B. J. Snow

B. J. Snow, born on (1977-01-30) January 30, 1977, is an American soccer coach, the current head coach of United States under-17 women's national soccer team;^[1] and previously the head coach of the UCLA Bruins women's soccer team. Snow is married to a soccer player Lindsay Tarpley, a former member of United States women's national soccer team,^[2] and a player for the club Chicago Red Stars in 2013 season of National Women's Soccer League.

Education and youth competition

Snow attended Portage Central High School in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and was later a coach at the school. Snow was an excellent college player; was a four-year starter in defense for Indiana from 1996 to 1999. Snow helped the Indiana Hoosiers capture four-straight Big Ten titles, and back-to-back national championships in 1998 and 1999. Indiana's record during his time in Bloomington was 81 wins, 8 losses, and 3 draws.

Coaching career

High school team manager

For four years Snow was the head coach of men's soccer team at his former high school, Portage Central in Kalamazoo, Michigan. During his tenure, he led the Mustangs to three Southern Michigan Athletic Conference titles, including three district championships. Portage Central set the school record for 2 years, 19 wins in 2004, and 20 in 2005. Snow coached Eric Alexander, a NSCAA National High School Player of the Year, who later went to Indiana, and is currently playing in Major League Soccer. During the same period, Snow was also an assistant coach of the girls team at Portage Central.

College teams manager

From managing teams at his former high-school, Snow went to coach the UCLA Bruins women's soccer team. Snow arrived at UCLA as a volunteer assistant coach in 2006 and quickly rose through the coaching ranks, going from volunteer assistant to full-time coach in one year. He was promoted to assistant-head coach in 2009. During his time at UCLA, the Bruins compiled an impressive record of 131 wins, 22 losses and 13 draws; reaching the NCAA College Cup from 2006 to 2009. UCLA also won three consecutive Pac-10 titles from 2006 to 2008.

In January 2011, the then head coach of UCLA women's soccer team, Jill Ellis, departed for the newly created national development director position of United States Soccer Federation; and Snow was promoted to head coach. In his first year as head coach Snow coached UCLA to 16 wins, 1 loss, and 4 draws, helping the Bruins reach the second round of the NCAA Tournament. UCLA also had 8 wins, 1 loss, and 2 draws in league play to finish in second-place in the highly competitive Pac-12 Conference.

An excellent recruiter, Snow consistently recruited top players during his seven seasons at UCLA. In 2011, Snow recruited 10 players with national youth team experience for UCLA; one of the best recruitment in the history of collegiate women's soccer.

National youth teams manager

Snow served as an assistant coach of United States women's national under-20 soccer team for Germany 2010 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup. He also worked with U.S. Soccer as a clinician at a number of coaching seminars. On January 25, 2013, United States Soccer Federation announced the hiring of Snow as head coach of United States women's national under-17 soccer team; the first full-time head coach for the team. As U-17 women's team head coach Snow is responsible for all aspects of the under-17 soccer program and will guide the team to CONCACAF Qualifying for 2014 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup to be held in Costa Rica.

Personal life

Snow is married to former United States women's national soccer team player and two-time Olympic gold medalist Lindsay Tarpley, an alumnus of Portage Central High School. In July 2012, Snow and Tarpley welcomed their first child, a son.

References