TicketsMarch 4, 2008
CINCINNATI -- Chris Kouns, former head coach at Jacksonville University, has joined the University of Cincinnati women's soccer staff as an assistant to first-year head coach Michelle Salmon.
"We are very fortunate to have Chris join our staff here at Cincinnati," Salmon said. "Chris has won at every level he has coached and is considered one of the nation's top recruiters. Chris's approach to the game and academics is precisely what defines UC Soccer. I look forward to building a championship-caliber team with him."
Kouns spent four seasons on the sidelines at Jacksonville, where he led the Dolphins to the 2006 Atlantic Sun Tournament Championship and the program's second trip to the NCAA College Cup. JU made the A-Sun Tournament all four years of his tenure. A talented recruiter, Kouns brought in one A-Sun Freshman of the Year and his players earned six all-conference and five all-freshman mentions. His teams also fared well in the classroom, as Jacksonville earned three straight NSCAA Team Academic Awards from 2004-2006 and had 54 players earn A-Sun all-academic honors.
Kouns spent the 2003 and 2004 seasons as an assistant coach at the University of Pennsylvania. In 2004, he helped lead the Quakers to a 9-5-3 mark and a fourth-place finish in the Ivy league. During his time at Penn, he helped develop two all-Ivy League performers, while the Quakers were ranked as high as No. 10 in the NSCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional rankings. Kouns also acted as the recruiting coordinator for the 2003-04 recruiting class, which was considered one of the best is school history.
Prior to coaching at Penn, Kouns spent the 2002 season as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Georgia State. He helped the Panthers to a nine-win season and a berth in the A-Sun Tournament. Two of Kouns' recruits later earned A-Sun all-freshman team accolades.
Kouns was an assistant coach at Samford University from 2000-02. During that span, he helped guide the Bulldogs to 16 wins and a spot in the 2001 A-Sun tournament for the second time in school history. The 2000 squad also posted a school-record 1.54 goals against average, while two of his recruits earned A-Sun all-freshman team honors in 2001.
Kouns began his collegiate coaching career as head coach at Union (Ky.) College, where he led Bulldogs to a 15-9-0 overall record and the Mid-South Conference Tournament Championship in 1999. The squad featured the MSC Player of the Year and all-time leader in goals for college soccer, Juliana Filipe.
He started his coaching career as head coach at Fayette County (Ga.) High School from 1993-98, where Kouns posted an 85-29-3 record and made five appearances in the Georgia High School Association Final Four. In 1993, the Tigers earned a No. 25 national ranking and Kouns was tabbed as the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Co-Coach of the Year. In his six seasons, the Tigers never finished lower than No. 5 in the GHSA state rankings and captured two region championships.
Kouns graduated cum laude from Mars Hill College (N.C.) with a bachelor's degree in history and psychology in 1992. A four-year letter winner for the Lions as a defender, he earned South Atlantic Conference Honor Roll honors all four years. In 1992, Kouns earned GTE-CoSIDA Academic All-America honors.
Kouns has earned a United States Soccer Federation A License and a NSCAA Premier Diploma. He has served on the Olympic Development Program Region III staff and has conducted state mini-camps in Arkansas as well as the regional camp in Alabama. He has also been a member of the Region I ODP Regional staff and on the state coaching staffs in Pennsylvania, Georgia and Alabama.
"I consider myself to be very fortunate to be joining Michelle at the University of Cincinnati," Kouns stated. "UC proved to be a perfect fit for me as I have an opportunity to work with Michelle, who is a tremendously well respected coach, an administration which is extremely supportive of their coaching staffs, and work towards a simple goal - compete and win championships. That combination is all you can hope for as a coach and I am excited to do my part to take the Bearcat women's soccer program to that level."