John Basalyga

Bio

John Basalyga, who attended SUNY Orange from 1968-70, played baseball for the Colts in 1969 and 1970. In 1969, he led the team in batting average and slugging percentage with a .353 average and a .549 slugging percentage.

Basalyga was named to both the All-Mid Hudson Conference and All-Region teams. A versatile catcher/first baseman, he was second on the team in putouts in 1969. He also served as the soccer team goalie for one season.

After SUNY Orange, Basalyga went on to study and play baseball and hockey at Bowling Green University. The Falcons 1972 baseball team won the program's first-ever Mid-Atlantic Conference Championship and was ranked 13th in the nation in the final Collegiate Baseball poll.

Basalyga's first coaching stint came as the boy's soccer coach at Turpin High School in Cincinnati. Over the course of 24 seasons, he compiled a 325-93-58 record and led Turpin to Ohio state championships in 1986, 2000, and 2001. His teams produced 22 consecutive winning seasons and captured 15 sectional championships. Basalyga was named the Ohio High School State Coach of the Year in 2001.

For the past 12 years, Basalyga has been the soccer coach at Northern Kentucky University. He has compiled a 152-68-30 record and guided the Norse to the NCAA Division II National Championship in 2010, the first national championship in any sport at Northern Kentucky. In September 2013, he became the winningest coach in NKU men's soccer history.  He helped grow the program into a perennial national contender at the Division II level before ushering the program into the Division I ranks in 2012. He has been named regional Coach of the Year twice and was voted the NCAA National Coach of the Year in 2010 by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.

Basalyga and his wife, Linda, reside in Cincinnati. They have three children. His daughter, Lindsay Basalyga, is the women's soccer head coach at Bowling Green State University.