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. The National High School Coach of the Year winner and the high school district winners are not required to be members of the WBCA.

Criteria (In Priority Order)
1. Team success during current season
2. Team improvement from previous season
3. Fulfillment of team potential
4. Professional manner and attitude of coach

Nomination
All active A and active B 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 to all eligible voting members via the WBCA website (WBCA.org). A postcard is mailed no later than December directing our membership to the website for the nomination forms. Nominations must be submitted electronically through the WBCA's website. A preparatory conference call will be held in October to inform the committee of the selection process.

All WBCA active A and B member head and assistant coaches are able to nominate coaches for this award that are outside their award region, but are only able to vote on those within their region.

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 website (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) and (6) in NAIA. There will be (9) district coaches of the year for High School. JC/CC will not have regional Coaches of the Year. A selection committee in each division then chooses the RUSSELL ATHLETIC/WBCA National Coach of the Year via a conference call from the pool of Regional Coaches of the Year. NCAA Division III always includes their Final Four coaches if they are not in the initial nomination of candidates.

If there is a tie in voting the regional representative will be responsible for breaking the tie. If there is a tie on the national level, then the chair will break the tie.

HIGH SCHOOL
At the high school level, all nominations received by the deadline are divided by district among the WBCA High School Coach of the Year selection committee. On the scheduled conference call each committee member will present the nominees from their district and then following the call the committee will vote for the District WBCA High School Coaches of the Year. Ballots are included in theri notebooks sent to them in November.

On the final conference call, each committee member will present details as to why their District Coach of the Year should be considered was the WBCA National High School Coach of the Year. After the conference call, the selection committee votes for their top choices, in preferential order, from the pool of District WBCA 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, while the second-place vote getter serves as the head coach of the White Team. The third place vote-getter will be named assistant coach of the Red Team, and the fourth place vote-getter as the assistant coach of the White Team.

The fifth and sixth place vote-getters in the 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. 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]