Coaching Carousel

[Ron Boerger]

Paul Leese out at Carthage. https://www.carthage.edu/live/news/56715-head-coach-mens-soccer

Leese took a HC position at D2 Lander last week:  https://landerbearcats.com/news/2026/2/11/paul-leese-named-head-mens-soccer-coach.aspx

Dude has bounced around, starting as a HC at D2 Coker in 2012, D1 UTex-Rio Grande Valley in 2015, then assistant at USL Championship New Mexico United in 2021, then *boom* Carthage in 2022.  Not surprising he would move back into scholarship NCAA soccer.

[Kuiper]

Chatham University's Keith Danley, the only men's soccer coach in the school's history since it started a program in 2019, has resigned.

Chatham Head Men's Soccer Coach Keith Danley has resigned from the program Vice President of Athletics and Recreation Leonard Trevino announced Wednesday morning.

"It was an honor to be able to start the men's soccer program at Chatham," Danley said. "I'd like to thank Leonard Trevino for giving me this opportunity in 2018. The last seven and a half years have been incredibly rewarding, and I am thankful for all the players and staff who have been a part of our team. I am excited to see the growth of the program in the years to come."

Danley was the first head coach of the men's soccer program at Chatham, coaching his first season in 2019. He ends with a 35-57-23 career record. The Cougars qualified for the PAC tournament three times during Danley's tenure, including two of the last three seasons.

"We thank Coach Danley for all his efforts in establishing and moving our program forward," Trevino said. "He has left us in a strong position. We wish him all the best. We will begin a national search immediately. It is our goal to become a nationally ranked program."

Danley is pursuing another opportunity at this point. Chatham will immediately begin a nationwide search for the next head men's soccer coach.

[Kuiper]

Jim Findlay steps down after 28 years as Head Coach of Men's Soccer at Susquehanna to be Associate AD

Susquehanna University Director of Athletics Sharief Hashim has announced the promotion of Jim Findlay as the university's new Associate Director of Athletics. Findlay has serviced Susquehanna for 28 years, all as men's soccer head coach, and served in a dual role as Associate Athletic Director for Facilities since 2019. A search for a new men's soccer head coach will begin immediately.

Findlay arrived at Susquehanna in 1998 as its new men's soccer head coach. Between 1999 and 2005, he also was head coach of the women's soccer team and returned briefly to coach both squads in 2011. From 1998 to 2025 he compiled 214 wins with the men's team, celebrating three Landmark Conference championships in 2008, 2012 and 2013. In eight seasons on the women's side Findlay netted 72 victories, including a pair of MAC Commonwealth championship game appearances in 2002 and 2004.

The high point of Findlay's men's soccer run at Susquehanna was in 2012 when the team posted a school-record 18 wins towards its second-ever Landmark title, while earning hosting rights for the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament. They did more than host, they advanced after beating Cabrini in penalty kicks and defeating Rochester the following day to advance to the Sweet 16. They received a number-10 national ranking, while setting program records for seasons wins, 12 shutout victories, and seven All-Landmark performers. The following year Findlay's team repeated as Landmark champions with 13 wins for a two-year total of 31 victories, a record that still stands today. This also capped a ten-year run between 2004-13 where SU's three Landmark titles were built around 109 victories. In 2004 the men's team captured their first double-digit win season under Findlay with 11. In 2006, Findlay's first season as the full-time men's soccer coach, the program won ten matches and hosted the MAC Commonwealth Finals. The 2008 program was the first to win 13 matches en route to their first Landmark title, while the 2010 team turned in another 11-win season.

[Ejay]

Susquehanna is a beautiful school and has a lot going for it. I see this as a great opportunity and I'm surprised they've struggled the last ten years:
2025 5-10-4
2024 8-7-3
2023 3-10-3
2022 2-12-3
2021 9-8-2
2020 n/a
2019 6-12
2018 3-12-2
2017 6-10-2
2016 6-8-5
2015 9-7-2

[Kuiper]

Another coach who is moving very far afoot from his coaching roots for a DIII HC job.  From New York City to Greensboro, NC and a very difficult DIII job at that. 

