Nick Webster (born October 7, 1970
) is the Treasurer for
Cal South and former peak performance and mindset coach on the
UCSB
The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduates and 2,983 graduate students enrolled in 2021–2022. It is part of the U ...
women's team, a former soccer personality, and acclaimed mental performance and leadership coach. He was formerly an on-air director, senior producer, play-by-play announcer and chief writer for
Fox Soccer Channel
Fox Soccer (formerly Fox Soccer Channel & Fox Sports World before that) was an American television specialty channel specializing in soccer, owned by Fox Corporation, which operated from 1997 to 2013. It formerly broadcast rugby and Australian r ...
and foxsoccer.com. He was also the chief analyst for
KDOC-TV
KDOC-TV (channel 56) is a religious television station licensed to Anaheim, California, United States, serving the Los Angeles area as an owned-and-operated station of Tri-State Christian Television (TCT). The station maintains studios on East F ...
and their
Chivas USA
Chivas USA (pronounced ''CHEE-vahs'') was an American professional soccer team based in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, California. The club played from 2005 to 2014 in Major League Soccer (MLS) and was a subsidiary of Mexican club C.D. Guada ...
broadcasts and the play-by-play announcer for the
Orange County Blues
Orange County Soccer Club is an American soccer team based in the Orange County, California city of Irvine. Founded in 2010 as the Los Angeles Blues, the team currently plays in the second tier USL Championship.
The team plays its home games ...
. In May 2012 he became the Director of Content and Development for football.com and held that position for two years. Webster now runs his own consulting business advising coaches, players, and industry talent in the TV and soccer industry. He currently has a video series featuring different aspects of soccer on the livestrong network, and in 2016 published his first book, 'Re-Booting Youth Soccer 2.0' which has become required reading for new coaches and parents. His Facebook group, the Soccer Coaches Mastermind currently boasts over 4,500 coaches and is one of the most popular soccer coaching pages on the Facebook network. Webster holds a Bachelor of Science from
CSUDH
California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH, CSU Dominguez Hills, or Cal State Dominguez Hills) is a public university in Carson, California. It was founded in 1960 and is part of the California State University (CSU) system.
In 2020, ...
and a Master's Degree in Organizational Leadership from
Concordia University Irvine
Concordia University Irvine is a private Lutheran university in Irvine, California, United States. It was established in 1976 to provide a Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod college to serve the Pacific Southwest and provide training for pastors, ...
.
Broadcasting
Webster began his broadcast career with
Fox Soccer Channel
Fox Soccer (formerly Fox Soccer Channel & Fox Sports World before that) was an American television specialty channel specializing in soccer, owned by Fox Corporation, which operated from 1997 to 2013. It formerly broadcast rugby and Australian r ...
(then Fox Sports World) in May 2000. His first assignment of note was writing the copy for Lionel Bienvenu and the highly popular ''Premier League Review Show''.
[ ] By 2004, Webster was the voice of the English
Premier League
The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...
as he provided the majority of the wraparounds for the world's most popular league.
In addition to calling matches from the Premier League, Webster also commentated on the Italian
Serie A
The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...
, Spain's
La Liga
The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...
, the German
Bundesliga
The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...
, France's
Ligue 1
Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...
, the Dutch
Eredivisie
The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...
, Chile's
Primera Division, the
Campeonato Brasileiro Série A
The Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (; English: "Brazilian Championship A Series"), commonly referred to as the Brasileirão (; English: "Big Brazilian"), and also known as Brasileirão Assaí due to sponsorship with Assaí Atacadista, is a Br ...
, and Argentina's
Apertura
The ' and ' tournaments is a split season format for Spanish-speaking sports leagues. It is a relatively recent innovation for many Latin American football leagues in which the traditional association football season from August to May is div ...
. Additionally, he has called matches from the
UEFA Cup
A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...
including the finals in 2004, 2005 and 2006, the
UEFA Super Cup
The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions; the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's official name was originall ...
,
World Cup Qualifying, and the
Toulon Tournament
The Toulon Tournament (officially the Festival International "Espoirs" – Tournoi Maurice Revello) is a football (training match) tournament, which traditionally features invited national teams composed of youth players from U-17 to U-23 level. ...
.
Webster has also covered in person the following tournaments:
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...
2002, 2006 and 2010; where he has given video summaries of the matches from South Africa;
UEFA European Championship
The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition is contes ...
2004 and 2008;
FIFA Confederations Cup
The FIFA Confederations Cup was an international association football tournament for men's national teams, held every four years by FIFA. It was contested by the holders of each of the six continental championships ( AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, ...
