Ken Hefner, Head Coach
5th Season
ken.hefner@park.edu

Ken Hefner is in his fifth season as the head coach of the Park University women’s soccer program, entering the season with a mark of 50-21-8 at Park, while his overall record, including 29 wins as a men’s head coach, is 203-154-17.

Hefner led the Pirates to their eighth NAIA tournament appearance in 2008, earning an opening-round draw before advancing to the second round and final site on penalty kicks at Dordt College.

Park finished the year with a 14-2-3 record, losing to NAIA national champion Lee University in Daytona Beach, Fla. Park also claimed its third-straight MCAC regular-season championship and fourth in the last five years, capping the conference season with a second-straight MCAC tournament championship at Julian Field.

At the conclusion of the 2008 season, Hefner gathered a pair of honors, being named NSCAA/adidas NAIA Midwest Region Coach of the Year, as well as MCAC Co-Coach of the Year. He also coached nine all-conference players in 2008, two of which went on to be named NAIA All-Americans.

Hefner had the Pirates within one win of a trip to Daytona Beach, Fla., and the NAIA tournament in the 2007 season, but a loss to Kansas Wesleyan in the Region IV final ended the season at 12-5-2. The Pirates were MCAC regular-season tri-champions and MCAC tournament champions, while also producing an hononrable mention All-American during the year.

In 2006, Hefner led the Pirates to a regular season MCAC championship, going 5-0 in conference play. Park dropped the tournament final to Bellevue, 1-0 but beat Kansas Wesleyan in the Region IV Tournament, advancing to the school’s fifth consecutive appearance at the NAIA National Tournament. Hefner led the women past College of the Southwest in Round One but then fell to #4 Houghton College out of New York in Round Two. Hefner was honored as the Region IV Coach of the Year and MCAC Co-Coach of the Year.

Hefner ranks as the eighth winningest coaches in NAIA history, owning 174 career women’s wins in two seasons at Park, seven seasons at Lindsey Wilson College (1993-1999) and three seasons at Tennessee Wesleyan College (1990-93). Additionally, Hefner posted 19 wins as the head coach at NCAA Division I Arkansas State, helping his career coaching wins total to eighth all-time among NAIA women’s coaches.

He also has 29 men’s wins from his time at Tennessee Wesleyan to push his overall career total to 189 wins.

While at Lindsey Wilson, Hefner’s teams advanced to the national tournament twice (1998, 1999) and achieved a final national ranking of fifth following the 1999 season. In seven seasons at Lindsey Wilson, he posted a 93-46-5 record and had 11 players earn NAIA All-America honors.

In 1999, Hefner was tabbed to lead a start-up soccer program at Arkansas State, which began play in 2000. His teams qualified for the Sun Belt Conference tournament four years in a row under his guidance and had three players named to the all-conference team from 2000-2003.

In addition to Hefner’s success on the field, his players have enjoyed success in the classroom. At Lindsey Wilson, he had 18 academic all-conference selections and eight NAIA All-America Scholar-Athletes. During his time at Arkansas State, his team owned an overall GPA of 3.0 or better in six of seven semesters while he was at ASU.

Hefner, who owns a United States Soccer Federation National “B” License, an Advanced National License and an NSCAA National Diploma, earned a bachelor of arts in psychology from West Georgia College in 1987. He and his wife, Dawn, have three children, Matthew (23), Megan (22) and Mackenzie (18).

Kesiann Francis, Assistant Coach
3rd Season

Kesiann Francis is in her third season as an assistant coach for the Pirates after wrapping up her playing career at Park in 2006. Francis played in 65 career games for the Pirates, scoring 13 goals in four seasons.

In her role as assistant coach, Francis is responsible for program operations, equipment inventory and assists with practice preparation. She is also responsible for accurate statistics of road contests and for pregame drills and field set-up.