Full NFCA Release

The National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) announced its award winners for the Division II Regional Coaching Staffs of the Year on Friday morning (May 27), as Grand Valley State was tabbed the Midwest Region Coaching Staff of the Year. Second-year head coach Dana Callihan and assistant coach Jen Rivera guided the Lakers to a 43-13 overall record and the program's third-ever trip to the Division II College World Series.
 
The 2015 season - the first for Callihan as GVSU head coach and for Rivera as the team's top assistant - saw the Lakers finish 32-17 and advance to the NCAA Tournament for the fifth straight year. With 16 returning letterwinners, expectations were pretty high entering the 2016 campaign, though Grand Valley State was chosen to place just fourth in the GLIAC preseason poll.  
 
GVSU placed second in the league at the end of the 2016 regular season, finishing with a 36-8 overall record and a 21-5 mark in GLIAC games (the fourth-most conference victories in school history), followed by a tremendous run through the Midwest Region tournament.
 
The Lakers entered the NCAA Tournament as the #4 seed in the Midwest Region and won four out of five games at the Midwest Region 1 Tournament in Indianapolis, including a pair of victories over Trevecca Nazarene on the final day to capture the sub-regional championship. That set up a meeting with conference rival Wayne State in Detroit and GVSU kept rolling with a pair of one-run victories to sweep the best-of-three series and advance to the College World Series for the third time.
 
All six of Grand Valley State's NCAA Tournament wins came by two runs or less, including five one-run victories. Both of GVSU's wins over #10 Wayne State in the Midwest Super Regional tournament were one-run margins (5-4, 1-0) and the Lakers also knocked out #2 Indianapolis by a 5-4 victory in the sub-regional tournament. Overall, Grand Valley State went 6-3 in the NCAA postseason this year.
 
GVSU made its third trip to the College World Series and the Lakers were the lowest regionally ranked team to advance to the eight-team competition. Grand Valley State fell to #1 West Texas A&M and #16 Armstrong State, but concluded a tremendous campaign with the eighth-most wins in program history. In the final NFCA Top-25 poll, the Lakers earned a #7 national ranking.
 
Callihan served as an assistant coach for 13 seasons under previous Laker head coach Doug Woods, while Rivera spent 10 seasons as an assistant coach and the team's pitching coach before both entered their new roles prior to last year. Both Callihan and Rivera have been part of the Grand Valley State program during all three of GVSU's trips to the College World Series. Callihan was an assistant coach during the 2002, 2013, and 2016 appearances in the national tournament, while Rivera (formerly Mackson) was the team's starting pitcher in the 2002 trip to Salem, Virginia before joining the coaching staff for the two recent World Series berths.
 
This is the second time that Grand Valley State has received such a coaching honor in the last six seasons. In 2011, Woods, Callihan, and Rivera were also named the Midwest Region Coach Staff of the Year as that team notched a 19-win improvement from the previous season, won 41 games, and was the top-hitting team in all of Division II.
 
Callihan and Rivera are 75-30 overall in the last two seasons, with a 38-13 mark in GLIAC play. Former Laker All-American shortstop Briauna Taylor also served as a part-time assistant coach for GVSU throughout this season.
 
The other NCAA Regional Coaching Staffs of the Year are Charleston (Atlantic), Southern Arkansas (Central), Adelphi (East), North Alabama (South), West Texas A&M (South Central), Armstrong State (Southeast), and Humboldt State (West). All eight schools are eligible for the National Coaching Staff of the Year award, to be announced at a later date.