Ben Belleman

Head Men's Soccer Coach

937-766-3247 or e-mail Coach Belleman

Ben Belleman is in his seventh season as head men's soccer coach at Cedarville University. He has guided his alma mater to 80 victories, two NAIA Region IX Final Four appearances, four NCCAA Midwest Region championships, and his 2006 squad was the NCCAA national runner-up.

Belleman's teams have been recognized not only for their quality play on the field, but for their sportsmanlike behavior while doing so. The Yellow Jackets have earned the prestigious Sportsmanship Award at the NCCAA National Tournament three times. CU has also been voted by the league's coaches to receive the coveted American Mideast Conference Fair Play Team Award on two occasions.

Prior to Belleman's arrival, the Jackets had won 15 matches in a single season only one time in 38 years of soccer. His teams have accomplished the feat three times and have averaged 13.3 victories per campaign. He notched a school-record 16 wins during his very first season in 2001 and CU hosted their first NAIA playoff match in 23 years.

Belleman is a four-time NCCAA Midwest Region Coach of the Year and he was tabbed the American Mideast Conference South Division Coach of the Year in 2005. His 2002 squad was ranked as high as 16th in the NAIA which is the highest rating in school history. The Jackets were ranked No. 1 in the final 2005 NCCAA national poll.

Belleman came to CU after recording 256 victories during a 21-year high school coaching career. He spent 18 years at Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy in Ohio where he served as athletic director and won 205 matches as the boys' head soccer coach. He previously spent three years coaching and teaching at Temple Christian School in Michigan.

Belleman developed CVCA into one of the top high school soccer programs in Northeast Ohio. The Royals, who compete in the OHSAA, did not have a losing season in his last 12 years and they won the tough Tri-County Soccer League five times in the first seven years the conference was in existence.

Belleman took one team to the Ohio Division II semifinals and seven squads to the quarterfinals. He was a two-time Ohio Division II Coach of the Year and was accorded the same honor for Division III following the 2000 season. He was active in all facets of high school soccer and is a past president of the Ohio Scholastic Soccer Coaches Association. For his longtime contribution to the association, he was chosen for induction into the OSSCA Hall of Fame in 2005.

CVCA's soccer team was a five-time recipient of the Sandor Reinor Sportsmanship Award as selected by the Greater Akron Soccer Officials Association. Belleman was presented the 1988 Ron Pinschenshum Memorial Award for outstanding character by the OSSCA.

A total of 13 CVCA players earned all-state honors and 46 went on to play college soccer. Belleman coached three times in the Greater Akron All-Star Game and was part of the 1995 State All-Star Game coaching staff.

Belleman enjoyed a four-year soccer career at Cedarville from 1975 through 1978. He was voted Player of the Year in the Mid-Ohio Conference as a senior from his defender position and is one of only three players in Yellow Jacket soccer history to be so honored.

Belleman, who is an assistant professor in the Department of Exercise and Sport Science, earned a degree in physical education from Cedarville in 1979. He also earned a master's in physical education from the University of Akron in 1990.

Ben and his wife, Amy, reside in Cedarville and have three children: a son, Andrew, who was a four-year Yellow Jacket soccer player for his father and is currently an assistant men's soccer coach at Wilmington College, resides in Wilmington, Ohio with his wife, Tiffany. The Bellemans also have a daughter, Chelsea, 19; and younger son, Alex, 17.

The Belleman File