Jaunary 9, 2020 – College Soccer News annually seeks to recognize assistant coaches across the country who are excelling at their work. The 2019 honorees include several familiar faces as well as a few new faces. In making these selections, we acknowledge up-front that some very deserving assistant coaches will not be included as is always the case when individuals are singled out for recogniation. It should be noted that our current selections take into consideration team success on the field of play in 2019 with additional weight given to consistent success over multilple seasons.
There are many excellent assistant coaches in the collegiate ranks across the nation who have a positive impact on college soccer and player development. The very best are effective teachers, communcators, motivators, recruiters, and ambassadors for their respective programs. Some, but not necessarily all, aspire to become a head coach at some point. All seek to make a positive contribution in their current role.
Assistant coaches recognized in past years by College Soccer News who are now head coaches include Kevin Grimes at California, Cameron Rast at Santa Clara, Bill Irwin formerly at Portlant, Robert McCourt at Monmouth, Bobby Muuss at Wake Forest, Mike Jacobs formerly at Evansville, Todd Yeagley at Indiana, Jesse Cormier at FGCU, Kelly Findley at Liberty, Erik Ronning at Colgate, Brian Wiese at Georgetown, Darren Powell formerly at Elon, Damon Rensing at Michigan State, Jamie Clark at Washington, Kevin Anderson at Columbia, Sean Phillips at UIC, Eric Pogue at Oakland, Ralph Polston formerly at Wofford, Scott Calabrese at UCF, Brad Ruzzo at Mercer, Andy Fleming at Xavier, Carlos Somoano at North Carolina, Ryan Anatol at Stony Brook, Johan Cedergren at Kentucky, Jared Embick at Akron, Chris Volk formerly at UC Irvine, Kylie Stannard at Yale, Mario Sanchez formerly at SIUE, Nick Carlin-Voight at Portland, John Murphy at Georgia Southern, Brian Maisonneuve at Ohio State, Brian Rowland at Temple, Brian Gill at Penn, Zach Samol at American, Johnny Torres at Creighton, Leonard Griffin at San Francisco.
Matt Chulis Virgnia
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Chulis has been a member of the coaching staff at Virginia for fifteen years and has served as the Associate Head Coach since 2010 under head coach George Gelnovatch. The Cavaliers have been in the NCAA Tournament field every year that Chulis has been a member of the coaching staff and have advanced to the College Cup five times including the 2019 season in which they were 21-2-1 overall and played in the national final. Chulis had an outstanding career as a player at Virginia from 1996 through 1998. He was a three-time All-America selection and was named the National Defender of the Year in 1998. Chulis holds a USSF “A” coaching license. |
Mike Casper Georgetown
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Casper joined the coaching staff at Georgetown under head coach Brian Wiese in 2019 after serving as an assistant coach at Northwestern in 2018 under Tim Lenahan. Prior to that he served as an assistant coach at Notre Dame under Bobby Clark for three seasons and was the head coach at Saint Francis (Pa.) from 2007 through 2014 where he had a 71-61-21 record. Casper played college soccer at UMBC during which time the Retrievers were 54-19-11. He has an A License from the United State Soccer Federation and an advanced regional diploma from the United Soccer Coaches. Georgetown had a banner season in 2019 winning the program’s first ever national championship with a program best 20-1-3 record while claiming both the Big East Conference regular season and tournament titles. |
Jason Hotaling UC Davis
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Hotaling has been an assistant coach at UC Davis for a total of fifteen years under Aggie head coach Dwayne Shaffer and has served as the Associate Head Coach since 2014. Shaffer stated, “Jason has been on my staff for many years, working his way up from a volunteer assistant to associate head coach.” Hotaling has played a key role in developing several top-notch Aggie goalkeepers including most recently Willis Lapsley whose stellar career included being named the 2019 Big West Goalkeeper of the Year and a 2019 Scholar All-American. UC Davis had a banner season in 2019 in which they won the Big West Tournament Title and were awarded the number fourteen seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Aggies finished the season ranked among the top twenty-five teams in the country in both the United Soccer Coaches and College Soccer News Polls. Hataling played collegiate soccer at Santa Rosa Junior College and Chico State and has an Advanced national coaching license and a National goalkeeper license with the NSCAA. |
Paul Souders UCF
