2022 Banneret Awards: Women’s Coach of the Year

It’s time for the 2022 Black & Gold Banneret Awards!

Each year we pass out a bunch of awards honoring the best athletes, coaches, teams, and moments of the previous UCF Knights athletic year. Our staff votes, and so do you, the fans.

Here’s how it works: We, the staff, put together our nominees for each award. You can listen to our nominations podcast episode here. Over the next couple of weeks, we will open fan voting for each award. Each staff member gets one vote, and the winner of the fan vote will get one vote. If there is a tie, the fan vote will be the tiebreaker. We will announce the winners in two weeks.

Our 2022 Black & Gold Banneret Awards continue with the Women’s Team Coach of the Year award. Here are your nominees:

Todd Dagenais — Volleyball

Dagenais led UCF to a fourth-consecutive AAC conference title to get the automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament and made his second-round appearance for the second time in the past three seasons after taking down Pepperdine, 3-1. UCF had another historic season, finishing 27-7 overall and 19-1 in The American, the most AAC wins in program history.

For his efforts, Dagenais was named the 2022 AAC Coach of the Year.

Katie Abrahamson-Henderson — Basketball

Coach Abe led the Knights to the best season in program history setting the school record for most wins in a season with a 26-4 overall mark, including a 14-1 record in league play, on its way to winning the American Athletic Conference regular-season and tournament championships. The Knights advanced to the NCAA Tournament, where they earned the first NCAA Tournament win in program history beating Florida in the first round.

For her efforts, Coach Abe was named the 2022 AAC Coach of the Year.

Dana Boone — Track and Field

Boone led the Knights to a historic 2022, winning The American’s outdoor and indoor titles in same year for the first time since UCF swept the C-USA titles in 2013, and for just the 3rd time in program history advancing to the NCAA Championships in Eugene.

Boone and her assistant coaches Bryan Jackson and Glenn Smith were named the AAC Coaching Staff of the Year.

Cindy Ball-Malone — Softball

Ball-Malone led the Knights to new heights in 2022, UCF going 49-14 on the season winning the American Athletic Conference regular-season and tournament titles for the first time since 2015 and earning the right to host a regional in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history as the No. 16 national seed. UCF would win the Orlando regional beating topping Michigan to advance to the super regional for the first time in program history.

The Knights finished the season ranked No. 14 in the USA Today/NFCA, their highest finish at the end of a season poll.

Ball-Malone was named the National Coach of the Year by Extra Innings Softball as well as along with her staff was named the American Athletic Conference Coaching Staff of the Year and the NFCA Mideast Region Coaching Staff of the Year.