2003; ICC
2003 Cricket World Cup
The 2003 ICC Cricket World Cup was the eighth Cricket World Cup, organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was co-hosted by South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya from 9 February to 23 March 2003. This edition of the World Cup was the f ...
; and
CONCACAF Gold Cup
The CONCACAF Gold Cup ( es, Copa de Oro de la CONCACAF, french: Coupe D'or CONCACAF) is the main association football competition of the men's national football teams governed by CONCACAF, determining the continental champion of North Ameri ...
2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, providing daily articles and news stories for foxsoccer.com and foxsports.com.
Webster was also the host and producer of
Fox Football Fone-In
''Fox Football Fone-in'' (previously known as ''Fox Football Friday'') was a football (soccer) telephone call-in program that was shown on Monday evenings on Fox Soccer Channel during the August to May Premier League season. However, as of August 2 ...
, a call-in show for soccer fans.
[http://blogs.nypost.com/sports/soccer/archives/2009/07/fsc_replaces_st.html ]
Webster was the director and senior producer for the following shows at Fox Soccer. Uefa Champions League Pre-game, Half-time & Post-game, Super Sunday+, Match Day, Fox Football Fone-In, Passport to Germany & South Africa. He has also won multiple Telly Awards for producing, directing, and hosting.
During the summer of 2007, Webster was the lead announcer for Bluff Poker as they held the online rights for the
World Series of Poker
The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is a series of poker tournaments held annually in Paradise, Nevada and, since 2004, sponsored by Caesars Entertainment. It dates its origins to 1970, when Benny Binion invited seven of the best-known poker pla ...
. Webster produced twice-daily reports of the action as well as breaking down the big hands of the day. Webster is an accomplished
Texas Hold 'Em
Texas hold 'em (also known as Texas holdem, hold 'em, and holdem) is one of the most popular variants of the card game of poker. Two cards, known as hole cards, are dealt face down to each player, and then five Community card poker, communit ...
player and has won the daily 'poker and ponies' tournament at
Hollywood Park Casino
Hollywood Park Casino is a casino and sports bar in Inglewood, California. Originally part of the Hollywood Park Racetrack, the casino moved to a new building in 2016 after the closure and demolition of the racetrack in 2013.
History
In 1994, ...
on multiple occasions.
In 2014 Webster was named the color commentator for
Chivas USA
Chivas USA (pronounced ''CHEE-vahs'') was an American professional soccer team based in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, California. The club played from 2005 to 2014 in Major League Soccer (MLS) and was a subsidiary of Mexican club C.D. Guada ...
broadcasts on
KDOC-TV
KDOC-TV (channel 56) is a religious television station licensed to Anaheim, California, United States, serving the Los Angeles area as an owned-and-operated station of Tri-State Christian Television (TCT). The station maintains studios on East F ...
. Later that summer he became the host for the World Soccer Talk Premier League podcast. During the summer of 2016 he also performed as the play-by-play announcer for the
Orange County Blues
Orange County Soccer Club is an American soccer team based in the Orange County, California city of Irvine. Founded in 2010 as the Los Angeles Blues, the team currently plays in the second tier USL Championship.
The team plays its home games ...
.
During World Cup 2018, Webster provided daily expert analysis for
5thstreetsports.com. In August 2018 Webster partnered up with
Nick Geber
Nick Geber (born in London, England) is a radio and television personality who co-hosted the Sirius Satellite Radio program ''World Soccer Daily'' (''WSD'')and the TV Show '' Fox Football Friday'' and '' Fox Football Fone-In''. He is currently the ...
to provide daily analysis of the
English Premier League
The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...
on
Sirius XM Satellite Radio
Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. It was formed by the 2008 merger of Sirius ...
,
Sports Byline USA
Sports Byline USA is an international sports radio network based in the United States. ''Sports Byline USA'' is also the name of the flagship program on the network. It was the first national sports talk show and was launched on October 24, 1988. ...
,
American Forces Network
The American Forces Network (AFN) is a government television and radio broadcast service the U.S. military provides to those stationed or assigned overseas. Headquartered at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland, AFN's broadcast operations, which i ...
,
SB Nation Radio
SportsMap is a sports radio network that is distributed by Gow Media.
The SportsMap Radio Network supplies its network affiliates with a 24-hour schedule of sports programming, including call-in shows and sports updates. Over its history, through ...
and
IHeartRadio
iHeartRadio (often shortened to just "iHeart") is an American freemium broadcast, podcast and radio streaming Computing platform, platform owned by iHeartMedia. It was founded in August 2008. , iHeartRadio was functioning as the national umbr ...
