CHARLOTTE, N.C.- Guiding the Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers to their first National Championship in program history this season, FSW Head Coach Thais Baziquetto-Allen has been named the 2022 NJCAA Division I National Coach of the Year as announced by the National Office on Friday.
Baziquetto-Allen led the Bucs to a 27-1 record this season, capturing Suncoast Conference, FCSAA State, and NJCAA National Championships along the way. The Bucs road to the title was far from an easy one as FSW played the third most difficult schedule in the NJCAA Division I ranks according to the Massey Ratings with 18 matches against teams ranked inside the NJCAA Top 20. FSW claimed their third straight Suncoast Conference Championship with a 13-1 record, beating rival Miami Dade twice in the season's final week to clinch the crown. Two weeks later it came down to the Bucs and Sharks again in the FCSAA State Tournament Championship game which Baziquetto-Allen and FSW swept 3-0 to win their first State Title and punch their ticket to their third straight National Tournament. After sweeping their first three matches at the National Tournament, the Bucs reached their first Championship game in program history, where as fate hate it, they stood opposite of Miami Dade once again. After splitting the first two sets, the Bucs ran away with the third and fourth sets to win their first National Championship in program history.
In four seasons with the Bucs, Baziquetto-Allen has amassed an 88-23 overall record and a 41-3 record in Suncoast Conference play while leading FSW to three straight Top 10 finishes at the NJCAA National Tournament. Her overall record in seven years as an NJCAA Head Coach is 154-51.
It is a full circle moment for Baziquetto-Allen who came to the United States in 2004 as an NJCAA student-athlete where she competed for St. Petersburg College before earning her coaching start at Lamar Community College in 2009 as an Assistant, and now, earning the crowning award for NJCAA Head Coach as the NJCAA National Coach of the Year.
Athletic Director George Sanders on Thais Baziquetto-Allen- "We are very fortunate to have Thais leading our program. Not only is she one of the most prepared coaches I have ever been around, she is a tremendous role model for our student-athletes. Having walked in their shoes, coming to the United States to play in the NJCAA, earning a four year scholarship and degree, and now serving as a coach of an NJCAA program, she embodies what we want from, and for our student-athletes. We thought we hit it out of the park with her hire before the 2019 season, and she has continually proved that true for our College and Department for the past four years. I am proud to be her boss, a term she uses to refer to me, but am more proud to be her friend and a small part of her team."