Santa Barbara City College Director of Athletics Rocco Constantino announced that the department will establish Coach of the Year Awards beginning with the 2018-2019 school year. Separate awards will be given for women's and men's sports head coaches and will be voted on by head coaches and select staff members as part of the department's annual awards ceremony in May.
Furthermore, Constantino announced that the awards will be named in honor of Pat Moorhouse and Bob Dinaberg, the only two former SBCC head coaches who are also CCCAA Hall of Famers.
"We have a tremendous coaching staff who do an incredible job on so many levels and I felt it was important to recognize a head coach from our men's and women's sports programs as a department Coach of the Year," said Constantino. "Our coaches coach for the right reasons; they aren't out there for their own personal benefit. We rightly recognize many great accomplishments and workers at our annual department awards ceremony, so it makes sense that we recognize the head coaches as well."
The criteria for voting includes on-field success as well as community involvement, team academic performance and support of other Vaquero athletics programs.
The Pat Moorhouse Women's Sports Coach of the Year Award is named in honor of Pat Moorhouse, a CCCAA Hall of Famer who had an incredible run as a head coach for SBCC's Women's Volleyball and Tennis programs during a 21-year career at SBCC. Between the two sports, Moorhouse compiled a record of 378-44 for a winning percentage of .896.
"I have to thank our Associate Director of Athletics Ellen O'Connor as well," said Constantino. "I approached her with this idea and she encouraged me to pursue that. She has always remarked about the impact that Coach Dinaberg and Coach Moorhouse made on their student-athletes. Ellen's office was across from Coach Moorhouse and she said she was always impressed with how many student-athletes came back to visit Coach Moorhouse as adults, oftentimes married with children."
Coach Moorhouse and Coach Dinaberg still serve on the Board of Directors for the Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table and remain very active with SBCC athletics.
The Bob Dinaberg Men's Sports Coach of the Year Award is named in honor of Bob Dinaberg, who served as SBCC's Director of Athletics for 22 years and head football coach for 18 years. As the Vaqueros' head football coach, Dinaberg compiled a record of 119-62-3. Dinaberg led the Vaqueros to eight conference championships and the school's only Bowl Game victory -- the 1982 Mission Bowl.
"My first day on the job at SBCC I had a letter waiting for me from Coach Dinaberg and I didn't even have a mailbox yet," said Constantino. "Both Coach Dinaberg and Coach Moorhouse have been tremendously supportive of me from the time I arrived here. They are remarkable people and I am happy that we were able to honor them."
Dinaberg and Moorhouse addressed the SBCC athletics staff at the department's compliance training meeting on Tuesday night and talked about their SBCC careers and encouraged the current Vaqueros to uphold the values that many of their colleagues also displayed. Dinaberg mentioned a number of his former Vaquero coaching colleagues by name when reflecting on the fantastic coaches who have spent time at SBCC.
"From the time I arrived at SBCC and started learning about the rich athletics and academic history here, I knew I wanted to take some steps to better recognize our past," said Constantino. "Coach Dinaberg and Coach Moorhouse mean so much to the Santa Barbara community and have done so much for so many people during their incredible careers. It is my hope that by naming these awards in their honor, that Coach Dinaberg and Coach Moorhouse's accomplishments will resonante with our current and future Vaquero players, coaches and staff."
There figures to be stiff competition for the Coach of the Year Awards as SBCC is coming off of one of its most successful athletics seasons in its long history. The Vaqueros placed 10th in the NATYCAA Cup statewide athletics program standings last year and second in the WSC Supremacy Standings. Santa Barbara City College won a WSC-high six conference titles in 2018-19 with Women's Water Polo capturing a State Championship and Women's Soccer reaching the State Final.
