FORT MYERS, Fla. – Coming off a season in which he led FGCU to its third straight Atlantic Sun regular season crown and second consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance, head coach Bob Butehorn was named the NSCAA South Region Coach of the Year on Wednesday night.

A two-time A-Sun Coach of the Year (2009, 2011), Butehorn and the Eagles finished the 2012 campaign with an 11-5-3 overall record, including a 6-1-1 mark in the A-Sun, en route to becoming the only current A-Sun team to win back-to-back postseason championships, doing so in its first two years of postseason eligibility.

FGCU is just the second team to win three straight A-Sun regular season crowns since the league moved out of divisions in 1998. Over the Green and Blue’s current three-year run, they are 22-2-1 in the A-Sun.

With a roster made up of 21 underclassmen and five seniors, FGCU entered the NCAA Tournament on an eight-game win streak, highlighted by seven shutouts, which was the third-longest streak in the nation behind Akron and Creighton. The Eagles fell in PKs at USF in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, but will enter the 2013 campaign on a nine-game unbeaten streak.

A league record four FGCU rookies made the A-Sun All-Freshmen team, while newcomer Felipe DeSousa (Vila Velha, Brazil/Wharton HS-FL) was named the conference’s Freshman of the Year, marking the second straight year an Eagle has won the award. DeSousa, who tied the single-season record with seven goals, was joined on the A-Sun All-Freshmen team by Aaron Guillen (Chihuahua, Mexico/Coronado HS-Texas), Rodrigo Saravia (Guatemala City, Guatemala/College Internacional Montessori) and Daniel Stanese (Pitt Meadows, British Columbia/Pitt Meadows Secondary). Sophomores Federico Crespo (Heredia, Costa Rico/St. Paul College/Universidad Latina) and Henry Penagos (Margate, Fla./American Heritage School of Boca/Delray) garnered All-Conference second team accolades.

The only coach in the six-year history of the program – all of which have been at the Division I level and as a member of the A-Sun – Butehorn has orchestrated four straight winning seasons, including the last three of 10+ wins, and has an all-time record of 58-41-11. Led by the aforementioned 22-2-1 record over the last three seasons, the Eagles are 34-15-3 in the A-Sun over six seasons and 4-0 in the two A-Sun Tournaments they have been eligible for.

Butehorn and his staff are now on the NSCAA Coach of the Year ballot, competing against the other seven regional winners that are listed below.

NSCAA Regional Coaches of the Year
Far West: Terry Davila, California State-Northridge
Midwest: Kevin Kalish, Southern Illinois-Edwardsville
Great Lakes: Bobby Clark, Notre Dame
Middle Atlantic: Mike McGinty, Saint Louis
Northeast: Jaro Zawisian, Cornell
North Atlantic: Chase Brooks, Niagara
South Atlantic: Brian Ainscough, Northeastern
South: Bob Butehorn, FGCU