Richardson New Girls Soccer Coach

By Kevin Miller
Bethany Christian Schools release

Richardson

Sam Richardson, a former Bruin player and assistant coach, is taking over as head girls soccer coach. He replaces Thavisith Mounsithiraj, who resigned to prepare for the adoption of two boys from Ethiopia this fall.

Richardson served as Mounsithiraj’s assistant last year and previously assisted on Bethany’s boys soccer team in 1998 and the Goshen College women's team in 2001. Since 2009, Richardson has coached U15, U16 and U17 teams for the Elkhart County United club.

Richardson takes over a young team with little depth: the Bruins return just five players from last year’s 8-8-1 team and have only 12 players. However, Richardson looks forward to rebuilding the girls soccer program, saying “I am excited about the opportunity to be the head coach for the girls this year. It has been a goal for me to be a head soccer coach at Bethany. [That] has happened a little sooner than planned. I'm ready for the challenges this season will bring with a young squad.”

As a player at Bethany, Richardson finished with 45 goals and 28 assists, which places him fifth and seventh on those lists in the school record book. As a four-year starter at Goshen College, Richardson was an NAIA All-American Honorable Mention in 1999. He led the team in scoring for three seasons (1998, 1999 and 2000) and was named to an All-Mid-Central Conference team in all three of those seasons.

The Bruins open an abbreviated 2012 schedule on Saturday, Aug. 25 at Elkhart Memorial. Richardson's first home game will be against West Noble three days later.

Willems, Warkentin Resign Coaching Positions

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Willems

GOSHEN — Bethany boys soccer coach and 2011 Indiana Soccer Coaches Association District 1 Coach of the Year Hank Willems is resigning after six seasons, the school announced today. A 1989 Bethany graduate, Willems won five consecutive Northern Indiana Soccer Conference titles, three IHSAA sectional titles, and a regional championship during his time at the helm.


Willems, also the school's assistant principal, cites his administrative duties and his family as the driving factors behind his resignation. "I have thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to work with the boys soccer program at Bethany over the past six years," Willems said in a statement released by the school. "The players have worked extremely hard, and it has been very rewarding to see them succeed. However, at this stage of my life I simply cannot invest the time necessary to keep the program at this level or to grow the program to new heights."

Yoder

Replacing Willems as head coach is a man familiar with the Bethany soccer program: assistant coach Mark Yoder. A graduate of Central Christian (Ohio) High School, Hesston (Kan.) College, and Bluffton (Ohio) University, Yoder has been a Bethany assistant since 2007. In a statement, he said “I look forward to continuing to build and develop Bethany’s soccer program. I have enjoyed the Bethany community and look forward to continuing to be a part of it.”

Warkentin

Also resigning to spend more time with his family is JV coach Marcelo Warkentin, the head coach of Bethany's sub-varsity squad since 2001. “Marcelo has been an exceptional asset to the program—his understanding of the game and kids made him an invaluable part of our team,” said Willems. Replacing Warkentin as the JV coach will be another current assistant, 2004 Bethany graduate Josh Leinbach. The fifth member of Bethany's coaching staff, 1981 alumnus Ron Whiteford, will remain with the program as an assistant.

Leinbach

Willems is optimistic about the future of Bethany's soccer program despite the loss of its two top coaches. "I am very happy to have Mark, Josh, and Ron continue in the program. Mark and I have worked together for five years and he is in a position to not only continue the success the team has experienced, but to take it to levels of new success," explained Willems. "He has a wonderful relationship with the players and is very knowledgeable about the game. In preparation for this change he took on a bigger role this year and is ready to be an exceptional head coach."

Based on last season's schedule, Bethany would open its 2012 campaign Thursday, Aug. 16 at Elkhart Memorial. Stay with Bleeding Bruin Blue throughout the offseason for more updates as conditions warrant.

Mounsithiraj Named Girls Soccer Coach

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Mounsithiraj

GOSHEN — Thavisith Mounsithiraj will become the third head coach in the history of the Bethany Christian High School girls soccer program, the school announced Monday. He replaces Dennis Yoder, who went 41-27-6 in four seasons and won a sectional championship in 2009 before resigning this offseason. Mounsithiraj, popularly known as "Coach T," was most recently the women's soccer coach at Goshen College for nine seasons before announcing his resignation 19 days ago.

In announcing the hiring, Bethany athletic director Benji Hurst said in a press release, "I am very excited to have Coach T joining us at Bethany. Coach T brings a wealth of coaching knowledge and experience, but more importantly, he already has a great understanding of the mission and goals of athletics at Bethany.”

