Coaching Carousel

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Apparently, Illinois Tech Head Men's Soccer Coach, Marlon McKenzie, has left for a position as an assistant coach at Denver University for Women's Soccer.

In 2024, he joined Illinois Tech from University of Chicago Women's Soccer, where he had spent the previous 10 years.  After Illinois Tech went 6-9-6 in 2023, McKenzie led them to a 9-7-3 record in 2024 and a 11-6-3 record in 2025.

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Most new head coaches these days were assistant coaches before that or at least have some high level club coaching experience touted in their hiring announcements.  We don't hear about many full-time HS teachers and coaches getting these positions anymore.  Nevertheless, a guy who leads his teams (boys and girls) to the playoffs 46 times in 51 seasons over 21 years, winning 91 playoff games, and has been named district coach of the year 29 times and state champion twice, sounds like a true legend and a pipeline to the talent-rich Dallas-Forth Worth metroplex.

Hardin-Simmons Names Austin Guest as Men's Head Soccer Coach

Hardin-Simmons' Associate Vice President for Athletics Dr. John Neese has named Austin Guest the 11th men's soccer coach in program history.
 
Coach Guest graduated from Texas Christian with a Bachelor's in political science and a minor in psychology in 1991. He played soccer for the Horned Frogs and was a USISL All-Star three times and has more than 800 career wins at the high school level and is in the TASCO Hall of Honor.
 
Coach Guest coached at Midlothian high school where he worked as an educator since 2004, coaching both women's and men's soccer through the years. He has 91 play-off wins, and won state championships for boys' soccer in 2003 and 2024. The 2025 girls' team finished in the 5A state semi-finals under coach Guest.
 
He led the teams to 46 play-off appearances in 51 seasons, and was named the United Soccer Coaches state coach of the year in 2024, and has been named the district coach of the year 29 times, winning 29 district championships.
 
Coach Guest has been a member of TASCO, THSCA, and TGCA coaching school clinics, serving as a senior showcase coach for six years and was previously the TASCO president.
 
Before working at Midlothian high school, coach Guest coached at Red Oak high school for nine years. He has also coached with DFW Tornado premier arena soccer, Southwestern Assemblies of God (Nelson University), North Texas Soccer Association, the Arsenal/Texas Stampede USISL team, and various DFW area club teams for nearly three decades.

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Manhattanville Names Tom Bucknor as new Head Men's Soccer Coach

The Manhattanville University Department of Athletics and Recreation and Manhattanville's Associate Vice President of Athletics and Recreation Julene Caulfield have announced the hiring of Tom Buckner as head coach of the Valiant men's soccer team.

Buckner assumes the mantle as the 17th head coach in the history of the Manhattanville men's soccer team and brings a decade of collegiate coaching experience to his new home in Purchase.

Buckner comes to Manhattanville following an eight-year stint as associate head men's soccer coach at Jacksonville University. A member of the Dolphins' coaching staff since 2018, Buckner began his tenure at Jackson as an assistant coach before being promoted to associate head coach ahead of the 2021 campaign.

Buckner served as the Dolphins' recruiting coordinator since 2020 and developed 25 Atlantic Sun All-Conference selections in that time. In addition to his coaching and recruiting responsibilities, Buckner handled Jacksonville's scheduling from 2022 to 2025, oversaw analytics across a multitude of platforms and was involved in program fundraising, budgeting and fiscal responsibility.

The Dolphins captured the Atlantic Sun championship in the 2020-21 academic year with Buckner on the staff, the second conference title in program history.

Prior to Jacksonville, Bucker served as the assistant coach at Hartwick College in 2018 and was a graduate assistant coach for Western Illinois from 2016 to 2017. He also worked as an assistant coach with the Myrtle Beach Mutiny of the Premier Development Leage in 2017, serving as the head of goalkeeper training.

Buckner played four years of collegiate soccer at Hartwick from 2011 to 2015, serving as the Hawks' starting goalkeeper for the duration of his career. He was elected as team captain in 2014, the same year Hartwick won the Sun Belt Conference regular season and tournament titles and made the NCAA Tournament while he was an All-Conference selection.

Buckner graduated from Hartwick in 2015 with a Bachelor of Arts in journalism before earning his Master of Science in sport management from Western Illinois. He currently holds coaching licenses from UEFA and USSF.

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This isn't a coaching change, but an update about the whereabouts of a former top coach

Mike Singleton, who left Washington & Lee after getting them to the Final Four in 2023, and then departed for Goucher's Women's soccer in 2024 and left that gig before the end of the season, is now the Director of Coach and Player Development at the Tampa Training ground in Florida, which just opened in January 2026.  It's an unaffiliated soccer facility that offers coaching, pick-up, and training space outside of clubs that has both indoor and outdoor fields.

https://www.tampatrainingground.com/about

Perhaps one of the more interesting things is that Singleton, who is Vice President of Education for United Soccer Coaches, is also using the space to run coach and referee licensing courses.  I think we need @SimpleCoach to take a trip down to Tampa for a special Field of Dreams segment and check it out!

https://thatssotampa.com/tampa-training-ground-soccer/

We should also follow up on the point that Tampa Training Ground isn't just for youth soccer. The goal is to provide recreational fitness and fun for all skill levels and all ages. Not only is TTG launching adult soccer leagues, but they also offer coach education and licensure, referee certification courses, and direct opportunities for experience and growth.

The backbone of the operation is Mike Singleton, Tampa Training Ground's Director of Coach & Player development. Singleton is one of the most highly decorated and experienced soccer pros in the region, a long-time coach and training leader who has not only coached at the D-1, D-II, and D-III levels in the NCAA, but has worked with U.S. Soccer youth national teams, served on committees for the FIFA World Cup and Gold Cup, and has more than half a dozen licenses and degrees to back up his credentials, from the likes of England, Holland, and FIFA.