Athletic Staff Biographies

Kacey Bingham was born in Phoenix, Arizona and graduated from Thunderbird High School in 2002.  During high school, she played with the Sereno Soccer Club and won four state championships.  Bingham also played within the Olympic Development Program.  After high school, she went on to play soccer for Arizona State University.  In 2006, she received her Bachelor of Science degree in Recreation Management.

Bingham is entering her fourth year as the Women's Head Coach at Paradise Valley Community College.  She served as the Assistant Coach for the Pumas during the 2004 and 2005 seasons.  During her first year as head coach, she led the Pumas to their first ACCAC Championship and was named ACCAC Coach of the Year.  For the past three seasons the Pumas have been ranked in the top 15 in the nation by the NJCAA.  Bingham has also produced an NJCAA All-American for all three seasons that she has coached.  The 2008 Pumas team broke several school records.  Last season, the team won 18 games and scored 69 goals.  Bingham’s record while coaching at PVCC is 44-8-5.

Since 2004, Bingham also coaches at Horizon High School.  Bingham is also currently coaching with the SC del Sol soccer club.     

Kacey and her husband, Kyle, reside in Phoenix, AZ.  They have one son, Braxton, who was born in February 2007.

Coach Bingham holds her USSF National “D” License.
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Nick Candrea was born in White Plains, New York, and then moved to New Orleans, Louisiana where he lived until 1960 when he then made his new home in Phoenix, Arizona. Upon graduation from Sunnyslope High School, he then went to Glendale Community College on a baseball scholarship. After 2 years at GCC he spent 4 years in the United States Air Force. He then attended ASU and completed his degree in education. His first high school teaching was at Moon Valley High School where he spent one year as a member of the Physical Education Department as well as coaching football and baseball.

His past thirty years have been spent at Washington High School where he has been Head of the Physical Education Department and during those years he has coached football, has been the Head Baseball coach for 28 years, Head Softball coach and Head Golf coach.

He has coached two State Championship teams: 1986 Baseball Championship and 1988 Golf Championship. In Nick's tenure of teaching and coaching he has accomplished the following: Skyline Region Coach of the Year in baseball, softball, and golf. 1986 he was the Arizona Baseball Coach of the Year. He has been North All-Star Baseball Coach 4 times. He was inducted into the Arizona Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2008. Prior to taking over the Softball program he was the men’s Golf coach at PVCC.

Nick currently lives in Peoria, Arizona with his wife Staci. He has six children: Scott, Christy, Jeff, Whitney, Kelsey, and Cody. He retired after 35 years of teaching. He is an avid golfer and New York Yankee fan.

Troy is back for his second year with the PVCC Baseball program.  Troy spent summer 2009 as assistant coach of the New York Collegiate Baseball League Amsterdam Mohawks where they won the League Championship.  Troy will be the head coach of the NYCBL Mohawk Valley Diamond Dawgs this coming summer.

Prior to joining the Pumas in 2009, he spent five seasons with the Arcadia High School Titans.  He began as an Assistant Coach at Arcadia (2004-2006) and was co-Head Coach for the 2007-2008 season.  Troy was honored as the East Sky Region Co-Coach of the Year in 2008 when the Titans, for the first time in school history, won the Regional Championship.

Since 2007, Troy has been the Head Coach of the Los Angeles Angels Arizona Scout team which went 23-7 in 2008.  The team played in the 2007 Connie Mack Regional Tournament where they placed third.  Troy has also coached for the Surprise Fighting Falcons (2005); St. John & Paul High School in Ohio (2002-2003) and for his alma mater, Northwest Missouri State University, (1999-2002).

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Bio Forthcoming

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Greg is back for his second season with the PVCC Softball program.  Prior to joining the Pumas, he coached at the High School level here in the Valley.  Greg coached for one year at Cactus Shadows High School.  Greg also coached for three years with the Falcons Club Team located in Cave Creek.

Greg works extensively with the outfielders and slap-hitters.  As a former outfielder, as well as pitcher, he puts a lot of time and effort into the Puma defense.  A former three sport athlete, he assists with PVCC’s recruiting which is something he is extremely passionate about.  Greg is an avid golfer and is currently a student majoring in Geography.  He is pursuing a career as a Division I softball coach. 

Todd Lehman began coaching at Paradise Valley Community College in 1999 as an assistant track & field coach. In that time he has coached 24 individual national champions, 78 All-Americans and nine Academic All-Americans. His athletes have set NJCAA national records 11 times during his tenure.