Bethany will be the third high-school coaching job on Mounsithiraj's resume, after stints at Centreville in Michigan and Northridge, where he is and will remain the guidance counselor, before taking the Goshen College job. In addition to experience as coach at Elkhart County United Soccer Club, Mounsithiraj is also part of a family where coaching runs in the blood — his brother Thavisak is the head men's coach at Goshen College, while another brother, Viratham, is the head boys soccer coach at Goshen High School.

Mounsithiraj will be able to hold his first official practice of the 2011 season on Monday, August 1, when practices begin for all fall sports. The contest season begins two weeks later.

(Photo via Bethany Christian Schools)
New Girls Soccer Coach (Bethany Christian Schools)

Bodiker Named Goshen Champion of Character

GOSHEN — Former Bethany coach and athletic director Dan Bodiker will receive the Dr. Roman Gingerich Champion of Character Award from Goshen College Maple Leaf Athletic Club during that institution’s homecoming ceremonies in October, according to a brochure from the college. Bodiker served as coach of Bethany’s boys and girls basketball, boys soccer, boys and girls track, and baseball during his tenure from 1964-1997. In the fall of 1997, he became Bethany’s athletic director, a post he held until retiring in 2007. After his retirement, he has served as an assistant boys basketball coach for the past two years.

During his 34 years as a coach, Bodiker won over 900 games and had an approximate varsity winning percentage of .560; records from the soccer team’s early years are incomplete. While the baseball sectional title in 1987 was the lone sectional title he won in IHSAA-sponsored competition, the Bruins were voted state champions in 1971 and 1972 by the Indiana Soccer Coaches Association and advanced to the semifinals of that association’s tournament in 1986.

Bodiker was inducted to the Elkhart County Sports Hall of Fame and the Indiana Soccer Coaches Hall of Fame in 2007. Since the spring of that year, the soccer, softball, baseball, and cross country teams have called home the Bodiker Athletic Fields on the school’s campus. Bodiker is joined by eight other Bethany representatives in the Hall; he coached six of those eight, with one person playing for the Bruins after his retirement from coaching.

The Champions of Character awards were created in 2006 by the Maple Leaf Athletic Club to honor Goshen alumni who “exemplify … the core values of Goshen College, the National Association for Intercollegiate Athletics, and the Mennonite Church.” Bodiker graduated from Goshen in 1964, lettering in baseball and soccer. He would be followed to his alma mater by his sons, one of whom was a two-time NAIA All-American soccer player and coaches high school boys soccer in Ohio.

Dan Bodiker (Elkhart County, Indiana Sports Hall of Fame)

Champions of Character (GoLeafs.net)

(Photo: Elkhart County Sports Hall of Fame)

Breaking: Hurst Named New AD

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GOSHEN — Sources close to the situation tell Bleeding Bruin Blue that cross country coach Benji Hurst will become Bethany's next athletic director, effective July 1; he is expected to remain as cross country coach as well. Hurst replaces Bryan Kehr, who is leaving Bethany to become head women's soccer coach at Hesston (Kan.) College.
Bethany's cross country job is only one stop in Hurst's coaching career; he has begun practice for his second season as track coach and led the Bruin middle school cross country team in 2005. Prior to that, he coached girls cross country for five years at Goshen High School.
Hurst resides in Goshen with his wife, Leah, and their two children.

Kehr Named Hesston Women's Soccer Coach

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HESSTON, Kan. — Hesston College on Monday named Bethany athletic director Bryan Kehr as their new women's soccer coach for the 2010 season. Kehr's coaching duties will not begin until August, although he will soon assume the duties of recruiting and signing athletes. He will remain at Bethany for the balance of the 2009-2010 academic year before his resignation takes effect in June.

The Larks compete in Region 6 of the National Junior College Athletic Association, where they went 2-8-1 in 2009 as part of a 2-15-1 season that saw them score 13 goals while surrendering 115. They were coached most recently by Kurt Hostetler, who returned to his alma mater in 2007 as men's and women's soccer coach. Hostetler remains as coach of the men's program.

Hesston College names Kehr women's soccer coach (Hesston College)
(Bethany Christian Schools photo)

Hurst Named Cross Country Coach

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GOSHEN — Middle school cross country coach Benji Hurst will coach the high school boys and girls cross country teams beginning in 2010, according to information released by the school today. Hurst also served as the volunteer head coach of Bethany's track club in 2009.
Hurst replaces co-coaches Ken and Ann Willems, who had coached the cross country teams since 2007. Their tenure included the first team regional appearance in school history, by the girls team in 2008.