University of Central Arkansas men's soccer head coach Ross Duncan has been named the Marvin Delph Sportsman of the Year, announced at the annual awards banquet on Sunday afternoon. The honor marks back-to-back years a UCA representative earned the award with basketball standout Jordan Howard receiving the honor in 2017.

This award is named in honor of Conway native and Arkansas Razorback legend Marvin Delph. It is bestowed annually to both a male and female winner designated as the Conway Sportspersons of the Year.

Now having spent almost a decade in Arkansas, Duncan and his family feel right at home. However that was not always the case. Duncan said he thought his time in Conway was just a pit stop for his future.

"I grew up in Oregon and coached in Vermont. I had a chance to come here and I thought I was going to be here for three years at most," Duncan said. "Dr. Teague put some trust in me as a young assistant and I couldn't be happier that it worked out this way. We built a family here, some of my best friends in the world are right here in Conway."

As the associate head coach in 2011, the Bears opened their season opener with a win. Unfortunately the early excitement from the victory was quickly erased as they were held without a win for the next 11 matches. The team finished the year with a 2-12-4 record and UCA Athletic Director Brad Teague knew a change was needed to revitalize the program. Duncan was that change.

"Coach Duncan had impressed me with his thoughtfulness, maturity and his intentional nature to support the whole student-athlete," Teague said. "He promotes the development of great leadership traits for our young men."

Duncan was named head coach in 2012 and he said he would never forget the first conversation he had with Teague after the promotion.

"Dr. Teague told me that there were a few ways to approach this," Duncan stated. "He said that the quick fix was to bring in some mercenary type players to try and get this thing turned around quickly or we could reset the character and build the culture of this program the right way. He encouraged me to take that second approach and that's what we've done."

Even with the decision to reset the program, Duncan's first season (2012) was the squad's most successful since 2006. UCA finished the year with eight wins and earned its first Missouri Valley Conference Tournament berth.

After a few years of successful recruiting, the Bears finished the 2016 year posting a 5-0-2 record in their final seven regular season games to earn the fourth seed in the MVC Tournament. They fell just short in the first round to host Missouri State, losing on penalty kicks, but that was beginning of the most successful stretch in program history.

Central Arkansas found itself in a familiar position in the MVC Tournament against Bradley the following season. The growth and progress the program had made was on full display as UCA redeemed themselves from 2016 and outlasted the Braves on penalty kicks to advance to its first MCV Championship game. The finale was just as thrilling against Missouri State. The battle of the Bears went to UCA as they advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in the school's Division-I history.

Duncan and his squad followed it up with a 2018 campaign that brought even more successes. The Bears finished with an 8-6-4 record and brought home another NCAA Tournament berth and MVC Championship trophy.

The Corvallis, Ore. native will lead the Bears in 2019 marking his ninth season at UCA. He will look to his five new seniors to help lead the program to another strong showing and its third straight NCAA Tournament berth.