Winston-Salem, NC-Salem College soccer coach Jay Callahan has entered the NCAA record books for winningest NCAA Division III soccer coaches. Callahan's overall record of 124-53-9 (.691 winning percentage) places him as the 41st highest active soccer coach in Division III out of over 435 DIII programs (NCAA Record Book Link).
"I owe a lot of the credit to my first and second teams here at Salem," said Coach Callahan. "We struggled that first year in 2006, but without those players sticking it out, we would never be where we are now. Then we brought in a big recruiting class in 2007 that led us from 1-15 to 15-1-2, and that really got the program going!"
Callahan joins coaches from such schools as John Hopkins, Emory University, M.I.T. and Carnegie Mellon on the list. In his ten years, Callahan has won four Great South regular season titles, two Great South Tournaments, one NCAA D3 Independents Atlantic region title, five Coach of the Year honors and advanced to the NCAA DIII National Tournament twice. He has coached six players to NCAA All-South Region Teams, and four more to All-South Academic Region Teams.
Callahan said, "Salem College is a great place, which makes my job easy to get excellent student-athletes to come play here. The fact that it is nestled right in the heart of my favorite city in the world is an added bonus. It has been a thrill to work with great assistant coaches, administrators, and a great group of players over my decade."
Callahan will lead the team into their first season in the USA South Athletic Conference this September.