From now until Jan. 2, the Carson-Newman Athletic Communications Department will debut the Frosty Award nominees for the fall semester. These are the fall nominees for Coach of the Year. Monday, we'll unveil the candidates for Team of the Year.
The seventh annual Frosty Awards will take place in late April and honor athletic excellence in Carson-Newman's athletic department.
Categories:
- Team Performance of the Year
- Female Newcomer of the Year
- Male Newcomer of the Year
- Coach of the Year
- Team of the Year
- Play of the Year
- Male Freshman of the Year
- Female Freshman of the Year
- Upset of the Year
- Comeback of the Year
- Male Performance of the Year
- Female Performance of the Year
- Female Athlete of the Year
- Male Athlete of the Year
COACH:
Stephen Lyons: On its way to a 10th South Atlantic Conference regular season title, the men's soccer team attained its highest national ranking in four years sitting at No. 13 near the end of October. It ran with a pair of four-match streaks without a loss and went 1-0-1 against nationally-ranked sides, the win being over a No. 15 Coker side on Oct. 12. The Eagles led the league with 326 shots and 125 corners through the regular season and first round of the SAC Tournament. The SAC Coach of the Year's group amassed a 10-4-3 record, the first double-digit wins season since 2015. The Orange and Blue brought in 16 postseason awards and exceeded the league's expectations set prior to the season when it slated to finish at seventh in the SAC's preseason coaches' poll. C-N went 6-1-3 in conference action with a .750 winning-percentage, its best since 2015 when it tallied a .818 clip.
Ashley Tiernan: In 23 matches after taking the helm, the Eagles went 20-3 with 11 sweeps in that span. With the stretch, the Eagles brought home SAC Tournament and Southeast Region titles marking the first time in school history that the Eagles held two tournament trophies at the same time. C-N lost one set in each tournament sweeping Queens on its home floor for the conference championship before sweeping Augusta to win the region.
Jordan Taylor: Carson-Newman swim head coach Jordan Taylor has seen his team reach new heights this year, his fifth season as head coach. He currently has the women's team sitting at 11th in the nation while the men's side is the 14th ranked team in the country. The squad started off the season with a dominant win at the King Invitational on Oct.4 and Oct.5, posting a combined 2,254 points while second place Catawba scored 960.5 total. Individual swimmers have received a combined six awards from the conference. Seniors Caleb Howell and Mary Northcutt both won Bluegrass Mountain Conference weekly awards twice while freshman Manon Compagner and sophomore Andrei Ungur both took home their first conference laurels as well. The team smashed the program record books at the University of Tennessee Invitational from Nov.21 to Nov.23. Thirteen different swimmers across both sides set either season-best or lifetime-best times through the three days of the event. C-N saw some relay squads defeat nationally ranked Division I relay teams, most notably the 400-yard freesyle relay team of Matt George, Nikola Tadic, Chad Andoljsek and Andrei Ungur setting a new program-record time of 2:57.51, beating the Tennessee and Georgia B teams.
Mike Turner: Turner's final year at the helm of the Carson-Newman football program ended in the Eagles' 26th all-time NCAA Playoff appearance. He helped guide the Eagles to their first road playoff win since 2009 in a 17-9 triumph at 11th-ranked Bowie State. Antonio Wimbush and Phillip McDowell were both coached to All-American honors, while Braxton Westfield became the Eagles' first All-SAC and All-Region receiver in a decade. The Eagles finished the year fifth in the country in rushing offense with 292.3 yards per game on the ground.
