Jeff Zaun (born April 2, 1971 in Orange, New Jersey) is a retired American

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

defender who is currently an assistant coach with the

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...

men's soccer team. He played professionally in

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

USISL United Soccer League (USL), formerly known as United Soccer Leagues, is a soccer league in the United States and Canada. It organizes several men's and women's leagues, both professional and amateur. Men's leagues currently organized are the ...

and the USL A-League and coached one season in the USL A-League.

Playing career

Early career

Zaun played soccer at Holy Cross High School where he was a 1986 and 1987 New Jersey first team All State player. He finished high school at Shawnee High School where he was the 1988 New Jersey Player of the Year. Shawnee won the Group 4 NJ State Championship that season and finished as the #1 ranked team in New Jersey. In 1999, he was named by ''

The Star-Ledger ''The Star-Ledger'' is the largest circulated newspaper in the U.S. state of New Jersey and is based in Newark. It is a sister paper to ''The Jersey Journal'' of Jersey City, ''The Times'' of Trenton and the '' Staten Island Advance'', all of wh ...

'' as one of the ten best New Jersey high school soccer players of the 1980s. He was also named as one of the top ten South Jersey high school players on the All Century team by the Philadelphia Inquirer. His 1988 Shawnee team was named the top high school team of the century by the Philadelphia Inquirer as well. He then attended

where he played on the men's soccer team from 1989 to 1993 where he played in two Final Fours and four NCAA tournaments. In 1990, Zaun moved from center midfield to sweeper after starting sweeper Alexi Lalas was diagnosed with an abscessed appendix. That year, Rutgers went to the

NCAA Men's Soccer Championship The NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament, sometimes known as the College Cup, is an American intercollegiate soccer tournament conducted by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), and determines the Division I men's national champ ...

where it finished runner-up to

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

. Rutgers inducted Zaun into its Hall of Fame in 2006.

Club career

Zaun began his professional career with the expansion North Jersey Imperials of the

in 1994. On February 6, 1996, the MetroStars selected Zaun in the 4th round (39th overall) of the

1996 MLS Inaugural Player Draft The MLS Inaugural Player Draft, held before Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United State ...

. He spent three seasons in New Jersey, but saw time in only four games in 1998 due to injuries in his final season. The MetroStars waived Zaun on February 25, 1999. On March 1, 1999, the Chicago Fire claimed Zaun off the waiver list. After playing with the Fire for part of one season Zaun moved on to play and coach for the Lehigh Valley Steam of the USL A-League. The Steam qualified for the playoffs in their inaugural season. Zaun retired after that season and began his coaching career.

Managerial career

After graduating from Rutgers in 1994, Zaun briefly coached as an assistant with Drew University. He returned to coaching in 1999 when he was a player-coach with the

Lehigh Valley Steam Lehigh Valley Steam was a soccer club that competed in the A-League in 1999. Based in Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania, the club has problems securing a home stadium and folded after a single season. The club featured future U.S. national team player ...

of the USL A-League. Following his retirement from playing professionally, Zaun joined the Rutgers University soccer team as an assistant coach then moved up to Associate Head Coach since 2003.Rutgers Coach Profile

References

External links

MetroFan profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zaun, Jeff 1971 births Living people American soccer coaches American men's soccer players Rutgers Scarlet Knights men's soccer players Rutgers Scarlet Knights men's soccer coaches USISL players North Jersey Imperials players New York Red Bulls players Chicago Fire FC players USL First Division players Lehigh Valley Steam players Long Island Rough Riders players USL First Division coaches Sportspeople from Orange, New Jersey Soccer players from Essex County, New Jersey Major League Soccer players New York Red Bulls non-playing staff Men's association football defenders Holy Cross Academy (New Jersey) alumni Shawnee High School (New Jersey) alumni Sportspeople from Burlington County, New Jersey Men's association football player-managers