Bethel College Fills Men’s Soccer Position
Matt Swinea, Sports Information Director
MCKENZIE, Tenn. – Bethel College Athletic Director Glenn Hayes has named Melvin Belong as the school’s new men’s soccer coach. The position was recently vacated by previous coach Rob Cummings who took a position at Mid-Western State University in Wichita Falls, Tex.
Coach Belong has served as an assistant coach of the Bethel College women’s team for the past five years. During those five years, he has been a part of several women’s teams that have been nationally ranked, including this past year’s team that finished #13 in the nation. He played two years on the Bethel men’s team and received both his bachelors and masters degrees from Bethel. “I am extremely excited to be named the new men’s head soccer coach at Bethel College. I am honored and look forward to the challenge of making this program into a national powerhouse. I will work to develop our players into complete individuals in academics, athletics and society,” said Coach Belong when he was officially named the new coach.
Coach Hayes said that he is very pleased with the hiring of Coach Belong. “We obviously are very pleased and excited to have Coach Belong as our new men’s soccer coach. Coach Belong brings integrity, experience and a great work ethic to the program. We look for him to continue to build on the tradition of men’s soccer at Bethel. We had a difficult choice to make with the quality applicants we had and we know that Coach Belong was the right choice,” added Coach Hayes.
The men’s team is coming off it best season in school history with a record of 15-4-2. They captured the TranSouth Conference Tournament Championship in their first year returning to the conference and finished NAIA Region XI semi-finalists. They also reached their highest national ranking in school history during the regular season at #17 in 2006.
Bethel College has hired Melvin Belong (r) to be the Head Coach of the Men’s Soccer team. Athletics Director Glenn Hayes (l) congratulated Coach Belong on his appointment.