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

Ken Hefner enters his sixth season as the head coach of the Park University women’s soccer program, entering the season with a mark of 60-28-9 at Park, while his overall record, including 29 wins as a men’s head coach, is 213-161-18.

During the 2009 season, Hefner’s Pirates were within striking distance of an American Midwest Conference title throughout the regular season, scoring 63 goals on the year while using a smothering defense that held opponents to just 10 scores on the year.

Hefner guided the Pirates to 10 wins in 2009, marking the 20th winning season in 22 years of women’s soccer at Park. It was also the 19th season with at least 10 wins in the 22-year history of Park’s women’s soccer program.

The 2009 season was also the fifth-straight under Hefner that saw the Pirates qualify for the postseason, ending the year in the 2010 American Midwest Conference Tournament semifinals at Missouri Baptist.

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 honorable 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 No. 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 has guided the women’s soccer program to three-straight NAIA Scholar Team designations, and eight players have been named Daktronics-NAIA Scholar Athletes during his tenure at Park University.

He has also coached second- and third-team NAIA All-Americans while at Park, with a handful of players also earning NAIA Honorable Mention All-America designations. In 2009, Hefner’s program had five all-conference honorees and eight academic all-conference designations.

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 (24), Megan (23) and Mackenzie (19).