Rick Stainton Named Head Women's Soccer Coach
12/17/2013 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Dec. 17, 2013
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. - Seton Hall University Director of Athletics Patrick Lyons announced on Tuesday that Rick Stainton has been named the new head coach of the Pirates' women's soccer program.
Stainton, a former Seton Hall assistant who spent the 2013 campaign at the helm for Fairleigh Dickinson, becomes just the third head coach in school history; replacing former head man Kazbek Tambi who resigned in November after seven seasons on the sidelines.
"We are very happy to be able to bring Rick back to the Seton Hall family," said Lyons. "Rick has tremendous coaching acumen, and is someone who has spent time as a head coach on the collegiate and professional levels. His passion and enthusiasm for the game are infectious and our student-athletes will benefit from the wealth of knowledge he brings to the position. Rick's familiarity with the program and our vision here at Seton Hall will ease the transition and I know he will be dedicated to putting together a team that maintains a standard of excellence both on the field and in the classroom."
"I think of Seton Hall as my home and I am very appreciative of the opportunity to come back," added Stainton. "I am familiar with both the university and the type of student-athlete that Seton Hall is looking for. Having been here before; I think I can draw on that experience and help the program move forward. We have a really talented team in place and I know they are as excited to get to work as I am."
During his brief stint in Teaneck, Stainton led Fairleigh Dickinson to one of the most successful seasons in the history of a young program. He took over a squad whose senior class had registered only 11 wins in the previous three years and engineered a rapid turnaround, guiding the Knights to an 8-8-4 record that included a 4-1-3 mark in Northeast Conference (NEC) play and the #2-seed in the conference tournament.
Picked to finish eighth in the nine-team league in the preseason poll, Fairleigh Dickinson flourished under Stainton's stewardship. The Knights boasted the stingiest defense in the league, allowing only 0.69 goals per game in conference contests while also putting together an unprecedented streak of six-consecutive clean sheets against NEC opponents. A total of six Fairleigh Dickinson players earned all-conference honors at year's end, highlighted by senior keeper Sage DoVale who was named NEC Goalkeeper of the Year and a First Team All-NEC performer.
After compiling their second-best NEC record in school history, the Knights brought two-time reigning conference champions LIU-Brooklyn to the brink in the conference semifinals, eventually falling 2-1 in double-overtime.
"Even though I was only there for one season, the decision to leave was a difficult one," said Stainton. "We had a great group of women who worked their hardest day in and day out and I am very proud of what we were able to accomplish in a short period of time. I think we grew together as the season progressed and it was an experience I know will help me moving forward and one that I am grateful to have been a part of."
No stranger to South Orange, Stainton returns to The Hall where he spent the 2011 and 2012 campaigns as an assistant under Tambi. In this role, he was charged with directing the program's recruiting, training and in-match strategy as well as overseeing the team's budget. During his first season on staff, the Pirates posted their largest win total since the turn of the millennium, recording nine victories and earning a home match in the first round of the BIG EAST Tournament. The match proved to be a memorable one as Seton Hall scored the second postseason win in school history and the first via shutout with a 1-0 defeat of St. John's.
Stainton made the transition to Fairleigh Dickinson following a 2012 season in which Seton Hall registered seven more victories, five of which were of the shutout variety.
A seasoned professional with extensive coaching experience at a variety of levels, Stainton holds a United States Soccer Federation (USSF) "A" License and a National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) Premier Diploma, as well as a NSCAA National Goalkeeping Diploma. His coaching résumé is an impressive one, and features a stretch in which he was on staff for the Garden State-based women's professional side Sky Blue FC.
While with Sky Blue FC, Stainton lent his expertise to some of the most prominent women's players in the world, coaching a total of 12 players who competed in the 2011 FIFA World Cup including United States internationals Tobin Heath, Carli Lloyd, Heather O'Reilly and Christie Rampone. He began his tenure with the club as an assistant, a role in which he was responsible for goalkeeper development, prospect identification, implementation of off-season training programs and camp instruction.
He was eventually promoted to head coach of Sky Blue FC in July of 2009.
In addition to his time in the professional ranks, Stainton has also held collegiate coaching positions at Rider University, Caldwell College and Green Mountain College - his alma mater. A former standout goalkeeper for the Eagles, he was elected into the Green Mountain Athletics Hall of Fame in 2012.
Outside of his professional and collegiate coaching experience, Stainton comes well-versed in the responsibilities associated with a position of leadership. A former administrator within the Seton Hall athletics department, he spent three years as the director of athletics at Saint Rose High School in Belmar, N.J. and is the founder and president of Stainton Sport Enterprises; a sports service business that specializes in training and instruction.
Stainton assumes the reins of a Seton Hall women's soccer program that will head into its 21st season overall in 2014 and its second in a new-look BIG EAST Conference. The Hall amassed a 5-11-2 record in their final season under Tambi, who succeeded the program's original head coach, Betty Ann Kempf-Townsley, in 2007.
Seton Hall also posted a 3-6-0 mark in league play, missing out on a second conference tournament berth in three years by just one point.
A school record four Pirates earned All-BIG EAST honors in 2013, headlined by senior midfielder Ashley Clarke (Paramus, N.J.) who became the fourth Seton Hall player ever to land on the first team and was later named a Second Team All-Northeast Region performer by the NSCAA. Seniors Jennifer Pettigrew (Kearny, N.J.) and Katie Ritter (Hagerstown, Md.) were Third Team selections as was freshman defender Cathy Chukuka (Marlboro, N.J.) who is a part of an experienced young core that is poised to lead the program into the future.
The Pirates also picked up the NSCAA Team Academic Award in recognition of their scholastic achievement during the 2012-13 year, for which Stainton was on staff.
