2009 Women's Soccer Coaching Staff
*Rob King
Head Coach
The Owls’ Rob King is heading into his ninth year of play as the only head coach in program history and his list of accomplishments never ceases to impress the soccer community.
Leading his club to an eighth consecutive season of double digit wins, the Owls posted an 11-7-0 season record and a 7-3 conference mark to earn their third regular season Atlantic Sun Conference title in five years of league membership. They would then take down Jacksonville and Belmont, both in thrilling fashion, while serving as hosts of the A-Sun Tournament, to win their second tournament title and allow them to make their second trip to the NCAA Division I Women’s College Cup.
King continued the habit of having his team’s success carry-over into his player’s trophy cases in 2009, as his team took home a total of 12 conference regular season and tournament honors, including Bridget Gaughan, who was named the A-Sun’s Defensive Player of the Year and to the All A-Sun First Team, and Goalkeeper Staci Pugh, who was named the A-Sun Tournament’s Most Valuable Player.
Immediately upon his arrival in Kennesaw in 2001 following a successful six-year stint at the University of Montevallo (Ala.), King built the Owls’ program from scratch and immediately instilled a culture of winning and the expectation of doing so year-in and year out. After spending the 2001-2002 academic year recruiting and filling out his coaching staff, his troops took to the field for the first in the fall of 2002, putting together an undefeated season in the program’s first year of existence en-route to snagging the Peach Belt Conference regular season title and the NCAA Division II Southeast Region title.
Already one of the feared teams in the south after just one season, King took the final step towards national prominence just one year later, guiding his club to a 25-1-0 record and a stunning run through the NCAA Division II College Cup, including a 2-0 victory in the championship game against Division II titan Franklin Piece, who had won five of the last nine national titles.
As one of two sports in the Kennesaw State athletic department that were “fast-tracked,” into NCAA Division I competition, women’s soccer first dipped their toe into the deepest pool of competition in the fall of 2004, with King leading his squad to a 12-4-1 record. They began play in the Atlantic Sun Conference the following year, and in five seasons as a member of the conference, they have not finished lower than second in the standings.
With all of his success, King readily greeted the Owls move to Division I by volunteering his program’s move to the highest level of collegiate competition. Never shying away from a challenge, he quickly tested himself against top-notch Division I opponents, scheduling meetings with Atlantic Coast Conference power Duke and NCAA perennial powerhouse, North Carolina. A pair of near-upsets ensued, earning King the respect and admiration of many of his peers in the upper echelon of collegiate soccer.
Following back-to-back regular season conference titles in 2006 and 2007, King once again delivered a first to the Kennesaw State community when he led the Owls on their championship run in the 2007 A-Sun Tournament, earning the athletic department’s first-ever bid to an NCAA Division I championship, where they went on to face national power Florida State.
King’s team accomplishments have been staggering, but so have been his player’s. Entering 2010, his club has garnered a total of 59 All-Atlantic Sun Conference awards in just five years as a conference member, including two conference Player of the Year winners (Annie Phillips- 2007, Laura Tucker- 2006), four Defensive Player of the Year Winners (Bridget Gaughn-2009, Rebecca Hall-2006, Katrina Hirsch and Jessica Marek-2005) and two A-Sun Tournament MVPs (Staci Pugh-2009, Caitlin Dingle-2007). The Owls’ short time in the Peach Belt Conference was no different, as their two years of play in the Division II conference yielded 11 All-Conference awards, including Jenae Gzehoviak’s Player of the Year triumph in 2003.
Overall, King has recorded a 120-26-10 record with the Owls over eight seasons, good for a winning percentage of .801. The record includes an extremely impressive 39-8-3 mark in A-Sun play, by far the best record in conference play since 2005.
As a coach, King has won a plethora of honors. He was named both NCAA Division II National Coach-of-the-Year and Regional Coach-of-the-Year in 2003 after leading the Owls on their national championship run. In 2002, he was honored as the Peach Belt and Regional Coach-of-the-Year in his squad’s first year of play.
King began his American soccer career as a three-year letter-winner for the University of Alabama-Huntsville Chargers. After receiving a bachelor’s degree in psychology from UAH, he joined their staff as an assistant coach, a capacity in which he served from 1990-1992.
In May of 1992, Martin Methodist College in Pulaski, Tennessee offered King his first head-coaching job. His inaugural team went 14-2-1 and won the National Junior College Athletic Association Region VII championship. The following year, King’s team went 17-1-0 and won the National Small College Athletic Association title.
In 1995, he was asked to take over the men’s and women’s soccer program at the University of Montevallo. In the six seasons at the helm of the women’s team, King led the Falcons to post season play during four of those seasons and finished with a conference winning percentage of .500 or better during all five seasons of Gulf South Conference play. In 1998, he was named the GSC Coach-of-the-Year after leading his squad to a 10-5-2 record and an appearance in the GSC championship game. His stint as the men’s coach included a 15-10-2 conference record, a co-Coach of the Year honor and a GSC Tournament title in 1999.
During King’s final season at Montevallo, in 2000, he led his Lady Falcons to the best season in school history. He set the record for wins in a season, with 12, and made the GSC Tournament for the third consecutive year, a school first. King had a 45-49-5 record with the Lady Falcons, going 29-17-4 in his last three seasons.
In 14 seasons of coaching women’s soccer at the collegiate level, King has compiled a 165-75-15 record, good for a .676 winning percentage.
In addition to his work at the collegiate level, King has established himself as a fixture in the Cobb County soccer scene, conducting youth clinics and helping to coach youth teams in the local community.
Coach King and his wife, Valerie, have two children, Chloe and Rory. The Kings currently reside in Dallas, Ga.
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