St. Thomas men’s soccer coach, Jon Lowery, was voted MIAC Men’s Soccer Coach of the Year for the 2019 season, his third honor in the last four seasons.

Lowery received the award after he took the Tommies to the conference playoff finals, sharing the MIAC Championship with Gustavus.

“I view this as a staff award, not just a head coaches award,” Lowery said. “I think anytime an individual gets recognized, it’s a combination of everyone’s efforts.”

This award is voted on by the other head soccer coaches in the conference . The MIAC office sends a ballot out for all men’s soccer coaches to vote on who they think is the best coach; they can’t vote for themselves.

Lowery has created a strong team culture that emphasizes having self-motivated young men on the team. The coaching staff has a strong relationship with the players and the team has a lot of fun Lowery said.

“Implementing a culture that’s going to provide the same success,” Lowery said. “That goes to every detail… that’s on the field, that’s off the field, in the classroom, it’s at practice and games.”

Junior midfielder Sam Holton described Lowery as driven and focused.

“You can tell in his eyes on gameday that he’s ready to go, and he expects us to be. His mind is always on getting better,” Holton said.

Lowery and his assistants, Tom Kleczewski and Jeff Frykholm,are constantly working to make the team better.

“He knows what he is doing,” Holton said. “He kind of has a formula with the other coaches that have been successful in DIII soccer,” Holton said.

Rae Beaner can be reached at rnbeaner696@stkates.edu.