Thye 42-year-old Peddle, in his 11th season as head coach of the Atlantic University Spot champion St. Francis Xavier University X-Men, won the Father Kehoe Award, presented annually by the CIS since 1971.
St. FX is competing in the 2016 CIS championship, beginning today in Halifax, where the X-Men face the defending national champion Alberta Golden Bears in the quarter-final round.
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Peddle guided St. FX to a second-place regular-season finish in the AUS conference this year, posting an 18-6-4 record. That was the team’s best regular-season performance ever. The team was ranked nationally in 17 of 19 CIS Top 10 polls this season, peaking at No. 3 following an upset sweep of UNB in the best-of-three AUS final.
Peddle has led the X-Men to 11 consecutive AUS playoff appearances and four CIS championship berths (2016, 2015, 2011, 2007).
A former X-Men captain, Peddle played defence with St. Francis from 1995 to 1999, meriting all-Canadian status and receiving the prestigious Dr. Randy Gregg Award in 1998-99. After playing professionally for five years, he coached in the Maritime Junior A league to returning to St. FX.
