Eligibility
Any collegiate or high school coach that is an active or associate member of the WBCA and in good standing as defined by the WBCA.

Criteria
*Team success during current season
*Team improvement from previous season
*Fulfillment of team potential
*Professional manner and attitude of coach

Nomination
All active/associate WBCA member head or assistant coaches are eligible to nominate an individual who fits the above criteria for the RUSSELL ATHLETIC/WBCA National Coach of the Year Award. Nomination forms are made available in January to all eligible members via the WBCA web site (WBCA.org).

*Note: All WBCA active A and B members will be able to nominate coaches for this award that are outside their award region effective January 2007. Coaches will still only vote for coaches in their respective region on the final ballot for this award.

Selection
COLLEGE
After all nominations have been collected, the nomination information sheet for each candidate will be accessible via an online process for all active A and active B coaches with instructions to visit the WBCA web site (WBCA.org) to cast an online ballot. The WBCA member coach will then login and select their top (3) three choices foe the RUSSELL ATHLETIC/WBCA National Coach of the Year. The coach who receives the most votes in each division and the WBCA awards region becomes a Regional RUSSELL ATHLETIC/WBCA National Coach of the Year. There will be (8) Regional Coaches of the Year in each Division (NCAA I, NCAA II, NCAA III). There will be (6) Regional Coaches of the Year at the NAIA level and (9) Regional Coaches of the Year at the JC/CC and High School. A selection committee in each region then chooses the RUSSELL ATHLETIC/WBCA National Coach of the Year. The JC/CC RUSSELL ATHLETIC/WBCA National Coach of the Year Committee decided in 2005-06 that they will solicit additional nominations from the committee in order to increase the number of nominations received for this award. They will also eliminate regional winners effective 2006 per a WBCA motion. In NCAA Division III only, the committee includes Final Four coaches if they are not in the initial nomination pool of candidates.

HIGH SCHOOL
At the high school level, all nominations received by the deadline are divided evenly, by region among the WBCA High School Coach of the Year selection committee. Each committee member then represents his or her nominees from which WBCA District Coaches of the Year are chosen.

The selection committee votes for their top choices, in preferential order, from the pool of WBCA District Coaches of the Year. The top vote-getter is named the WBCA High School Coach of the Year and is also selected to be the head coach of the Red Team at the WBCA High School All-America Game presented by Nike, while the second-place vote getter serves as the head coach of the White Team. The third-place vote-getter, then, is named assistant coach of the Red Team, and the fourth-place vote-getter the assistant coach of the White Team.

The fifth- and sixth-place vote getters in the RUSSELL ATHLETIC/WBCA High School Coach of the Year balloting process serve as alternates in the event that one of the top four vote-getters has already served as coach in the WBCA High School All-America Game presented by Nike. Eligibility for coaching this game runs a period of five (5) years. Any coach who is selected to coach the team twice within a period of five (5) years will forfeit that opportunity.

[All previous RUSSELL ATHLETIC/WBCA National Coaches of the Year]