HEMPSTEAD, New York ?“ Hofstra University Associate Head Football/Defensive Coordinator Coach Greg Gigantino has been selected as one of the 500 scholastic and collegiate assistant coaches to be awarded the second annual AFLAC National Assistant Coach of the Year Award. A panel of judges from Scholastic Coach and Athletic Director magazine, the nation's leading publication for the team athletic marketplace, made the selections.
The criteria in the second annual AFLAC National Assistant Coach of the Year program allowed for coaches to win based on longevity, expertise, contributions to the school and community, and special achievements throughout their careers. The selections were based on nominations made by head coaches, athletic administrators, past and current student-athletes, fans and the Board members themselves. The winners were selected from a field of more than 350,000 coaches across the nation.
Gigantino is starting his 26th year in college coaching and, overall, his 11th year at Hofstra in 2003. ?œI am honored to receive the AFLAC National Assistant Coach of the Year Award,?ť Gigantino said. ?œThis Award recognizes all of the efforts, achievements and long hours that assistant coaches put in to make them and their programs better. On behalf of all assistant coaches, I would like to thank AFLAC for their sponsorship, and Scholastic Coach and Athletic Director magazine for the establishment and promotion of this fine Award.?ť
?œAFLAC is pleased to sponsor the AFLAC National Assistant Coach of the Year Program,?ť Joe Kuechenmeister, AFLAC Senior Vice President stated. ?œAssistant Coaches are the unsung heroes of American sport. So many of us were positively affected by our participation in sports that we wanted to pay tribute to these hard-working, under-recognized coaches who do so much to improve the young people that they work with.?ť
?œWe were extremely impressed with the quality of the nominees,?ť Bruce Weber, Publisher of Scholastic Coach and Athletic Director commented. ?œThe majority of the nominations were prepared in great detail. The nominators obviously felt very deeply about the assistant coaches they were recommending.?ť
AFLAC is one of the world's leading providers of insurance at the worksite. AFLAC insures more than 40 million people worldwide. It is the leading writer of worksite insurance, offering policies to employees at more than 213,000 payroll accounts in the United States. AFLAC is the largest foreign insurer in Japan, insuring one out of every four Japanese households.
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