Dave Giffard (born August 29, 1975) is an American soccer coach. Giffard was raised in
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...
, where he attended
MacMurray College from 1993 to 1997, and played for the school's soccer team as a
goalkeeper
In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...
. After finishing college at MacMurray, with a
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...
in physical education, Giffard immediately went into the sport as a coach, coaching at various institutions as an assistant coach or goalkeeping coach for the next 15 years. Following his tenure as an assistant at MacMurray, Giffard was an assistant on the Westminster College Blue Jays, where they achieved their first 12-win season in program history. During his final years at Westminster, Giffard enrolled for postgraduate studies at the
University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB).
While at UAB, Giffard earned his
Master of Arts in Education, achieving his master's at the end of the 2002–03 academic year. Following his achievement, Giffard joined the
UAB Blazers men's soccer
The UAB Blazers men's soccer team is an intercollegiate varsity sports program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. As of the upcoming 2022 season, the college soccer program competes in the NCAA Division I American Athletic Conference (T ...
program as an assistant to
Mike Getman. At UAB, Giffard primarily worked as a goalkeeping coach. During his time at UAB, Clint Baumstark became the first goalkeeper at UAB to be capped by the
United States U-20 national soccer team.
Upon leaving UAB, Giffard served as volunteer for Indiana University before joining
Caleb Porter and the
Akron Zips men's soccer program. During Giffard's time as an assistant to Porter, the Zips had a 23–1–1 season, and won the
2010 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship
The 2010 NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament was a tournament of 48 collegiate soccer teams who played for the NCAA Championship in soccer. The semifinals and final were held at Harder Stadium in Santa Barbara, California. All the other games ...
, beating Louisville.
Starting in 2010, Giffard earned his first head coaching position in his career, becoming the head coach for the
VCU Rams men's soccer program. In his three years, Giffard returned the Rams to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2004, and had the team nationally ranked for the first time since 2005.
Head coaching record
Honors
*
Atlantic 10 Conference Men's Soccer Coach of the Year:
2018
File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...
References
External links
*http://www.caasports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=8500&ATCLID=204863728
VCU Rams bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Giffard, Dave
1976 births
Living people
American soccer coaches
American soccer players
Association football goalkeepers
Akron Zips men's soccer coaches
MacMurray Highlanders men's soccer players
Indiana Hoosiers men's soccer coaches
People from Jacksonville, Illinois
Soccer players from Illinois
UAB Blazers men's soccer coaches
VCU Rams men's soccer coaches
Association football goalkeeping coaches