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Jim Cofer,
Boys Director of Player Development
Jim formerly served as head coach in the Academy Program for the U13-U17
boys and girls from November 2000-June 2006 for the Colorado Rush Soccer
Club, one of the nation's largest youth programs. It was there that Jim
was able to cultivate strong recruiting connections as he maintained
day-to-day contact with numerous coaches at the NCAA, NAIA and NJCAA
levels. Jim was part of the writing team that developed the coaching
manuals and curriculum for the satellite Rush clubs throughout the
country. He also served as the Director of Coaching for the Adults
Program in Denver including the coordination of the 100-team Comets
Adult Soccer League. He headed up fiscal management for two tournaments
hosted by the Rush.
Jim was recently announced as the new assistant coach and recruiting
director for University of Central Florida Men’s Soccer team
after two years as an assistant coach at Oregon State, a Pacific
10 Conference member. He is already known as one of the nation's top
goalkeeping instructors and has garnered successful coaching experience
at all levels of the game. With the Beavers, Jim worked with the team's
goalkeepers, coordinated recruiting efforts and headed up game
preparation by working with the scout team.
He was also one of the directors of Oregon State’s highly popular summer and
winter camps and coordinated the team's strength and conditioning
sessions. At Oregon State, his emphasis was also on academics, as the
Beavers had 10 academic all-conference selections in 2007.
Prior to his time with Oregon State, Jim spent two years as an assistant
coach at Metro State in Denver. He coached both the men's and women's
goalkeepers. During his tenure, the women's team captured the 2004 NCAA
Division II National Championship, while the men won the Rocky Mountain
Athletic Conference Tournament in 2004.
While in Denver, Jim served as a volunteer assistant goalkeeping coach
for the Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer. There, he assisted the
head goalkeeping coach by planning and running all goalkeeper-related
sessions and handling game-related warm-ups and training.
Since 2001, Jim has been a member of the USYSA Olympic Development
program, most recently serving on the Region IV ODP staff as a
goalkeeper coach. In that role, it was his responsibility to identify
and train the initial pool of players from the Western half of the
United States to the final pool of players for the Region IV team.
The Sunshine State is where
Jim began his coaching career working with
various club teams. He served as head boys coach at Mulberry High School
(Mulberry, Fla.) from 1998-2000.
Jim graduated from the University of Mississippi in 1993 with a bachelor
degree in accounting. He was a member of three Southeastern Conference
club soccer championships. Jim and his wife, Meghan, have two children,
Jim (7) and Jack (4).
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