FORT MYERS, Fla. – Helping raise Florida Gulf Coast(m) men’s soccer into one of the top program’s in the state of Florida while earning back-to-back Atlantic Sun regular season championships and an NCAA tournament berth in 2011, Alex Aldaz has been promoted to the position of associate head coach. Aldaz has spent the previous five seasons as an assistant under head coach Bob Butehorn.

“I have been taught that a test of any man's character is how he responds to praise and recognition," said head coach Bob Butehorn. “Alex's reaction is always to deflect as he's the consummate team player. I am very proud to announce his promotion and very thankful to call him a teammate and friend. As a coach, teacher, mentor, role model, and father, he is simply one of the best.”

In Aldaz’s five seasons on the staff, he has helped the Eagles to a 47-36-8 overall mark and an all-time record of 28-14-2 in Atlantic Sun Conference matches. Over the past two seasons, FGCU has spent a many weeks in the national rankings by multiple media outlets, landing as high as No. 14 in the country at the beginning of the 2011 campaign.

“It's been a fulfilling experience, personally and professionally, building a Division I program from the ground up, and I would like to thank Coach Butehorn and our Director of Athletics Ken Kavanagh for this opportunity,” said Aldaz. “My family and I are excited to be part of the FGCU family and we look forward to many future successes.”

While assisting on the coaching staff, Aldaz has worked with 23 A-Sun All-Conference selections since the Eagles joined the league during the inaugural 2008 campaign. In addition to its first two NSCAA All-Region selections and the A-Sun Defensive Player of the Year in 2010, the A-Sun Freshman of the Year highlighted the postseason accolades for FGCU in 2011.

During the 2011 season, the Eagles headed into postseason competition in the program’s first year of eligibility. With a 12-6-2 overall record, FGCU won its second consecutive A-Sun Conference regular season crown with a 7-1 league mark while securing the A-Sun Tournament No. 1 overall seed. The Green and Blue earned the A-Sun’s automatic NCAA Championship berth after clinching the league tournament title with a pair of one-goal victories over fourth-seeded Mercer (2-1) and sixth-seeded tournament host ETSU (1-0), becoming the first team since 2004 to claim both the regular season and tournament titles in the same year.

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