NFHS announces 24 winners for annual Coach of the Year award

Last month, the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) shared the 24 winners of its Coach of the Year award as chosen by the NFHS Coaches Association.

The NFHS, which has been recognizing coaches through an awards program since 1982, honors coaches in the top 10 girls sports and top 10 boys sports (by participation numbers), and in two “other” sports – one for boys and one for girls – that are not included in the top 10 listings. The NFHS also recognizes a spirit coach and an Adapted/Allied/Unified coach in separate award categories. Winners of NFHS awards must be active coaches during the year for which they receive their award. This year’s awards recognize coaches for the 2023-24 school year.

Below is a summary of the winners and what they’ve achieved in their coaching careers.

• Ernie Brooks led Crook County High School in Prineville, Oregon, to its first Oregon School Activities Association Boys Track and Field State Championship last year—and he did it by involving as many students as possible.

  As a testament to his philosophy, during its 2024 state championship victory, Crook County sent 28 boys to state, earning points in every event except two.

• Tim Beck has enjoyed enormous success as the boys soccer coach at Ironwood High School in Glendale, Arizona. He has led Ironwood to five Arizona Interscholastic Association state titles, four runner-up finishes and 490 career victories to rank second in state history, but he’s more concerned about his players’ future success than their dominance on the field.
• Kyle Peacocke has enjoyed considerable success in his 13 years at Jackson High School in Mill Creek, Washington, leading his girls softball teams to four Washington Interscholastic Activities Association state titles. He has earned eight Coach of the Year honors but is more concerned about developing well-rounded student-athletes on his teams.
• Timothy Vinson applies the philosophy that his baseball players don’t play for him; instead, he coaches for them. It is that approach that has led Vinson to more than 400 wins in 16 seasons as baseball coach at Iberia (Missouri) High School. This past season saw Vinson’s team reach its pinnacle with an undefeated 28-0 record and a Missouri State High School Activities Association Class 2A state championship.
• Megan Wesolowski’s focus on teamwork and respect for every student has been the key to success as girls spirit/cheer coach at Mount Sinai High School in New York, where she has led her teams to five consecutive New York State Public High School Athletic Association state cheer championships.
• It would be an understatement to say that Mike Hilmer built a boys basketball dynasty at North Linn High School in Troy Mills, Iowa. Since 2015, Hilmer’s teams have won 234 games and lost just nine. Since 2018, North Linn has reached the Iowa High School Athletic Association Class 1A state championship every year – an amazing seven consecutive seasons – winning a state title three times, including in 2024. In 33 years of coaching, Hilmer – who left North Linn at the end of last year to become the superintendent of Bellevue (Iowa) Schools – has a career record of 525-239 and has been named State Coach of the Year six times. At the state level, Hilmer was on the Board of Directors of the Iowa Basketball Coaches Association for 10 years and the IHSAA Boys Basketball Advisory Committee for six years. In addition to basketball, Hilmer coached boys and girls golf and softball during his coaching career.
• Kevin Hopp will take any student-athlete who is willing to work hard on his boys cross country teams. He measures success if his athletes give a good effort everyday and is a supportive teammate. That has led Hopp’s teams to unmatched success on Wisconsin’s cross country courses. As coach of Stevens Point High School since 2003, Hopp has led his teams to six Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) state championships. During the 2023 season, Stevens Point was undefeated in all meets and won the WIAA state title with a state-record-low score of 36 points and a team average time of 15:44.

• Prior to Tiger LaVerde’s arrival as football coach at Kirtland (Ohio) High School in 2006, the program had achieved one winning season in the past six years and never won a playoff game. Since taking the reins, LaVerde has guided the school’s football team to more than 60 playoff wins and seven Ohio High School Athletic Association state championships. During his tenure at Kirtland, no school has won more games in Ohio.
• As any good golfer knows, success is measured in relation to ‘par.’ At Peters Township High School in McMurray, Pennsylvania, David Kuhn’s boys golf teams strive for PAR with a focus on Performance, Academics and Responsibility. It’s the guiding philosophy that Kuhn has employed since 2000 as the school’s boys golf coach. During that time, Peters Township has won one Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association state championship in 2023 and finished as runner-up three times.
• In just nine years as boys swimming and diving coach at Boaz (Arizona) High School, Dusty Thomas has led his teams to three Alabama High School Athletic Association Class 1A-5A state championships, including 2023. In that time, Boaz’s teams have also won six North Alabama Sectional Championships, captured first place in 15 invitationals and compiled a 35-4 dual-meet record. Thomas also coaches the school’s girls swimming and diving program and guided the team to a runner-up finish in the North Alabama Sectional Championships in 2023.
• Terry Swopes has coached boys and girls tennis at Ada High School since 2006, leading the junior high teams and assisting at the high school level until 2019. He was a part of nine Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association (OSSAA) state championships as an assistant coach. He took over head coaching duties in 2020 and last season broke through, leading the boys and girls teams to OSSAA state titles. It was an especially special achievement for the boys team, comprised of seniors who have played tennis together since elementary school.
• Eastern Guilford High School Boys Wrestling Coach Maurice Atwood focuses on the fundamentals as he leads his athletes, most of whom are socioeconomically challenged and come into the program as freshmen without prior wrestling experience. The foundation that Atwood instills has led to many of his former athletes becoming successful coaches, including eight current high school or club coaches. The 2024 season was especially successful for Atwood as Eastern Guilford won its first North Carolina High School Athletic Association (NCHSAA) Class 3A Dual-meet State Championship. The Wildcats finished the season 48-0.
• Brian Ebert is in his ninth season as girls basketball coach at Frankfort (Kansas) High School after coaching the boys basketball team at the same school for 14 years (2000-2014). He led the girls team to the Kansas State High School Activities Association Class 1A state championship last year – 12 years after leading the Frankfort boys team to the KSHSAA Class 1A basketball title in 2012. He is the only coach in Kansas state history to lead boys and girls basketball teams from the same school to state championships.
• After coaching track and field and cross country at the junior high and high school levels in Wisconsin for 55 years, Terrence Krall won his first state championship in 2023-24, leading Slinger (Wisconsin) High School to the 2023 Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Girls Cross Country State Championship. Krall has coached boys track and field and cross country at Slinger since 1988, and girls track and cross country since 2005.
• Eric Sanders has won 40 girls golf tournaments in his 10 years at Red River High School in Grand Forks, North Dakota, which includes North Dakota High School Activities Association state championships in 2017 and 2024. In addition to the two state titles, his teams have finished second three other times (2016, 2022, 2023). Sanders, who is also assistant girls basketball coach at Red River, has been named State Girls Golf Coach of the Year four times.
• Cathie Connors has compiled a 334-103-1 record in 31 years as girls lacrosse coach at the Waynflete School in Portland, Maine, which includes 14 Maine Principals’ Association state championships along the way. Connors has been named Coach of the Year by the Portland Press Herald three times (1994, 1997, 2003), and she received the Maine Unsung Hero in Women’s Sports Award in 2008. She also was selected Forecaster’s Coach of the Year four times (2004, 2008, 2012, 2021).
• Barb Chura has led the Xavier Preparatory School girls soccer team to four consecutive Arizona Interscholastic Association Class 6A State Championships. In her 22 years at Xavier, Chura has won nine state titles and compiled an overall record of 288-66-26. She was named Arizona Republic All-State Coach of the Year in 2009 and Girls Team Coach of the Year in 2024. Other honors include the Phoenix Women’s Sports Association Coach of the Year in 2009 and National Soccer Coaches Association of America Coach of the Year for Private Schools in 2009 and 2010.
• After coaching at Everett (Washington) High School for 12 years, Kyle Peacocke has coached girls softball at Jackson High School in Mill Creek, Washington, for 13 years. Since taking over the Jackson High program in 2012, Peacocke has led the school’s softball teams to four Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) state championships, including the past two years. In his 25-year coaching career, Peacocke has compiled a 457-148 record, which includes 12 20-win seasons.

