Marshall University Athletics
Gale Receives AFLAC National Assistant Coach of the Year Award
10/6/2003 12:00:00 AM | Football
Gale Receives AFLAC National Assistant Coach of the Year Award
10/6/2003
COLUMBUS, Ga. - Marshall University Associate Head Football Coach Mark Gale will be presented with the AFLAC National Assistant Coach of the Year Award this week by AFLAC representatives.
"Mark has done an outstanding job for us and he is valuable to our program in so many ways," Marshall Head Football Coach Bob Pruett said. "Administratively, and on the field, he is an asset."
Gale is one of only 500 high school and college assistant coaches to receive the award out of more than 350,000 nominated coaches from across the nation. The winners, men and women invovled in virtually every major team sport, hail from all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
The selections were based on nominations made by head coaches, athletic administrators, past and current student-athletes, and fans. A panel of judges from Scholastic Coach & Athletic Director magazine made the final selections.
The criteria in the second annual AFLAC National Assistant Coach of the Year program allowed for coaches to win based on longevity, expertise, contributions to the school and community, and special achievements throughout their careers.
"Assistant coaches are the unsung heroes of American sport," AFLAC senior vice president Joe Kuechenmeister said. "So many of us were positively affected by our participation in sports that we wanted to pay tribute to there hard-working, under-recognized coaches who do so much to improve the young people they work with."
Gale, a native of Purcell, Okla., has coached 146 wins as Marshall with only 37 losses, making him the winningest assistant in Marshall history. He has served as an assistant at MU since 1990 and has an overall career record as an assistant of 204-49-1. Gale has also been to 11 bowls in his 12 seasons as an Division 1-A coach, which includes six seasons at the University of Oklahoma.
Gale will be honored at the Kent State game, Saturday with a video board announcement about the honor.
AFLAC, a Fortune 500 company, insures more than 40 million people worldwide and is a leading writer of insurance marketed at the worksite, offering policies to more than 252,000 payroll accounts in the U.S.
