Anagnost signs three-year contract extension

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Central Michigan head soccer coach Tom Anagnost will remain in Mount Pleasant for another three years.

Anagnost, a two-time Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year, signed a three-year contract extension Thursday that will keep him at CMU through the 2012 season. He will earn $57,600 next season with standard cost of living increases for the following two years.

“We’re really pleased to have Tom as our head coach well into the future and this long-term agreement is a commitment to him and to our women’s soccer program,” said CMU Athletics Director Dave Heeke. “He’s done an outstanding job as our leader and obviously we’ve had a tremendous amount of success on the field but equally as important, the program has been outstanding in the classroom and in the community.”

In 2009, his first full season as head coach, Anagnost led CMU to a 17-4-3 overall record and its first NCAA tournament victory, a 2-0 upset against No. 24 Purdue. The Chippewas finished the MAC schedule undefeated, posting a 9-0-2 conference record, and won the MAC regular season and tournament championships.

The team also continues to excel in the classroom. The Chippewas posted a 3.73 team grade-point average for the 2009-10 academic year and have earned the nation’s highest GPA for five consecutive seasons.

“I’m very appreciative that they want me here for an extended period of time,” Anagnost said. “I’m very happy with the progress of our soccer program and want to keep it going forward. We’ve improved fairly dramatically since I’ve first got there, but I think academically we’ve improved too.”

He was named interim head coach midway through the 2008 season after former coach Anthony DiTucci resigned from his position amid allegations of sexual harassment from two players. Despite the off the field distractions, CMU finished the season with a 12-5-3 overall record and Anagnost earned MAC Coach of the Year honors.

“Certainly the success on the field is very much an important component, but also Tom stepped into the role and has done just an outstanding job of bringing stability to our program and helping it grow to a championship-level program,” Heeke said. “Over those two seasons that he’s served as the head coach, he’s certainly illustrated that he is the right person for the job and we want him here as long as we can keep him.”

Anagnost came to CMU as an assistant coach in 2007 after spending four and a half years as coach of the boys’ and girls’ soccer teams at Flint Powers Catholic High School.