Special to The Message
Mater Dei High School is proud to announce longtime head football coach Mike Goebel has been named 2022-23 National Football Coach of the Year by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS).
Goebel’s athletic coaching career is nothing short of outstanding. He’s led Evansville Mater Dei High School to two Indiana High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) Class 2A state championships during his coaching career, which also includes four runner-up finishes, six semi-state championships, 10 regional titles and 17 sectional crowns, nine Evansville city championships, and seven Southern Indiana Athletic Conference titles. Goebel has compiled a 263-90 record in his 27 seasons at Mater Dei and boasts a 2022 Varsity Brands
“National Coach Award” and a 2023 Indiana Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame induction among his myriad of coaching awards.
Goebel was also an NFHS National Coach of the Year for the Mater Dei wrestling program, which won 12 IHSAA state championships and posted a 533-14-2 record in dual meets during his 29 seasons.
The NFHS, which has recognized coaches through an awards program since 1982, honors coaches in the top 10 girls sports and top 10 boys sports (by participation numbers), and in two “other” sports – one for boys and one for girls – that are not included in the top 10 listings. Winners of NFHS awards must be active coaches during the year for which they receive their award. This year’s awards recognize coaches for the 2022-23 school year.
The NFHS receives nominations from its member state associations, which often work with the state coaches’ association in its respective state. The state association then contacts the potential state award recipients to complete a coach profile form that requests information regarding the coach’s record, membership in and affiliation with coaching and other professional organizations, involvement with other school and community activities and programs, and coaching philosophy. To be approved as an award recipient and considered for sectional and national coach of the year consideration, this profile form must be completed by the coach or designee and then approved by the executive director (or designee) of the state athletic/activities association.
The NFHS Coaches Association has an advisory committee composed of a chair and eight sectional representatives. The sectional committee representatives evaluate the state award recipients from the states in their respective sections and select the best candidates for the sectional award in each sport category. The NFHS Coaches Association Advisory Committee then considers the sectional candidates in each sport, ranks them according to a point system, and determines a national winner for each of the 20 sport categories.
For more information, visit https://www.nfhs.org/articles/2022-23-national-coaches-of-the-year-selected-by-nfhs-coaches-association/.