Marianne Beshara

Wittenberg University Field Hockey Coach Marianne Beshara (Ohio '99) was honored today as the 2000 Great Lakes Regional Coach of the Year. It follows up on an earlier honor she received as the North Coast Athletic Conference Coach of the Year in a vote of her peers.

Beshara, believed to be the youngest head coach in Division III this year, took over a historically strong program that struggled to a 10-9 record in 1999 and turned it around instantly. Wittenberg won its first six games en route to a 15-4 overall record and a 10-2 mark in the NCAC. The Tigers tied for first place with Denison, losing out on the NCAA tournament automatic bid on tiebreaker criteria.

Beshara, a former Ohio University field hockey standout and a native of Lancaster, Ohio, also guided her team to a pair of dramatic overtime games at the KIT/NCAC Regional Tournament at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tenn. the last weekend of the season. Wittenberg was the winningest team in the country that did not receive a bid to the NCAA tournament.