NCNA COACHES RECOGNITION
The Coaches part of NCNA Region are an intergral part in the success of their team. Several of them have devoted decades of their life in order to nurture their students and teams. Every now an then we witness coaches and their teams making a splash on the grander World Finals stage as well.
We admire all of your selfless service by recognizing your participations and achievements throughout the years below.
COACHES RECOGNITION
20+ YEARS OF SERVICE
Tom Kleen
Briar Cliff University
Started as a coach in 1981.
Years team advanced: 1994 (the year the finals were in Phoenix)
Special memory: Going to the World Finals (I think in 1994). We didn’t do that well, but were the smallest school there, and I like to tell people that we solved as many problems as MIT did.
David Reed
Creighton University
Has served as a coach since 1993 at Creighton University, Dickinson College and Duke University.
In 2021 his team advanced to North American Championship.
Andy Poe
Northern Michigan University
Has been coaching since 1999
Larry Pyeatt
South Dakota School of Mines and Technology
Has been coaching since 1999 with previous stints at Texas Tech and South Dakota School of Mines and Technology.
Years team advanced: Texas Tech: 1999 and 2002, SDSMT: 2017, 2018, and 2019
Special memory: Competed in 1989 world finals. Third place. It was such a thrill!
Kevin Brunner
Graceland University
Started as a coach in 2000.
Special memory: The experience for the students is always outstanding!
Dieter van Melkebeek
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Has served as a coach every year since he started in 2001.
Special memory: I didn’t know about the competition until I was volunteered to be the coach.
15+ YEARS OF SERVICE
Stephen Fyfe
Central College
First time coached in 2005.
Favorite memories: My best memories are just hearing the teams talk about the problems after the contest with each other and hearing each team tell the other teams about their approach to some of the problems. Every year they are both excited and frustrated at the same time!
Ahilan Sivasamy
UWO Fox Cities
Coaching since 2007 (UW Fox Valley (Former name)).
Years team advanced: Not yet, we are two year community campus. Students enjoy taking part in programming contests.
Favorite memories: Good collaborating in teamwork and coding practice.
Jeff Ifland
University of Nebraska – Lincoln
Coaching every year since 2007.
Years team advanced: 2007, 2009, 2010, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021
Baozhong Tian
Bemidji State University
Coaching since 2008.
Previously coached at
- Azusa Pacific University
- West Virginia University Institute of Technology
- University of Wisconsin Platteville
- Bemidji State University
Favorite memories: I was really happy when one of my teams solved 3 problems and ranked top 30 in the region.
San Skulrattanakulchai
Gustavus Adolphus College
Coaching since 2010.
Favorite memories: Some years we had very enthusiastic teams. Their enthusiasm was infectious.
10+ YEARS OF SERVICE
Nathan Backman
Buena Vista University
Coaching every year since 2012.
Mark Brodie
Simpson College
Coaching continuously since 2012.
Favorite memories: These are not memories specifically from the contests, but it’s always impressed me when students continue working on the problems that they couldn’t solve, even weeks after the contest. That is obviously a very good sign for their future. Also, it’s amazing how much students improves if they compete in these contests every year starting as freshmen. Even students who are not initially very strong at programming improve greatly.
Anne Denton
North Dakota State University
Coaching continuously since 2012.
Favorite memories: The organization and quality of this event impressed me the first year I coached and has done so ever since.
5+ YEARS OF SERVICE
Austin O’Brien
Dakota State University
Coaching since 2015.
Years team advanced: 2019
Laura Brown
Michigan Technological University
Coaching since 2017.
Years team advanced:
- 2020-21 team went to NADC
- teams went to Worlds in 2013-14, 2007-08, 2004-05, 2003-04
Favorite memories: hope to get back to regional sites with other universities
Shana Watters
University of Minnesota
Coaching since 2018.
Favorite memories: We now have a campus life student group called the Competitive Programming Club (CPP). Daniel, a graduate student, was instrumental in making this group happen along with the organizing undergraduates. Shana has taken more of a backseat role in coaching since the students have self organized to work together and practice together. Shana considers herself a co-coach of Daniel instead of the other way around. Shana does all of the administrative stuff like running the site and ensuring we are able to have a great competition day together (finds the money). We enjoy seeing our students participate in this wonderful program. Shout out to Daniel and all of the teams!
1+ YEARS OF SERVICE
Daniel Keyes
University of Minnesota
Coaching since 2019.
Favorite memories: (See Shana Watters’s reply)
Jason Sauppe (pronunciation: “Suh – Pay”)
University of Wisconsin-La Crosse
Coaching since 2019.
Peter Ohmann
College of St. Benedict / St. John’s University
Coaching since 2019.
James Lembke
Milwaukee School of Engineering
Coaching since the year 2020.
Years team advanced: 2020 NAC
Md Mahbubur Rahman
Iowa State University
Coaching since 2021.
Hanku Lee
Minnesota State University Moorhead
Coaching since 2021.
Ray Leach
Augustana University
Coaching since 2021.