Lopez Named Sun Conference Coach of Character Award Recipient
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Embry-Riddle Head Men's and Women's Golf Coach Maria Lopez has been selected as the inaugural Sun Conference Coach of Character Award Winner.
Lopez joined ERAU in 2000 when pioneering the women's golf program at Embry-Riddle and took on additional responsibilities in 2003 when she was named the head coach for the men's program. In her time at Embry-Riddle Lopez has produced eight All-Americans, 19 honorable mention All-Americans, 23 NAIA-Daktronics All-America Scholar-Athletes, 26 Region XIV/Conference selections, four NAIA Region XIV/Conference Players of the Year, 17 regular season titles and 10 National Championship appearances.
"Every day, Maria exemplifies the core values of the Champion of Character program," Embry-Riddle Athletic Director Steve Ridder said of Lopez. "She is in this profession for all the right reasons, to make a difference in the lives of young people. She is passionate about her sport and her student-athletes, and is supportive of all our other teams and their students."
Lopez's coaching leadership is not just evident on the course but in the classroom as well. During her tenure, both the men's and women's golf teams have placed at least one player on the Conference All-Academic list every year. In 2009, the women's golf team posted a 3.7 GPA, the highest of ERAU's 16 athletic programs for the third year in a row. In 2007-08, the women's golf team GPA of 3.7 was the second highest of any athletic team in the entire NAIA.
Perhaps Lopez's biggest accomplishment occured in 2007 when she was named the Coach of the Year by the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Teaching and Club Professional (T&CP). Lopez was the first coach from an NAIA instituion to receive the award which was established in 1980 and is awarded annually to a female golf professional actively engaged in teaching and/or coaching golg at the collegiate or high school level.
Sonja Taylor, Embry-Riddle's Dean of Students, had this to say about Coach Lopez, "Maria Lopez seems to have a strong belief that her duty as a coach is to do more than help her athletes bring home trophies. She believes her job is to be a positive influence in the lives of her "student-athletes", guiding them to become well-adjusted, responsible, educated young men and women ready to embark on productive lives and careers beyond their college years."
The criteria for the NAIA Coach of Character Award is stated as follows: the nominee must be a head coach of a NAIA institution, he/she must have been employed by the institution a minimum of five years, the nominee must be clearly outstanding in embracing the five core values of the NAIA Champions of Character initiative (respect, integrity, responsibility, sportsmanship and servant leadership), outstanding in methods of teaching character through sport, and outstanding in community leadership through volunteerng, service or other means.