Charles Clifford McCrath (born February 3, 1936) is a retired American
soccer player and coach. His greatest fame came as coach of
Seattle Pacific University
Seattle Pacific University (SPU) is a private Christian university in Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1891 in conjunction with the Oregon and Washington Conference of the Free Methodist Church as the Seattle Seminary. It became the Seat ...
where he led the team to five
NCAA Division II
NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environmen ...
championships. He was the 1978
NSCAA
The United Soccer Coaches (formerly known as the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)) is an organization of American soccer coaches founded in 1941. It is the largest soccer coaches organization in the world, with more than ...
Coach of the Year and retired ranked second on the all time collegiate coaching wins list with 597 wins.
McCrath grew up in Michigan as an avid hockey fan. He had originally intended to attend
Michigan State
Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...
to play hockey, but attendance at a revival changed his mind and he entered
Wheaton College in 1954. That year, he saw soccer played for the first time. Intrigued, he tried out for the team his sophomore year. Despite his late introduction to the game, he quickly rose to the top of the collegiate ranks when he was named an Honorable Mention (third team) All American in 1957. He graduated in the spring of 1958 and remained at Wheaton that fall to coach the team. McCrath was inducted into the Wheaton College Athletic Hall of Fame in 1979. In 1960,
Gordon College in
Wenham, Massachusetts
Wenham () is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts. The population was 4,979 at the time of the 2020 census.
The town of Wenham, originally settled in 1635 and incorporated in 1643, has retained much of its historic character and rural scenery ...
hired McCrath. Over seven seasons, he took the
NAIA Fighting Scots to a 52–26–2 record, four post season tournaments and the 1966 NAIA semifinals. That year, he graduated with an
M.Div. from the
Gordon Divinity School. In 1967, he moved to
Spring Arbor College where he inherited a mediocre team. In his first season, he went 4–4–0, but quickly improved as the Cougars went to the NAIA post season in 1968 and 1969. In 1969, he again took his team to the semifinals. This brought him to the attention of David McKenna, president of
Seattle Pacific University
Seattle Pacific University (SPU) is a private Christian university in Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1891 in conjunction with the Oregon and Washington Conference of the Free Methodist Church as the Seattle Seminary. It became the Seat ...
, a sister school to Spring Arbor. McKenna was looking to upgrade the SPU soccer program and consequently hired McCrath. McCrath’s team again had a poor first season, going 0–7–3. However, the next year, he took the Falcons to a 7–3–4 record and the regional post-season tournament. He improved in 1972 as the Falcons made it into the NCAA post-season tournament. At the time, an investment group began laying the foundation for the establishment of a
North American Soccer League franchise in Seattle, eventually to be known as the
Seattle Sounders
Seattle Sounders Football Club is an American professional men's soccer club based in Seattle. The Sounders compete as a member of the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). The club was established on November 13, 2007, and began ...
. They approached McCrath about coaching the team, but he declined. Instead, he worked with the team ownership to hire
John Best as the team’s first coach. McCrath then did much of the early work scouting players and assembling a roster. Once the team began playing in 1974, he worked as a color commentator for local broadcasts of Sounders’ games. He did not slight his collegiate coaching duties and took Seattle Pacific to the
NCAA Division II championship game in 1974, 1975 and 1977. Each time, the team finished as runner-up. In 1978, the Falcons finally took the title and McCrath was named the National Coach of the Year. The Falcons won the championship again in 1983, 1985, 1986 and 1993 and finished as runner-up in 1984 and 1990. In 2007, the Falcons finished 7–6–7. This disappointing result led to his dismissal as coach at the end of the season.
In 2017, McCrath served as the head coach for the U.S. women's soccer team participating in the
women's soccer tournament at the
2017 Summer Universiade
The 2017 Summer Universiade (), officially known as the XXIX Summer Universiade ( zh, t=第二十九屆夏季世界大學運動會, p=Dì èrshíjiǔ jiè xiàjì shìjiè dàxué yùndònghuì) and commonly called Taipei 2017 ( zh, t=台北2 ...
in
Taipei
Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:McCrath, Cliff
1936 births
Living people
American soccer coaches
American men's soccer players
Men's association football players not categorized by position
Gordon Fighting Scots men's soccer coaches
North American Soccer League (1968–1984) commentators
Seattle Pacific Falcons men's soccer coaches
Spring Arbor Cougars men's soccer coaches
Wheaton Thunder men's soccer coaches
Wheaton Thunder men's soccer players
Sportspeople from Detroit
Soccer in Michigan
Sports coaches from Michigan
Soccer players from Detroit