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Souders became a member of the Knights coaching staff under head coach Scott Calabrese in 2016 and was named Associate Head Coach in 2018. Prior to that he was an assistant coach at New Mexico for nine years including seven seasons as the Associate Head Coach under head coach Jeremy Fishbein. He was twice named the Far West Regional Assistant Coach of the Year while at New Mexico and was part of several very successful Lobo teams. Souders was an assistant coach at Dayton for three years before coming to New Mexico. Souders played collegiate soccer for Clemson. UCF was a program best 15-3-2 in 2019. The Knights claimed the American Athletic Conference regular season title and a berth in the NCAA Tourney for the second year in a row, they were awarded a number nine seed, and advanced to the Sweet Sixteen. |
Phil Jones Clemson
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Jones has been a member of the coaching staff at Clemson under head coach Mike Noonan for ten seasons and has served in the capacity of Associate Head Coach since 2012. He serves as the primary recruiting coordinator and is involved in daily training sessions and scouting among other duties. He was an assistant coach at Brown University under Noonan in 2009. Jones played for Wigan Athletic Football Club, a Premier League team in England. He also played played college soccer for Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach where he began his coaching career as a graduate assistant coach. Jones has a UEFA B-License and a Premier Coaching Diploma. Clemson had an outstanding 2019 season with an 18-2-2 overall record. The Tigers were awarded the number two seed in the NCAA Tournament and advanced to the Elite Eight. |
John Mark Andrade Providence
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Andrade has been a member of the coaching staff at Providence for eleven seasons and served as the Associate Head Coach under head coach Craig Steward since the 2013 campaign. He was the head coach at Dean College for one year before joining the staff at Providence. Andrade was a four-year starter at Syracuse and an All-Big East and All-Northeast Region selection in 2000 and 2001. He has been actively involved in developing youth soccer at Bayside FC in East Providence and worked with the Rhode Island ODP. Providence has had a winning season in nine of the eleven seasons that Andrade has been on staff. The Friars were 16-7-0 in 2019 with a 6-3-0 mark in Big East Conference play. They were awarded a berth in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 2016 and defeated NJIT and Penn State to advance to the Sweet Sixteen. |
Jeff Rowland Washington
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Rowland has been a member of the coaching staff at Washington under head coach Jamie Clark since 2011 and has served as the Associate Head Coach since 2011. Rowland’s resume includes serving as an assistant coach at Creighton in 2010 and as a volunteer assistant coach at Harvard under Clark in 2009. He played college soccer for New Mexico where he was a two-time All-America selection and a prolific goal scorer. As a senior in 2005, he was a vital ingredient in the Lobo team that advanced to the College Cup. Rowland then played in the MLS for Real Lake and FC Dallas. Washington has earned a berth in the NCAA Tournament in nine of the eleven seasons that Rowland has been on staff including the 2013 and 2019 teams that advanced to the Elite Eight. The Huskies were 14-4-0 in 2019 and claimed the Pac-12 Conference title with an 8-2-0 mark in league play. |
Oige Kennedy Stanford
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Kennedy has been a member of the coaching staff at Stanford under head coach Jeremy Gunn for five seasons and has served in the capacity of Associate Head Coach for three years. Before Stanford he was the head coach at Fort Lewis from 2009 through 2015 where he had a 102-37-9 overall record and secured two NSCAA Division II National Championships. His playing experience includes four seasons at the professional level in Europe and several seasons for Ireland’s youth national teams where we was a team captain. Kennedy’s main focus has been on developing the Cardinal goalkeepers and on the play on the defensive side of the ball. Andrew Epstein (2016), Nico Corti (2017) and Andrew Thomas (2018 and 2019) are among the highly regarded Cardinal netminders Kennedy has mentored. Stanford had another stellar season in 2019 during which they were 14-3-5 overall and advanced to the College Cup for the fourth time in the past five seasons. |
Scott Buete Maryland
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Buete joined the coaching staff at Maryland in 2014 under head coach Sasho Cirovski. He has utilized his experience as a player at Maryland and the knowledge gained during his tenure to date as a member of the coaching staff to help develop and mentor the Terp players. Buete is a former All-American and was a three-year captain at Maryland under Cirovski from 2001 through 2003. The Terps have earned a berth in the NCAA Tournament during each of the years that he has been a member of the staff and won the National Championship in 2018. Maryland was 11-8-2 in 2019 and secured a double-digit win season for the twenty-sixth consecutive season. |
Ryan Hopkins Virginia
