Chris Whalley Position: Head Coach Experience: Second Season Alma Mater: Mercyhurst College, 2002

Chris Whalley was named the sixth head coach in school history in February of 2010. In his first season at Milwaukee, he helped the team double its win total from the previous year and had two players earn First-Team All-Horizon League honors - the most for the Panthers since 2007. He got things started with a bang, as the Panthers claimed back the Milwaukee Cup with a victory over Marquette in his coaching debut.

Whalley comes to UWM after a highly-successful stint as the head coach at Lees-McRae College in North Carolina. Whalley led the Bobcats to the NCAA Division II national championship game in 2009 while his team ranked eighth in the nation in scoring offense (2.74 goals per game) and ninth nationally in team defense (0.72 goals against).

In his five seasons at Lees-McRae, Whalley compiled a 72-22-11 record.

"I am extremely excited to take over such a prestigious program that has had such fantastic success over the years," Whalley said. "I am hoping we can work very hard to help the team improve and take the program back to its place of prominence in the city, state and nationally."

In leading Lees-McRae to the national-title game, Whalley helped the Bobcats to an 18-3-2 overall mark and a number-one ranking during the year. In fact, he directed his teams to three regular-season conference titles and a pair of league tournament championships in his final three years. Plus, in addition to the run to the national final in 2009, the Bobcats advanced to the Sweet 16 in 2008 and the Elite Eight in 2007.

He won almost 85-percent of his games his final three seasons at LMC, including a 21-win campaign in 2007. In that same span, his teams went 26-2-2 in league play. Whalley's incredible success has been recognized when postseason awards are handed out, as he is a two-time honoree as Conference Carolinas Coach of the Year as well as being named the NSCAA Southeast Region Coach of the Year in 2007. His players have also been recognized regularly, as he has coached nine All-Americans, 21 all-region performers and 11 players that have gone on to play professionally.

In his first five seasons at the NCAA Division II level, Whalley made quite a name for himself, winning almost 75-percent of his career games to rank as the fourth most-winningest active coach at that level.

His teams ranked very high nationally in both total offense and total defense, leading the country in goals per game in 2007, scoring an average of 3.33 per contest. That season, the Bobcats were also ninth nationally in goals against average at 0.65.

In addition to his post with the Bobcats, Whalley served as the head coach of the West Virginia Chaos in the USL Premier Development League.

He joined the coaching staff at Lees-McRae as an assistant after a successful playing career with the Reading Rage of the United States Pro-Select League.

Born in Lincoln, England, Whalley played collegiately at Mercyhurst College in Erie, Penn., reaching the NCAA Tournament twice - including the Final Four in 2002.