RSC Coach of Character Award: Asbury (Ky.) Men's Basketball Coach Will Shouse
MIDDLETOWN, Ohio -- Asbury (Ky.) University men's basketball head coach Will Shouse has been named the 2019-20 River States Conference Coach of Character Award recipient. Shouse, in his 12th year as head coach at his alma mater, was selected after a vote from the RSC Champions of Character Committee.
The RSC Coach of Character award is patterned after the NAIA award of the same name. It is given annually to a head coach who has been outstanding in embracing the five core values of the NAIA Champions of Character initiative, using methods of teaching character through sport and in community leadership through volunteering or service.
The five character values of Champions of Character are Respect, Responsibility, Integrity, Servant Leadership and Sportsmanship. The award was first established in the conference in 2015-16. As the conference honoree, Shouse will have his named forwarded to the national level as a nominee for the NAIA Coach of Character Award.
"It is my distinct honor to recommend Asbury University men's basketball head coach Will Shouse for the RSC Coach of Character Award," said Mark Whitworth, Asbury Vice President of Intercollegiate Athletics & University Strategic Communications. "Coach Shouse is the longest-tenured head coach on the AU staff and has exemplified the NAIA core values of Integrity, Respect, Responsibility, Sportsmanship and Servant Leadership."
Shouse has taught character within his program in many ways. The program has been involved in prison ministry for many years with an annual basketball game versus prisoners at a local facility, an event that includes sharing testimony after the game. The basketball program has also been involved in baking cookies for families at the nearby NICU unit, raking and bagging leaves for Wilmore, Ky., residents who need help with yard work and going on mission trips to Puerto Rico every other year.
Will and his wife Whitney established the "Ray Hudson Shouse Scholarship Fund" in memory of their late son who died in December 2015 due to complications from a diaphragmatic hernia. Each year, AU hosts the Ray Shouse Memorial doubleheader basketball event in his honor and to raise funds for the scholarship.
"Our approach to coaching character is that we use the game of basketball to make a positive impact on anyone we come in contact with," said Shouse. "We seek opportunities to make an impact on others inside and outside our community. I use this opportunity to set up ways we can serve others and develop a character trait of "leaving it better than you found it".
"I cannot give one drill or technique we use. It is a culture we implement as soon as the players set foot on campus," added Shouse.
YEAR BY YEAR -- RIVER STATES CONFERENCE COACH OF CHARACTER AWARD WINNERS
2015-16 -- Samantha DeMartine (Asbury University), Softball Head Coach
2016-17 -- Tiffani Selhorst (IU East), Women's Basketball Head Coach
2017-18 -- Chris Hammond (Rio Grande), Softball Head Coach
2018-19 -- John Mills (Alice Lloyd), Women's Basketball
2019-20 -- Will Shouse (Asbury), Women's Basktball