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Hopkins joined the coaching staff at Virginia under head coach George Gelnovatch in 2018 after serving as an assistant at Denver for five seasons. Prior to that he was an assistant coach at Wisconsin for a single season, at Cal Poly for four season, and at Concordia University for four seasons. Hopkins played college soccer at Concordia where he was a four-year starter in goal and twice named an NAIA All-American. He holds a USSF A License and a USSF National Goalkeeping License. While at Denver Hopkins mentored and developed several top notch goalkeepers including Nick Gardner who was named the 2016 Summit League Goalkeeper of the Year. Colin Shutler, the starter in goal at Virginia for the past two seasons, was a 2019 First Team All-American with fifteen shutouts and a 0.53 goals against average. The Cavaliers had an outstanding 2019 season in which they were 21-2-1, won the ACC Championship, and advanced to the national championship match. |
David Janezic St. John’s
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Janezic joined the coaching staff at St. John’s as an assistant coach under head coach Dr. Dave Masur in 2017. Prior to that he served for a year as an assistant coach at Fairleigh Dickinson under the guidance of head coach Seth Roland. His resume also includes serving as an assistant coach at NJIT for three seasons and as the head coach at Brookdale Community College in 2012. Janezic played college soccer at Monmouth from 1992 through 1996 were he was a team captain. He began his collegiate coaching career as an assistant coach at Monmouth in 1997. A relatively young St. John’s squad had a very productive 2019 season during which they were 14-5-1 overall, returned to the NCAA Tournament field for the first time since the 2013 season, were awarded the number sixteen seed, and advanced to the Sweet Sixteen. |
Steve Armas Wake Forest
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The 2019 season was Armas’ fifth as a member of the coaching staff at Wake Forest under head coach Bobby Muuss. He became an Associate Head Coach prior to the 2018 season. Prior to that he was an assistant coach at Campbell from 2006 through 2009 and the head coach from 2010 through 2014. Armas also served as an assistant coach for Greensboro College and the Carolina Dynamo in the PDL. He played college soccer at Maryland from 1996 through 1998 where he was a team captain. Armas has been part of a program at Wake Forest that leads the country in wins over the past five years with an 89-16-9 overall record. The Demon Deacons were 16-5-2 in 2019, they were the number four seed in the NCAA Tournament, and advanced to the College Cup for the second time in the past five years. |
Jeff Negalha NC State
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Negalha joined the coaching staff at NC State as the Associate Head Coach in 2017 under head coach George Kiefer. Negalha was an assistant coach under Kiefer at the University of South Florida from 2003 through 2005. He subsequently served as the top assistant coach at the University of North Carolina for nine seasons and was on the staff at Pittsburgh and Boston College before coming to Raleigh to work with Kiefer again. Negalha has served NC State well on the recruiting trail and has been a part of the resurgence of a program that in 2019 earned its third consecutive invite to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1985-1987. Over the past three years the Wolfpack have made their presence known in the ACC and on the national scene. |
Jason Osborne Charlotte
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Osborne completed his eighth season as a member of the Charlotte coaching staff and third as the Associate Head Coach and recruiting coordinator under head coach Kevin Langan in 2019. He is also active in youth soccer serving as the Boys’ Director of Coaching for F.C. Carolina Alliance since 2009. Osborne also has been a member of North Carolina’s Olympic Development Program coaching staff for multiple years. He was the Associate Head Coach at Gardner-Webb University from 2005 through 2008. Osborne played college soccer for Stetson University from 2001 through 2004 were he was an All-Atlantic Sun selection for four seasons. Charlotte was 12-4-4 in 2019 with a 4-0-3 mark in CUSA play. The 49ers have earned a berth in the NCAA Tournament seven out of the last eight seasons while sporting a healthy 98-38-24 overall record. |
Tommy McMenemy Michigan
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McMenemy jointed the coaching staff at Michigan in 2012 under the direction of Wolverine head coach Chaka Daley. In 2018 he was promoted to Associate Head Coach. McMenemy serves as the recruiting coordinator at Michigan and is involved in all aspects of coaching including the organization and implementation of daily training sessions. Before coming to Michigan, McMenemy gained valuable experience as an assistant coach at Columbia University for six seasons. He played collegiate soccer for Columbia where he was a two-time All-Ivy First Team selection and an All-American and team captain as a senior in 2003. Michigan had a double digit win season in 2019 for the third year in a row and earned a berth in the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive season. The Wolverines were award the number thirteen seed in the NCAA Tournament and advanced to the Sweet Sixteen. |
