It’s that time of year again, as we at Pipe Dream bring out our end of the year awards. Last year we introduced our first annual Coach of the Year Award, and here are five deserving candidates.

Sean Clark, swimming and diving ‘ America East Coach of the Year, ECAC Championship Coach of the Meet and a trip to the national championships for his top swimmer; it wasn’t a bad rookie season for Clark. Sure, he came in with a stellar senior class already assembled for him, but the former UMass star turned this team from a good one to a great one, and saw one of his swimmers, senior David Holmes, head to the NCAA championships for the first time in AE history. Clark, a BU assistant coach in 2004-05 and 2005-06 for the swimming and diving team, also dealt with the transfer of the best athletes in school history, Kaan Tayla, to Virginia Tech, and still led the men’s team to a second place finish at the AE championships.

Paul Marco, men’s soccer ‘ When Marco arrived in Binghamton in 2001, things could not have been worse for the men’s soccer team. The young Division I squad had completed a two-win season that saw them ranked 198th out of 200 teams in the country. Five years later, Marco celebrated the team’s second trip to the America East tournament, and they almost upset a very strong Harvard team. And let’s not forget that Marco’s team was supposed to be rebuilding after losing stars Danilo and Graham Munro. Add in an early season losing streak and several debilitating injuries, and things were looking pretty grim. But with a redshirt freshman goaltender and a total team effort, Marco’s boys defied the odds and won the championship. With at least four impact players expected to graduate, next year might be a tough one again ‘ but we wouldn’t bet against Marco.

Pat Popolizio, wrestling ‘ Bearcat fans can only hope the recent signing of a new men’s basketball coach works out as well as last year’s signing of Popolizio as head wrestling coach. The former Army and Sacred Heart assistant coach turned around a team that went winless last season, improving them to 10-10 and seeing freshman Josh Patterson compete in the NCAA tournament. A seventh place finish in the highly competitive Colonial Athletic Association was two spots higher than last season. With a team that two years ago didn’t even exist, stability is a must; it looks like Popolizio, a former New York State High School champion, is the right man to bring that stability.

Tim Sinicki, baseball ‘ The baseball team has the most talented senior class in the school, and on paper the best team in the America East, so let’s give some credit to Sinicki, the man who built that team. A lot of schools passed on Zach Groh a few years ago because he doesn’t have the best fastball. Sinicki saw something that those coaches didn’t, and now the reigning America East Pitcher of the Year takes the hill for the Bearcats every Friday. Left field was a problem spot for the team last year; this year freshman Joe Charron has torn the cover off the ball. Sinicki replaced the only hole in his lineup by recruiting speedster Henry Dunn to play center field, and all the pieces are in place. In his 15 years coaching at BU, Sinicki has won an AE Coach of the Year award and led the Bearcats to many winning seasons. One thing he doesn’t have might just be accomplished this May: an America East championship.

Mike Stevens, women’s tennis ‘ Stevens has guided the women’s tennis team to a Division I school-best 12-2 start this spring season. It certainly helps to have school record holders Zeynep Altinay and Lya Kushnirovich at the top of your lineup, but this was a team that was in serious trouble before Stevens showed up a few years ago. What he has done with this team has been truly remarkable, and after a big victory against UMBC down in Baltimore last weekend, the team heads into the America East championships next weekend in pretty good shape.