RELEASED:  Thursday, January 10, 2007

UW-Whitewater’s Leipold Named AFCA Coach of the Year

Madison, Wis.--University of Wisconsin-Whitewater head coach Lance Leipold has been named the 2007 NCAA Division III Coach of the Year by the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA).  The honor was announced at the AFCA's annual convention in Anaheim, Calif. on Jan. 9.

Leipold led UW-Whitewater to the NCAA Division III championship in his first year at UW-Whitewater, and his first year as a head coach.  The Warhawks went undefeated (7-0) while winning the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) for the third straight season and compiled a 14-1 record.

He took over the UW-Whitewater reins in January 2007, after serving as the assistant head coach at the University of Nebraska-Omaha.  Leipold played quarterback for the Warhawks in the mid-80's, and had two stints as an assistant coach shortly after his playing days. 

He is the third coach in WIAC history to claim the AFCA honor, joining UW-La Crosse’s Roger Harring in 1995 and former Warhawk leader Bob Berezowitz in 2005.

The winners are selected by a vote of the active AFCA members (coaches at four-year schools) in the Association’s five divisions. The AFCA has named a Coach of the Year since 1935.  The AFCA Coach of the Year award is the oldest football coaching award and is the only one chosen exclusively by the coaches themselves.