GLOUCESTER, Mass. – The American Hockey Coaches Association (AHCA) has selected UWRF's Joe Cranston as the 2023-24 CCM/AHCA Division III Women's Coach of the Year, announced Thursday, March 14.

Cranston earns his first career National Coach of the Year award, and is the first WIAC head coach to receive the honor.

Cranston was voted the WIAC Coach of the Year and has guided the Falcons to a program record undefeated season at 29-0, leading the Falcons to their sixth NCAA Tournament "Frozen Four" berth in program history. UWRF defeated UW-Eau Claire to secure its fifth consecutive WIAC O'Brien Cup Championship, earning an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, defeating Gustavus Adolphus College in the quarterfinals.
 
In his 25th season leading the Falcons, Cranston is the first and only head women's hockey coach in UWRF history and has 490 career wins, the fourth most in NCAA Division III women's hockey history.
 
Earning his first career National Coach of the Year award, he has been named the runner-up three times, and is a nine-time Conference Coach of the Year. Under Cranston, 40 Falcons have earned All-America status, including AHCA Players of the Year Dani Sibley in 2017 and Callie Hoff in 2022.
 
A 1990 graduate of UW-River Falls, Cranston began his coaching career in his hometown of Fergus Falls, Minn., and then coached the boys' high school team in Somerset, Wis., for over a decade before starting the UWRF women's hockey varsity program in 1999.

The Falcons (29-0, 12-0 WIAC) are the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and host Adrian College this Friday, March 15 in the NCAA Semifinals.