Lehman was a former Arizona high school state champion and state record holder before attending the University of Southern California. While at USC he was a four-time letterman and co-captain of the track & field team. He began his collegiate coaching career as a volunteer assistant in 1992 at USC. He then came to PVCC after coaching stints at the US Air Force Academy (’93-’95) and Indiana State University (’95-’97). While coaching at USAFA and ISU, Lehman coached three NCAA All-Americans, five conference champions, and five school records.

In 1998, Lehman opened the Kiss the Sky Pole Vault Center in Phoenix, which he continues to operate out of PVCC. He gives instruction to pole vaulters of all levels and ages, including some of the best in the world.

A USA Track and Field Level II coach, Lehman was selected as the 2004 National Collegiate Pole Vault Coach of the Year in 2004 by the USATF Pole Vault Development Committee. He was also voted the 2005 Indoor Track & Field Assistant Coach of the Year by the NJCAA Track Coaches Association. Lehman serves as the Canyon Region Chairman of the USATF Pole Vault Development Committee, overseeing the four corner states.

In addition to his coaching, Lehman holds down multiple duties in the PVCC athletic department, including his role as the coordinator for student-athlete academic success.

Lehman has two sons, Lucas and Maxwell.

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Jackie joins the PVCC Softball program after a career in both the collegiate and professional softball ranks.  She was an assistant coach at West Texas A & M University (2007-2008) and Shadow Mountain High School (2007).   
Before coaching, Jackie played professionally in the German Softball League for the Neunkirchen Nightmares (2008) and in the Italian Women's League with the New Bologna softball team (2006).  She also played with the Akron Racers of the National ProFastpitch League (2005).  
In college, Jackie was Miami University’s career leader in wins (63), strikeouts (672), innings pitched (793.0) appearances (148) and games started (106). She was twice named Mid-America Conference Tournament MVP (2003 & 2005) in addition to guiding the school to its first ever MAC Tournament Championship and NCAA Tournament appearance (2005).  She was named 2nd team NFCA All-Mideast Region and 1st team All-MAC (2005) after garnering 2nd team All-Conference accolades in both of the previous two seasons.

Silcox grew up in LaCrosse, Wisconsin and came to Phoenix in 1977. After two years at Glendale CC he transferred to and graduated from the University of California, Riverside in 1981 with a degree in Political Science. Silcox earned his Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership from Arizona State University West.

Silcox was the women’s basketball coach (18 years) and assistant athletics director (11years) at Glendale CC before moving to PVCC in August of 2002. Coach Silcox took 3 teams to NJCAA national basketball tournaments and remains proud of the numerous achievements by the student athletes and teams he coached.

He and wife Denise were married in 1987. They are the proud parents of two children, son Andrew (1990) and daughter Kaitlin (1992).

Rick came to the Pumas in 2007 from Chandler-Gilbert CC where he was the Assistant Athletic Trainer. He earned his bachelor's degree in Athletic Training at Vanguard University, where he also played intercollegiate soccer. He graduated from A.T. Still University in 2007 with a master’s degree in Sports Healthcare.

Rick manages over 150 athletes in 12 sports at PVCC. He is also adjunct faculty teaching health and exercise science classes. In Fall 2008 he became an Approved Clinical Instructor (ACI) for athletic training students from Grand Canyon University.  The GCU students are enrolled in an athletic training program and each semester are assigned to different levels of athletic training competencies.  In 2009 his master's thesis was accepted for poster presentation at the National Athletic Trainers Association (NATA) annual meeting in San Antonio, TX. The presentation was titled “Evidence-Based and Critical Appraisal Characteristics of Athletic Training Literature/JAT: between 2002-2006”.

Rick is a native of Southern California and has lived in Arizona for 4 years. He continues to play soccer and enjoys hiking the many trails in and around Phoenix with his wife, Danelle. 

Van Patten has trained many top athletes in high school and college. He owns a local sports training facility that focuses on speed, power, quickness, strength, and flexibility. Heath has a passion to get the most out of athletes both on and off the field. He is anxious to assist the PVCC Men’s Soccer team as the Fitness Coach.

In his spare time, Heath is involved in soccer, baseball, softball, strength training, cycling, and triathlons. He also enjoys being outdoors hiking, camping, running, biking and spending time with family and friends. He makes his home in Phoenix with his wife, Jackie.

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