LOUISVILLE, Ky. – University of Texas at Tyler, the back-to-back NCAA DII national champions, were voted by their peers as the 2025 ATEC/NFCA Division II National Coaching Staff of the Year, the Association announced on Monday.
Under the direction of head coach Mike Reed, associate head coach Whitney Wyley, assistant coaches Dani Elder, Shannon Klaus and Anthony Springer, the Patriots (62-5) went a perfect 5-0 in at the NCAA DII Championships for the second straight season to become the first repeat national champs since 1997 and 1998 (California Pa.). They finished the 2025 postseason 10-1 and are 20-1 the last two seasons
At the national tournament, the Patriots knocked off Western Washington twice and Saginaw Valley State to reach the Championship Series where they swept No. 2 overall seed Tampa and became the first program to not surrender a run in the series since it was established in 2016. Not only that, Primrose Aholeiei, who was behind it all, shut down Western Washington in the national semifinals and did not surrender a run on just four hits over the final 24.2 innings (three shutouts) of the tournament.
Garnering their fifth consecutive NFCA honor, Reed, who will be inducted into the NFCA Hall of Fame in December, and his staff steered UT Tyler to their fourth straight NCAA DII finals appearance, fifth straight Lone Star Conference regular-season crown and second tournament title. They swept the South Central I Regional and rallied past No. 2 West Texas A&M in the Super Regionals. Under Reed’s direction, the Patriots notched their second 62-win season in the last three years and have 182 victories over that stretch.
UT Tyler, a representative of the South Central Region, was joined by Shippensburg University (Atlantic), University of Central Oklahoma (Central), Pace University (East), Saginaw Valley State University (Midwest), Saint Leo University (South), Francis Marion University (Southeast) and Western Washington University (West) - as Division II Regional Coaching Staff of the Year recipients.
Reed, Wyley, Elder, Klaus and Springer will be recognized at the NFCA Awards Brunch on Dec. 13 at the 2025 NFCA Convention in Las Vegas.
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