FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The newest addition of the women's soccer coaching staff had been announced as Stuart Dick will become the new assistant coach of the program. Dick has been a Connecticut native for the past five years and has served on the coaching staffs of the University of Bridgeport and most recently at Yale University.
“I have been very fortunate over the years to have top quality coaches who can assist me in running a better program and helping our student-athletes be more successful both on and off the field of play,” Head Coach Jim O'Brien said. “In my search for a new assistant coach, I had a tremendous list of candidates to choose from. One name came up consistently and that was Stuart Dick.”
Stuart served the past season at Yale where he was solely responsible for coaching the team's defensive responsibilities and working with their goalkeepers. Under his tutelage, the Bulldogs had a 8-4-4 overall record and allowed just 0.82 goals per game. Goalkeeper Elise Wilcox was named the Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year after setting the program record with a 0.50 goals against average. The Bulldogs finished the season with 10 points in the conference, it's highest finish since 2011.
Before heading up to New Haven, Conn., Dick was a graduate assistant coach at Bridgeport for four years. In the four years, the Purple Knights went 59-13-8 overall and won the 2013 Conference Tournament after winning the regular season crown in 2012 and 2013. Bridgeport advanced the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament in three-straight seasons.
“Both coaches who have had highly successful careers at the collegiate levels raved at Stuart's energy, enthusiasm, and over all coaching knowledge,” Coach O'Brien said. “Stuart's resume' is equally impressive with and academic background second to none. Stuart has expertise is several key areas that included both fitness and video technology which is massive for our program.”
Dick spent his playing career at Northwood University in West Palm Beach, Fla., where he helped the Seahawks to the 2006 conference championship, a year where his team would advance to the Elite 8 of the NCAA tournament. Before his collegiate days at Northwood, Dick spent four years playing in Scotland for the Port Glasgow Juniors and Motherwell FC.
“Stuart also bring a recruiting network that is worldwide as well as a great knowledge of top tier recruits here in the US,” O'Brien said. “I place a high regard of the opinion of our student athletes and I involve our returning players in the interview process. Our returners overwhelmingly gave Stuart the nod in the process. We are all excited to get started with our new staff member and look forward to working toward our goal of a MAAC championship in 2015.”
The Stags have advanced to the conference tournament final in the past two seasons and finished the 2014 season 76th in the national RPI rankings, their highest finish since 2008.
