Rhett Soliday

Rhett Soliday was named the 2013-2014 NAIA National Coach of the Year after leading the Vanguard Lions to the 2014 NAIA National Championship. Soliday has been Head Coach of the Vanguard Basketball program since 2010. Prior to Vanguard, Soliday had served as an assistant coach at University of California, Irvine for four years and at Concordia University for four years.

Soliday's first experience with the Golden State Athletic Conference came as a player when he transferred to Concordia from Big Bend Community College. He joined the coaching ranks immediately after a successful two-year playing career for the Eagles, where he earned NAIA Scholar-Athlete and GSAC Player of the Week, among other awards. Becoming one of the youngest head assistants in the country at the time (22 years old), Soliday helped Head Coach Ken Ammann and the staff turn the Concordia men's basketball program into a national champion. He was the lead recruiter for the Eagles as well as carrying offensive and defensive duties on the court, scouting and game strategy, academic monitoring and mentoring, and strength and conditioning duties off the court. In his four-year term at CUI, the Eagles were the 2003 NAIA Champions, 2004 NAIA Runner-ups, 2005 GSAC Tournament Champions and 2005 NAIA Tournament participants.

Soliday moved on to the NCAA Division I level to join the staff of Head Coach Pat Douglass at UC Irvine, where he served as an assistant coach for the next four years. His recruiting efforts paid off once again as the Anteaters made it to the Big West Conference Tournament Championship game in 2008, for only the second time in school history. UCI was a BWC Tournament semifinalist in 2007 and a BWC Tournament participant in 2010, while finishing fourth in the BWC in 2009. In addition to recruiting, Soliday was active in every area of practice and instruction, as well as scouting opponents and game day preparation, and monitoring and mentoring players off the court.