It's never a good sign when a program boasts that it had its highest win total since 2022 with 4 wins and 1st win in the ODAC in several years.  The last time the team had a winning record was in 2012 when they went 10-8, including 7-4 in the ODAC.  Plus, the school has been in financial trouble for awhile.  In Dec. 2025, the accrediting body lifted Guilford from probation after giving them one year to shape up or lose accreditation, but that came from budget cuts/layoffs, and alumni funds.  The 40% drop in enrollment at the school over the last 8 years is still an issue that will be difficult to solve.

Sean Reilly Named New Head Coach at Guilford

The Guilford College Athletics Department is pleased to welcome Sean Reilly as the 17th head coach of the Quakers Men's Soccer program, the department announced on Monday afternoon.

"I am very pleased to welcome Sean Reilly to Guilford Athletics as our next Head Coach for Men's Soccer," Director of Athletics, Bill Foti said. "He brings a wealth of experience as a highly accomplished and respected head coach at the Division III level. He has demonstrated that he can lead a team at a championship level and qualify for the NCAA tournament. I am particularly confident in his ability to recruit the student-athletes necessary to compete in the highly competitive ODAC conference."

"I am very grateful to get the opportunity to lead this program," Reilly said. "I cannot wait to get started and begin to create our new identity at Guilford. We will develop a style of playing that will make Quakers past and present proud"

Reilly has spent the last-three seasons up in the Empire State, heading Manhattanville University, leading the program's most-successful two-year stint ever in 2023 and 2024. He led the Valiants to consecutive Skyline Conference Championships during those seasons, winning their first league titles since the turn of the century and snapping a decade-long spell from the NCAA Tournament, with their prior trip to the dance coming in 2011. MU accrued a cumulative record of 30-23-8, good for a .557 winning percentage, during their time under Reilly. Their 13 victories in 2024 were their most since 2019 while a dozen Valiants were selected All-Skyline under his guidance.

Prior to his stint at Manhattanville, Reilly spent the prior five years about 20 miles south as Assistant to Head Coach with Division-I Manhattan College. He bookended his stint with the most-successful seasons, helping lead the Jaspers to a program-record 12 wins in 2018, receiving votes in the national polls that season and peaking with a program RPI of 31. By 2022, he helped elevate MC into the top-three in the standings in the MAAC while the program compiled a .500 mark of 34-34-9 during his tenure.

Playing a season of professional soccer both in the USL with the Rochester Rhinos and overseas, Reilly also collected a handful of coaching stops with Concordia College, Brockport University, and at the club level.

Opening his collegiate playing career with Division-I Bryant, he spent a majority of his college playing career with then Division-II St. Thomas Aquinas College where he was an All-ECC Second Team performer in 2011, helping the Spartans to an NCAA Tournament berth. He graduated from STAC in 2013 with a degree in Sports Management.

Reilly takes over the Quakers program after posting their top record and most wins since 2022, including their first Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) victory in that time, although they still finished 4-12-2 and 1-7-1 in league play.

[SierraFD3soccer]

He's got a lot lot of work to do well at Guilford in the ODAC. Pretty much one of the doormats of the ODAC. Only team in NC, and, while not VWU, is pretty far from other teams in the conf.

FYI Manhattanville is in Purchase right next to the CT border and not NYC. However, living in NC is substantially cheaper to live than Purchase or NYC. Might have an opportunity to coach offseason and/or have camps around the Greensboro area. No big soccer college powers in the area really. 

[jknezek]

He's got a lot lot of work to do well at Guilford in the ODAC. Pretty much one of the doormats of the ODAC. Only team in NC, and, while not VWU, is pretty far from other teams in the conf.

FYI Manhattanville is in Purchase right next to the CT border and not NYC. However, living in NC is substantially cheaper to live than Purchase or NYC. Might have an opportunity to coach offseason and/or have camps around the Greensboro area. No big soccer college powers in the area really. 

UNC Greensboro is one of the best programs in the SoCon and made the NCAA Elite 8 back in 2022. I mean, we aren't talking elite, but they are very good consistently.

Guilford, with the exception of men's golf and men's basketball, has struggled in pretty much every sport in the ODAC. The school is very dependent on tuition, has been holding on by it's fingertips for a while, and while it got a vote of confidence from the accreditors recently, it's exactly the type of school in the crosshairs of financial struggles going forward.

I wish him luck. He has a lot of work in front of him.