BEVERLY KEARNEY, affectionately known as "Coach Bev," is one of those rare visionary stars who believes greatness exists within everyone. Her passion and gift for coaching, consulting, and mentoring has inspired individuals in various professions to achieve their greatest successes. Recognized as one of the most successful coaches in NCAA history, Bev has been inducted to various halls of fame as a sports legend including the prestigious International Women's Sports Hall of Fame and the United States Track and Field Hall of Fame. Her record of seven national championships is the second-highest among female coaches and African-American coaches in all collegiate Division I sports. In 2012, she was honored with a BET Legacy Award for Education alongside the likes of Maya Angelou, Stevie Wonder, Spike Lee, Mariah Carey, and the Tuskegee Airmen. Throughout her career, she has received several additional awards including the Lifetime Achievement Award for Auburn University, marking only the second time in history that a woman has received the award and the first African-American in history to receive the award. Woman's Day magazine named her one of their "50 Women on a Mission" along with such notables as Michelle Obama, Hilary Clinton, and Angelina Jolie. The Buoniconti Foundation honored Bev as a Great Sports Legend. She joins other alumni legends like Michael Jordan, Dean Smith, and Muhammad Ali. Bev has served as Head Coach of the University of Texas and the University of Florida, and as an Assistant Coach at the University of Toledo, the University of Tennessee, and Indiana State University. The men and women she coached throughout her thirty-year career stand out as America's best athletes with over a 95% graduation rate, 15+ Olympians, several World, Collegiate, National, and American record holders, and more than 250 All-Americans. Bev's many titles do little justice for her ability to motivate, empower, and realize matchless goals repeatedly and consistently. High expectations and uncompromising faith in people could result in her being viewed as tough. But Bev believes in love first, both tough love and self-love. Her mantra is, "Believe it, Speak it, Do it." She believes intensely that one must commit to and become fully invested in one's own dreams and the realization of one's personal, cultural, spiritual, and physical goals. Bev has shared her winning principles nationally and internationally as a speaker and consultant on all of the major television networks including HBO and ESPN. She has been featured repeatedly in magazines and journals including People, USA Today, Black Enterprise, and Women's Health. Bev has also been an honored guest at The White House. Beyond her work as a coach, Beverly founded Mirror of Magic & In Pursuit of Dreams Performance Consultants, which is a results-based consulting firm specializing in the development of extraordinary leaders by assisting individuals and organizations in achieving greatness. The company allows Bev to draw on her philosophy and use her skills to expand beyond the athletic arena. The program has assisted those in athletics, business, education, politics, and entertainment to discreetly and seamlessly promote winning cultures, successful solutions, and superior focus for the creation of nothing less than greatness. Bev has devoted her life to helping people who want to help themselves, discover their own goals, and dig deep to achieve. She believes passionately that everybody can be successful. She lives this model every day through wins and losses, triumphing gracefully through obstacles of all kinds. Beverly Kearney is a living example that greatness is still possible despite extreme obstacles. Through the development of inner-power, laser focus, excellence of leadership, and proven methods, she has come to realize and teach that a positive focus can outweigh and outlive the most impossible circumstances.
