After two successful years as the head coach of the Slippery Rock University men’s soccer team, Andy Hoggarth has resigned from his position to become the new head soccer coach at Walsh University in Ohio.
Hoggarth was named as The Rock’s head coach in May of 2014. In his first year, Hoggarth led SRU to 11 wins and an appearance in the conference tournament. Hoggarth followed up his successful first year by coaching the Green and White to a 14-6 record and a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference championship.
Slippery Rock athletic director Paul Lueken said he is sad to see Hoggarth move on from The Rock.
“He was outstanding [in his first two years]. He did a great job and made us a champion again. He’s a great guy to work with, really an [athletic director’s] dream,” Lueken said. “He’s definitely the kind of person that is attractive in a lot of division two head coaching jobs. He wasn’t necessarily looking for this opportunity it just kind of found him, being close to home. He was really excited about this season coming up.”
21 players from The Rock’s championship winning team and volunteer assistant coach Ryan Hoffman will be returning for the 2016 season. Lueken hopes to find a new head coach before the 2015-16 academic year ends.
“I’m going to look for someone who has the same type of characteristics that Andy has. Someone who is dedicated to the students and cares about them. Someone that has a good knowledge of soccer, is a good coach, has a good background and good experience,” Lueken said. “Obviously it will be up to the new head coach, but Ryan (Hoffman) was a great addition to the program so I would think any new head coach we would bring in would want Ryan to stay involved. I want to get a new coach in place before school’s out so he can meet the team and build a bit of an assessment.”
The coaching job at Walsh will be Hoggarth’s third collegiate head coaching position and his ninth year as a part of a coaching staff.
Hoggarth will be looking to improve the Walsh men’s soccer program that has only been in existence since 2012 and went 4-13 in 2015 all while working in close proximity to his home and family.
