Jim Launder is an 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 ...

coach. He was a two-time

Big Ten Coach of the Year Coaches and media of the Big Ten Conference award the following individual honors at the end of each American football, football season. In addition, the ''Chicago Tribune'' awards the Chicago Tribune Silver Football to the most valuable football p ...

and the 1995 NSCAA Coach of the Year.

Career

He attended Custer High School in Milwaukee. He then played midfielder and goalkeeper for the

Milwaukee Panthers The Milwaukee Panthers are the athletic teams of the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. A total of 13 Panthers athletic teams compete in NCAA Division I. The Panthers have won the James J. McCafferty Trophy as the Horizon League's all-sports ch ...

men's soccer team. He was inducted into the Milwaukee Panthers Hall of Fame in 2000. After serving as an assistant coach, Launder was hired as the head coach at Wisconsin for the 1982 season. He led Wisconsin to the 1995 national championship, and was named the NSCAA Coach of the Year. However, in January 1996, Wisconsin associate athletic director Cheryl Marra recommended to the Athletic Board that Launder's contract not be renewed. UW renewed his contract for one year. Launder was fired from Wisconsin in February 1997. The firing of Launder led to a review of the process Wisconsin used to evaluate coaches. Launder coached

Dayton Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Da ...

from 1997–1999, leading the team to Atlantic 10 Men's Soccer Tournament championships in 1997 and 1998. In January 2003, Launder was hired to be an assistant coach for the Columbus Crew. In late 2003, he returned to Madison to become the director of the Princeton Soccer Club. Launder has coached the

Madison 56ers Madison 56ers is an American soccer team based in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 2005, the team plays in the United Premier Soccer League. Prior to the 2009 season the team was known as the Princeton 56ers. Since their inception t ...

since 2005. In January 2010, after Wisconsin coach

Todd Yeagley Todd Yeagley is a retired U.S. soccer player who is the head men's soccer coach for the Indiana Hoosiers men's soccer, Indiana University Hoosiers. He played seven seasons in Major League Soccer with the Columbus Crew SC, Columbus Crew and one in ...

departed to become the coach at Indiana, Launder applied to return as Wisconsin men's soccer coach, but was ultimately passed over for John Trask. Forward Madison FC hired Launder as an assistant coach before the 2020 season.

College head coaching record

References

External links

UW Milwaukee Hall of Fame bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Launder, Jim 1952 births Living people Sportspeople from Milwaukee Soccer players from Milwaukee American soccer coaches Milwaukee Panthers men's soccer players Wisconsin Badgers men's soccer coaches Dayton Flyers men's soccer coaches Men's association football goalkeepers Men's association football midfielders Forward Madison FC coaches Milwaukee Panthers men's soccer coaches Columbus Crew non-playing staff USL League One coaches American men's soccer players