WESTERVILLE, Ohio – Otterbein University alum and former football player Derek Hone was recently awarded for his efforts as head coach of the Beechcroft High School varsity boys' soccer team in Columbus.

Hone, who recently completed his second year at the helm of the Beechcroft boys' soccer program, received the United Soccer Coaches first-annual High School Coach of Significance Award in September.

The accolade acknowledges high school coaches that go above and beyond by using their coaching position to teach life lessons and provide opportunities to develop outstanding young men and women.

Hone was one of 23 coaches recognized across as many states, with all nominations coming from a United Soccer Coaches member followed by a review from the selection committee comprised of national, regional and state representation.

"I was completely shocked to hear I had won the award," Hone said. "I honestly didn't even know I had been nominated. It's a great honor and is nice to see our team's efforts being noticed on a national level."

Hone, a 2001 graduate of then Otterbein College, is in his 13th year as a special education teacher in Columbus City Schools, including the last 11 at Beechcroft, with a good amount of coaching experience under his belt.

Hone's journey to Otterbein began after transferring from Muskingum University in 1999, this following two years of stellar play as a member of the Muskie men's soccer team. Hone enjoyed his best season in 1998 as the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) leader in assists, serving as team captain his sophomore year when he was also voted first team all-conference.

Through two full seasons at Muskingum, Hone owned multiple program records including most assists in a single game (4) and season (10), as well as the career mark for assists (24). All three records are still held by Hone today.

After suffering a hamstring injury which limited him to five games during Muskingum's 1999 campaign, Hone decided to transfer to Otterbein and planned to finish out the remainder of his career as a student-athlete. With the OAC transfer rule in play, Hone had to sit out a year at Otterbein before returning to the pitch, which is when allergies and frequent issues with asthma sidelined him and opened up a new opportunity to resume his athletic career.

"I was no longer fit enough to play like I knew I still could, so I decided to kick for football," Hone cited. "I talked with Coach Alt and he gave me the opportunity to be on the team and compete as one of the team's kickers. That was a new avenue for me."

Hone, a second team All-OAC pick in 2001, went on to set two long-standing program records for the Cardinals in his inaugural season by twice converting eight extra points in a single game (2001 - Mount St. Joseph and Heidelberg), before connecting on the longest field goal in program history on a 50-yard attempt at Mount Union.

"I also made two 45-yard field goals that year," Hone added. "Playing soccer at Muskingum and then football at Otterbein gave me the opportunity to witness the inner workings of each group and the psychology behind each coaching staff." 

After starting his coaching career with various travel soccer clubs in the early 2000s, including around the area with Otterbein head women's soccer coach Brandon Koons, Hone landed his first head coaching job at the high-school level in 2005 at nearby Big Walnut in Sunbury. That season he led the Eagles to an 8-7-1 record with the lowest female enrollment

in the team's division of the Ohio Capital Conference (OCC), as well as one of the lowest in all of Division II across the state.

"That group was feisty and hungry and fun to be around," Hone remarked. "Those girls remind me of this current group of boys at Beechcroft. Having coached both boys and girls soccer is rewarding and it's always been fun to incorporate the different psychologies involved in coaching both."

While Big Walnut was a short stint for Hone, he immediately translated his experience and success to his alma mater Westerville South High School where he took over the boys soccer program beginning in 2006.  

At South, Hone logged five years at the helm and led the Wildcats to the OCC title in his initial season, and as a result was named OCC Coach of the Year en route to advancing the team to runner-up at the district finals.

The following season proved to be an intersect between Hone's current coaching situation and a future destination, as he began teaching at Beechcroft in August of 2007 while still leading the boys soccer team at South.

"I believe I even scheduled Beechcroft in 2009," Hone noted. "At the end of the next season I stepped away from Westerville South after we played our last match in the district semifinals at Westerville North. Unfortunately we lost in a shootout that season, but after five years I decided it was time to take some time away from the game to focus on my personal life."

Hone had been coaching either club or high school soccer since his college days, gaining a great deal of experience at both levels, but decided to step away from the game he had dedicated so much time to over the last several years.

The birth of Hone's son, Gracen, in the fall of 2012 proved to be an exciting time and life change for both he and his family. Or as Hone called it, "the best thing that has ever happened to me."

During that time, Hone was still was able to serve as a trainer coach with the Classics Eagles Soccer Club, a local year-round soccer program based in Lewis Center. Over three years later Hone landed back in the head coaching ranks, once again in familiar territory.

"With my son then over three-years-old, and the head job open in 2016 at Beechcroft, I decided to try and start coaching again." Hone said. "I knew we had a passionate group of boys in the building and it seemed like the right time to get involved again."
 
After taking over at the helm of the Beechcroft boys' soccer team in May of 2016, Hone led the Cougars to a 16-3 record in his inaugural season while capturing the Columbus City North and Columbus City Championships.

"In my first year at Beechcroft our team had 22 players from 18 different countries," Hone said. "Right from the start we had a lot of team discussions on communication, goals, and desires. We sat down and talked about different cultures and religions, what they each ate for different snacks, things like that. We had so many different religions represented from Christians, to Muslims, to Buddhists, to Hindus. But were all on the same page that faith and family come first, then soccer."

The Cougars won the program's first-ever Division II Central District title last fall, while Hone earned additional coaching accolades being voted Columbus City Coach of the Year and Central District Coach of the Year.

This year proved to be much of the same during the regular-season portion of Beechcroft's schedule, as the team went 8-6-1 overall and 6-0-1 in the City North division, and captured the program's second-straight division title and league championship crown.

The title game featured a rematch from 2016 with Columbus West, which ended in favor of the Cougars (3-2) following a wild 10-9 shootout after double overtime. Beechcroft, the eight-seed in this year's OHSAA Division II Tournament, exited the postseason afer a 4-3 loss in the second round to Jonathan Alder.

"We played a challenging schedule this year with most of our losses coming to state-ranked teams and much bigger schools," Hone said. "Our hope was to get back to the district finals, but we knew there are other really good teams we had to beat to get there."

Now with two years under his belt at the helm of the Beechcroft boys' soccer team, Hone has demonstrated quickly the truth of how hard work, resiliency, and experience build the kind of coaches that take teams to the next level.

Hone only hopes that his team's success on the field through his first two seasons will spur a long-standing tradition for Beechcroft boys' soccer for years to come.