Head Coach Kevin Kalish and Christian Volesky | Click here to e-mail
Kevin Kalish is in his sixth season as the head coach of themen’s soccer program at Southern Illinois UniversityEdwardsville. It’s also his 14th as part of the men’ssoccer staff at SIUE.
The 2012 season was one to remember for the Cougars, who completedthe campaign with a 13-7-0 record. Over the course of the2012 season, SIUE was ranked as high as No. 22 in the nation inboth the national rankings and NCAA RPI while advancing to the MVCtitle game for the second time in three years.
Kalish’s staff was named the Missouri Valley ConferenceCoaching Staff of the Year, while Kalish also was recognized as theMidwest Region Coach of the Year by the National Soccer CoachesAssociation of America (NSCAA).
Following the season, the Missouri Valley Conference honored anunprecedented total of 10 Cougar student-athletes, including fourfirst team All-MVC selections, five second team All-MVC selections,the Goalkeeper of the Year, and one entry on the MVC All-Freshmanteam. Four Cougars also were selected to the MVC Men’sScholar-Athlete team.
National recognition was close to follow, as four Cougars werehonored with selection to the NSCAA All-Midwest Region team (themost in the region), while Christian Volesky was named a Third TeamAll-American by CollegeSportsMadness.com. Ryan Bauer’saccomplishments on both the field and in the classroom wererecognized with his selection as an NSCAA Scholar All-American,carrying a 3.97 GPA in Physics and playing a key role for theCougars.
A graduate of Saint Louis University, Kalish was a GTE AcademicAll-American and first team NSCAA All-American for the soccerteam.
In 1999, he was named Saint Louis University's Most OutstandingMale Athlete and played in the National College Senior All-StarBowl. He was Conference USA Player of the Year in his senior seasonat SLU.
He was a first team All-Midwest and All-Conference selectionduring his junior and senior seasons at SLU where he led theBillikens to the NCAA Soccer Final Four. He also was twice namedAll-Big East while at the University of Connecticut during hisfreshmen and sophomore seasons.
Kalish was drafted by three professional soccer teams. In 1998, hewas drafted by the St. Louis Ambush of the National ProfessionalSoccer League and, in 1999, he was drafted by both the NashvilleMetros of the United Soccer League and was the third pick of theKansas City Wizards in the MLS Super Draft.
Kalish, who was named to SLU's Athletic Hall of Fame in 2007 andchosen as a member of SLU's half-century team in 2009, has beencoaching since he left the field at SLU. In 1999, he joined the SLUcoaching staff as a second assistant. He joined SIUE Coach EdHuneke and the Cougar staff the following year in 2000.
Kalish earned a bachelor's degree in marketing from SLU in 1999and master's degree in kinesiology from SIUE in 2006. Kalish andhis wife, Sarah, have four children, Sam, Liam, Sylvie, andTessa. |
