Sheilah Gulas

The release also stated that she has compiled a winning record in all 20 of her seasons at Ashland, making 12 NCAA Division II tournaments and collecting five Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) titles and three conference Coach of the Year awards. In 1998, her second season, Gulas guided Ashland to a school-record 53 wins and a No. 3 national ranking. The Eagles have collected 40 wins five times during her tenure.

Ashland's athletics website mentions that her coaching career began at Division III Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania. Gulas coached the Gators from 1987-90, and was 123-38. Allegheny was the national runner-up in 1988 and fifth in the country in 1987, 1989 and 1990. Gulas was named the NCAA Division III national coach of the year in 1988 and 1989, and was the regional coach of the year from 1987-89.

Gulas left Allegheny to coach at Wittenberg, another Division III institution. She stayed there from 1991-96. Her 1994 team set a school single-season record for wins (18), and her teams were ranked among the nation's top 10 academic teams every season. Gulas also coached women's soccer at Wittenberg.

In addition to her NFCA Hall-of-Fame induction last December, Gulas was also the recipient of several other honors in 2017, including the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Co-Coach of the Year; and the ASHPY'S Lifetime Achievement Award. The speaker at the Ashland Umpires Association scholarship banquet, Gulas retired after the 2017 season with a 929-487-1 (.656 winning percentage), including a 723-365-1 (.664) mark at Ashland. Fittingly, Gulas' coached two more all-region, one academic All-American and six all-conference players in her final campaign as coach.

Gulas' impact was more beyond the numbers, though. All one has to do to confirm that is watch a video produced by former players and coaches as a tribute to her on the eve of her NFCA Hall-of Fame induction.

Said one former player: "I don't think you'll understand the infinite amount of time you've put in to each and every single one of us here in this program. And as we graduate and as we move on to our professional lives, how that helps mold us into the people we are and helps our decision making as adults."