NWAC Fall Coaches of the Year Revealed

VANCOUVER, Wash. – The NWAC revealed the selections for the Fall Coaches of the Year awards, consisting of men's and women's cross country, men's and women's soccer and volleyball.

The Coach of the Year selections are Bill Steyer of Lane for men's and women's cross country, Martin Ramirez of Columbia Basin for men's soccer, Dan Philp of Spokane for women's soccer, and DiShondra Goree of Columbia Basin for volleyball.

Bill Steyer • Lane • Men's & Women's Cross Country
Steyer coaches the Lane men's and women's cross country teams to NWAC titles for the second year in a row. The Titans enjoyed dominant victories on both sides as the men's team captured a perfect score with the top-five runners. The women's team overall had the top-three runners and four of the top-five as they cruised to victory as well.

For Steyer, the women's championship is the third in a row while the men's is the fourth in five championships. Including track and field, Lane has won nine championships under Steyer since 2019.

Martin Ramirez • Columbia Basin • Men's Soccer
Ramirez led the Columbia Basin men's soccer team to the NWAC Championship, winning the program's first title since 1999. The Hawks were the top defensive team in the NWAC, allowing just 12 goals all year. Against some of the top offenses in the conference, the Hawks allowed only one goal in three postseason matches. They defeated Whatcom 4-0, Everett 3-1 and Walla Walla 1-0 in the finals.

Overall, the Hawks went 14-3 and won the East Region title with a 9-3 record. They had seven shutouts with 54 goals scored. In his sixth season with the Hawks, Ramirez has been highly successful. Under Ramirez, the Hawks have reached the postseason every year since 2017. They finished as the runners-up in 2019.

Dan Philp • Spokane • Women's Soccer
Philp helped lead Spokane to another NWAC Championship, the team's first since 2015. After taking second place in the East Region, the Sasquatch peaked at the right time in a wild postseason. In the opening round matchup, the Sasquatch scored a 90th minute goal to defeat Chemeketa 2-1. In the quarterfinals against defending champions Peninsula, Spokane overcame a 2-0 deficit in the second half to eventually advance in PKs. After a 4-1 win over Lower Columbia in the semifinals, the Sasquatch once again came from behind to defeat Clark 3-2 in the finals after trailing 2-0.

Under Philp, the Sasquatch went 15-2-4 overall and 11-2-1 in the tough East Region. Their only two losses all year came to Columbia Basin. The team scored 45 goals with 18 allowed.  

DiShondra Goree • Columbia Basin • Volleyball
Columbia Basin head volleyball coach DiShondra Goree tragically passed away on Oct. 22, 2022. Her team continued on in her honor and went on a run to the NWAC Finals where they fell in five sets to Linn-Benton. Under Goree, the team had an outstanding year with a 30-4 overall record while finishing second in the East Region with a 14-2 record. The team continued on under assistant coaches Caitlyn Rhodes, Monica Cortez and Carolyn Smith as they reached the finals for the first time since 1999. The Hawks were the only team to defeat Linn-Benton on the season.

At the NWAC Championship final site, the Hawks played the maximum number of sets over three days as all three matches went to five sets. The Hawks came back from 2-1 deficits against both Skagit Valley and North Idaho to reach the finals.

About Northwest Athletic Conference: 

The NWAC is the athletic governing body of two year colleges in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and British Columbia. There are 15 men's and women's sports and 10 championship events.  Approximately 4,200 student-athletes compete in the NWAC representing a student population of over 400,000. Many NWAC student-athletes continue their academic and athletic careers at the NAIA-NCAA levels. The NWAC promotes the three ideals of Character, Competition, and Community. NWAC…..more than sports.

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