(Canton, N.Y.)- SUNY Canton has hired an experienced NCAA Division III head coach to lead its men's soccer program.

Tim Penrod takes over for Mark Howlett, who resigned this past spring after three years leading the program.

"Tim has a wealth of experience and a history of success as an NCAA head coach," said SUNY Canton Athletic Director Randy Sieminski. "We've got a tough schedule this fall with teams like St. Lawrence University, R.I.T., Union and Nazareth, so it should be an exciting challenge for him and our team. It will be fun watching the continued growth of our men's soccer program."

Penrod has spent the past six years as head men's soccer coach at Southern Vermont College. The Central New York native led the Mountaineers to their fourth consecutive berth in the New England Collegiate Conference tournament in 2012. In 2011, Penrod was named the NECC Coach of the Year after Southern Vermont won the regular season conference championship. The Mountaineers also qualified for the ECAC New England tournament that season for the first time in school history.

Penrod has been Southern Vermont's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee chair and served as game day manager, work-study coordinator and facilities coordinator. He was also the National Soccer Coaches Association of America Conference Representative for the NECC.

In addition to coaching at the collegiate level, Penrod has been the head coach of the U13 boys team in the Olympic Development Program in the Southern Tier; has been the head goalkeeping coach with the Peak Performance Soccer Academy in Amherst, Mass; and he has also worked at the Ray Reid Soccer School and No. 1 Soccer Camps in Connecticut, the Lighting Soccer Camps in Milton, Mass., and Camp Canadensis soccer camp in Pennsylvania.

Penrod holds a NSCAA Regional Coaching Diploma, an NSCAA National Coaching Diploma, an NSCAA Level I Goalkeeper Diploma, and an NSCAA Advanced National Diploma.

Penrod earned a bachelor's degree in secondary education-social studies from Juniata College, where played four years as a goalkeeper with the men's soccer program.

"I am incredibly excited for the opportunity to continue my coaching career at SUNY Canton," said Penrod. "I have a tremendous amount of respect for the progress this program has made over the last few seasons under Coach Howlett, and I am very humbled to have been chosen to continue the good work he started. Looking ahead, I cannot wait to work with such a tremendous group of young men from around the world. My goal is to maintain a winning culture, both on and off the field."

The SUNY Canton men's soccer team, who earned a berth in the ECAC tournament for the first time in school history in 2012, will face another challenging schedule this year against some of the top teams in the East, including home dates with St. Lawrence University, Union College, Morrisville State College, and Alfred University, and road contests at Elmira College, Nazareth College, RIT, Houghton College, and SUNYIT.