ATLANTA – After guiding his team to a 22-0 record and the program’s first MCLA national championship, Chapman’s Dallas Hartley has been named the Division I Coach of the Year, which was announced on Thursday.

Hartley, who guided the Panthers to the semifinals of the MCLA National Championships powered by Under Armour the last two seasons, led Chapman to this year’s title with a 9-5 victory over Cal Poly in the finals.

During the season, Chapman beat seven different programs that eventually qualified for nationals while also pulling out one-goal victories against Brigham Young, Colorado, Stanford and Grand Canyon.

“It is an honor to be selected MCLA Division I Coach of the Year,” Hartley said. “I have a lot of respect for all of the coaches in the MCLA and have made a lot of great friends over the years. In many ways, in the MCLA we fill many more roles than simply ‘coach.’

“I look at this as a team award. I am incredibly proud of the hard work exemplified by our coaching staff: Coach Jackson, Coach Leneau, Coach Morrison, and Coach Scmitt-Kallas. They put in just as much time as I do scouting opponents and implementing practice plans, and I value their in-game coaching adjustments. I played in the MCLA and have a lot of respect for the time and effort it takes coaching to overcome many of the challenges that exist in competing at the highest level. In my opinion, I learned from the best coach in the WCLL, John Hughes, while at Sonoma State, and he has helped me become the coach that I am today.”

Hartley finishes his sixth season as the head coach at Chapman after coaching at La Costa Canyon (Calif.) High School for nine years. He has a career MCLA record of 97-25.