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Kevin Kalish completed his fifth season in 2012 as the head coach at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. It was also his 13^th as part of the men’s soccer staff at SIUE

The 2012 season was one to remember for the Cougars, who completed the campaign with a 13-7-0 record.  Over the course of the 2012 season, SIUE was ranked as high as No. 22 in the nation in both the national rankings and NCAA RPI, while advancing to the MVC title game for the second time in three years before narrowly falling to No. 8 Creighton 2-1.

Kalish’s staff was named the Missouri Valley Conference Coaching Staff of the Year, while Kalish was also recognized as the Midwest Region Coach of the Year by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.

Following the season, the Missouri Valley Conference honored an unprecedented total of ten Cougar student-athletes, including four first team All-MVC selections, five second team All-MVC selections, the Goalkeeper of the Year, and one entry on the MVC All-Freshman team. Four Cougars were also selected to the MVC Men’s Scholar-Athlete team.

National recognition was close to follow, as four Cougars were honored with selection to the NSCAA All-Midwest Region team (the most in the region), while Christian Volesky was named a Third Team All-American by CollegeSportsMadness.com.  Ryan Bauer’s accomplishments on both the field and in the classroom were recognized with his selection as an NSCAA Scholar All-American, carrying a 3.97 GPA in Physics and playing a key role for the Cougars.

A graduate of Saint Louis University, Kalish was a GTE Academic All-American and first team NSCAA All-American for the soccer team.

In 1999, he was named Saint Louis University's Most Outstanding Male Athlete and played in the National College Senior All-Star Bowl. He was Conference USA Player of the Year in his senior season at SLU.

He was a first team All-Midwest and All-Conference selection during his junior and senior seasons at SLU where he led the Billikens to the NCAA Soccer Final Four. He also was twice named All-Big East while at the University of Connecticut during his freshmen and sophomore seasons.

Kalish was drafted by three professional soccer teams. In 1998, he was drafted by the St. Louis Ambush of the National Professional Soccer League and, in 1999, he was drafted by both the Nashville Metros of the United Soccer League and was the third pick of the Kansas City Wizards in the MLS Super Draft.

Kalish, who was named to SLU's Athletic Hall of Fame in 2007 and chosen as a member of SLU's half-century team in 2009, has been coaching since he left the field at SLU. In 1999, he joined the SLU coaching staff as a second assistant. He joined SIUE Coach Ed Huneke and the Cougar staff the following year in 2000.

Kalish earned a bachelor's degree in marketing from SLU in 1999 and master's degree in kinesiology from SIUE in 2006. Kalish and his wife, Sarah, have four children, Sam, Liam, Sylvie, and Tessa.