 1998 and 2002. He has also been the men’s COTY four times (1993, 1994, 1995 and 1996) – giving him eight total track and field COTY honors. That mark is second all-time in league history – trailing only DePauw’s Kori Stoffregen who has been honored as the league’s men’s or women’s track and field COTY nine times in his career.

In golf, Jim Owen of Oglethorpe University was honored as men’s Coach-of-the-Year for the ninth time in 11 years. The Petrels won their league-high seventh SCAC men’s golf title at this year’s Spring Sports Festival and went on to post a sixth-place finish at the 2008 NCAA Division III men’s championships – the program’s seventh consecutive Top 10 finish at the national championships. With his nine men’s golf COTY awards, Owen joins a short list of SCAC coaches who have won nine or more COTY honors in the same sport. Robert Shankman of Rhodes (men’s cross country), Paul McGinlay of Trinity (men’s soccer), Julie Jenkins of Trinity (volleyball) and Butch Newman of Trinity (men’s tennis) have each been named the league’s COTY nine times in their respective sports. Trinity’s Steve Mohr (football) leads the way with 10 COTY honors in his sport.

Like Owen, Dan Ruyle of Southwestern University guided his squad to a conference title and was rewarded with his second consecutive SCAC women’s Coach-of-the-Year honor. The championship was the second straight for the Pirates and fourth overall - duplicating the program’s back-to-back women’s golfing titles won in 1998 and 1999. Southwestern went on to post a third place finish at the 2008 Division III championships – the highest finish for the program in four appearances.

In announcements made earlier, Tim Scannell of Trinity was named the SCAC baseball Coach-of-the-Year and Roland Rodriguez of Millsaps College was selected SCAC softball Coach-of-the-Year. In tennis, DePauw’s Scott Riggle was voted the league’s Women’s Coach-of-the-Year while Tom Cath, also of DePauw, was voted Men’s COTY.

-SCAC-