Three Caldwell Coaches Earn Coach Of The Year Honors This Fall
The recently concluded fall sports season has been an eventful one at Caldwell College, with two Cougar teams winning Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference regular-season titles. As a result of this success, volleyball coach Megan Hrbek, men’s soccer coach Jamie Nash and women’s soccer coach Nate Guagliardi have been named the CACC Coach of the Year in their respective sports. This is the first time three Caldwell College coaches have earned the conference’s Coach of the Year honor in the same academic year, let alone the same season.
It is a great accomplishment to have our staff recognized by their peers as a result of the success of our teams,” said Mark A. Corino, Caldwell’s Executive Director of Athletics and a four-time CACC Coach of the Year as the Cougars’ men’s basketball coach. “The time and effort they invest for the betterment of our student-athletes is unquestioned. At Caldwell we have known about their abilities and commitment, but it’s great to see that they are being recognized by the conference for their excellence. It is a testament to the quality individuals we have here that have instilled a successful approach in our student-athletes.”
Hrbek has built the team from the ground up since arriving in 2006, when Caldwell re-established its volleyball program after it was discontinued in 1991. Her first team consisted of walk-on student athletes and did not win a match. Last season the Cougars went 4-24, including 4-13 in the CACC, to finish last in the CACC North Division. After posting a record of 4-41 over its first two years of existence, Hrbek engineered an amazing turnaround. This year's squad dominated the North Division, going 9-1 against divisional opponents while also defeating Holy Family University, which finished second in the CACC South. The season, which included a seven-match winning streak, culminated in the program's first appearance in the CACC Tournament. A native of Madison, Ohio, Hrbek coached her squad to a 3-1 victory over Nyack in the quarterfinals TO IMPROVE THE Cougars’ overall record to 18-10.
This is the first CACC Coach of the Year Award for Nash, who is in his ninth season as the head coach at Caldwell. Nash guided the Cougars to the CACC regular-season title with an 8-1-1 conference mark. It is the first CACC regular-season crown for the Cougars since the 1993 squad shared the title. The first-place finish put Caldwell (11-7-1 overall) into the CACC Tournament semifinals for the sixth straight season. A former standout player for the Cougars who holds the program record for career assists, Nash has an overall coaching record of 81-78-16. He has been either a coach or player at Caldwell for 13 seasons and a total of 238 games.
In just his second season, Guagliardi brought in a recruiting class of 18 newcomers this fall to join just five returning players. A native of Belleville, N.J., and a former goalkeeper for the Caldwell men’s soccer team, Guagliardi guided his young team to an 8-11-1 overall record and a fourth-place finish in the CACC standings. The Cougars’ 7-3-1 mark in conference play earned them a home game in the CACC Tournament for the second time in the 11-year history of the program. A victory over Nyack College in the quarterfinals sent Caldwell into the semifinals of the CACC Tournament for the first time in four years.
Caldwell College coaches have received 17 CACC Coach of the Year awards since 1992.