• After an outstanding career as an athlete at Immaculate Heart Academy (IHA) in Washington Township, New Jersey, Lia Kunnapas has compiled an outstanding 76-9 record in eight seasons as the all-girls school’s swimming and diving coach. Amazingly, her teams have won the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) state championship in six of her eight seasons. This past season, she was named Bergen County Girls Coach of the Year and NJ.Com Girls Swimming Coach of the Year.
• A 35-year educator at Brighton High School in Cottonwood Heights, Utah, Natalie Meyer has coached the girls tennis team for 20 years and the boys team for 21 years. The Brighton boys tennis team has won 10 Utah High School Activities Association (UHSAA) state titles (including seven in a row) and finished runner-up seven other times, along with 50 individual first-place finishes. While the girls team has not enjoyed that level of success, Meyer’s teams have finished third two times and fourth two times in the UHSAA state tournament.
• Chris White has been involved with the Seneca (South Carolina) High School girls and boys cross country and track/field programs since 1999. He currently is head coach of the girls and boys track and field teams after leading the cross country teams for 18 years. He has led the Seneca High School girls track team to four consecutive South Carolina High School League state titles after claiming the 2018 SCHSL boys track and field championship. He has received several Coach of the Year awards, including South Carolina Athletic Coaches Association Girls Track and Field Coach of the Year two times.
• Julie Gordon has been coaching girls volleyball at Montgomery (Alabama) Academy for 46 years and has compiled an amazing 1,624-436 win-loss record, which ranks second nationally among active coaches according to the NFHS National High School Sports Record Book. Gordon has led her teams to eight Alabama High School Athletic Association (AHSAA) state girls volleyball championships and 10 runner-up finishes. Gordon was inducted into the AHSAA Hall of Fame in 2013 and the Alabama Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Hall of Fame in 2021, and she was named AVCA 5A Coach of the Year in 2023.
• Mike O’Brien has excelled at several positions at Tuscarora High School in Frederick, Maryland, including assistant athletic director, head baseball coach, girls flag football coach and department chair. However, it is his role with the school’s Unified teams that allows O’Brien to truly instill his philosophy to develop the whole person regardless of ability. Along the way, O’Brien led Tuscarora to consecutive state Unified bocce championships in 2011 and 2012 and a Unified track and field state championship in 2013. His Unified teams have also won seven Frederick County championships.
• Frank Colabufo has seen much change during his 30-year coaching career. As boys ice hockey coach of West Genesee High School in Camillus, New York, Colabufo recognizes the challenges that coaches and athletes face today but focuses on building relationships and trust. He says, “They’re just kids. They want to play. It’s our job to coach them.” As their coach, Colabufo has celebrated three New York State Public High School Athletic Association (NYSPHSAA) state championships – most recently in 2023 – and 14 section championships. In his career, he has won more than 500 games, including undefeated seasons in 2018, 2012 and 2010.

  » ALSO SEE: Seattle father arrested after assaulting teenage hockey referees

• Eileen Donahue has developed one of the most successful field hockey program in the country at Watertown (Massachusetts) High School. In 39 years, Donahue has a remarkable 771-34-46 – less than one loss per year. Currently, her teams have won 91 consecutive games and hold the national record for a previous streak of 124 consecutive victories. Her teams previously had a 184-game undefeated streak and another streak of 41 consecutive shutouts. In 39 years, Donahue’s teams have won 21 Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association State Field Hockey Championships and 34 Middlesex League titles.

*This is an edited version of a press release from the NFHS.