, making it the most widely distributed soccer radio show in the US.
In 2022, Webster will be reuniting with Eric Wynalda to produce and host, Monday Night Manager. This show will live on the
Soccerex TV platform on Youtube.
Coaching
Webster is a licensed coach with the
United States Soccer Federation
The United States Soccer Federation (USSF), commonly referred to as U.S. Soccer, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and the official governing body of the sport of soccer in the United States. Headquartered in Chicago, the federation is ...
and the
United Soccer Coaches
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 ...
holding his A, B, C & D licenses along with the highly respected
Premier Diploma and the much sought
Director of Coaching Diploma. In January 2017, Webster successfully completed his
United Soccer Coaches
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 ...
Master Coach and Soccer Leader diploma, graduating with a distinguished pass. He also holds the Advanced National Goalkeeping Diploma.
Webster grew up in São Paulo, Brazil, and North London, England, attending some of the biggest club soccer matches in the world. In 1987 Webster immigrated to the United States and shortly thereafter began his soccer coaching career at
Occidental College
Occidental College (informally Oxy) is a private liberal arts college in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1887 as a coeducational college by clergy and members of the Presbyterian Church, it became non-sectarian in 1910. It is one of the oldes ...
, Los Angeles as the men's assistant to Lowell Thomas. In his one season with the Tigers, Webster helped the team to 2nd place in The Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
In 1997 he moved to Windward High School, Los Angeles to become the Head Coach of Boys' Varsity team. In his first season, the Wildcats won the first of eight League Championships. In 2004 as an unseeded school, the Wildcats won their first ever boys' CIF Southern Section title defeating Carpentaria High School 2-1. Webster was named CIF Southern Section Division VI Coach of the Year.
In May 2012, Webster was appointed 1st team coach for
Cal FC Cal or CAL may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Cal (novel), ''Cal'' (novel), a 1983 novel by Bernard MacLaverty
* Cal (short story), "Cal" (short story), a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov
* Cal (1984 film), ''Cal'' (1984 film), an ...
under the management of
Eric Wynalda
Eric Boswell Wynalda (born June 9, 1969) is an American soccer coach, television commentator, and retired player. He was formerly an analyst and color commentator for soccer coverage on Fox Sports 1 and ESPN. Previously, he served as head coach ...
. The team from Thousand Oaks embarked on a historic run in the
US Open Cup
The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, commonly known as the U.S. Open Cup (USOC), is a Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in men's Soccer in the United States, soccer in the United States of America. It is the oldest ongoing nati ...
, beating the
Kitsap Pumas
Kitsap SC Pumas was an American soccer team based in Bremerton, Washington, United States. The team played in the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL), the fourth tier of the American soccer pyramid. From its foundation in 2009 to 2016, the clu ...
, the
Wilmington Hammerheads
Wilmington Hammerheads FC was a semi-professional American soccer team based in Wilmington, North Carolina. Founded in 1996, the team last competed in the Premier Development League, the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid in 2017.
History ...
and the
Portland Timbers
The Portland Timbers are an American professional men's soccer club based in Portland, Oregon. The Timbers compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The Timbers have played their home games at P ...
, the first time an amateur team had ever beaten an MLS team in the US Open Cup. The run was finally ended by the three-time defending champions,
Seattle Sounders FC
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 ...
.
In the 2014 edition of the US Open Cup, Webster reprised his head coaching role and led the team against the LA Galaxy II (USL) in the 2nd round of the tournament. He also assisted Eric Wynalda and the
Atlanta Silverbacks
The Atlanta Silverbacks FC were an American professional soccer club based in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1998 as Atlanta Ruckus, the club played in many leagues over the years before folding after the 2015 season. The team played its home game ...
in their 5th round tie against the Colorado Rapids. A match that saw 5 red cards for the Silverbacks including that of Wynalda and his first assistant leaving Webster with 8 players. Webster designed a tactical plan with his remaining players and the Silverbacks ran out 2-1 winners for one of the most dramatic wins in the competition's long and storied history.
On March 1, 2015, Webster won the
United States Youth Soccer Association
The United States Youth Soccer Association (US Youth Soccer) is the largest youth affiliate and member of U.S. Soccer, the governing body for soccer in the United States. US Youth Soccer includes 54 State Associations, one per state except for ...
National Championships with
CalSouth Boys' U17 beating Iowa in the final.
In the fall of 2017 Webster was the volunteer men's assistant coach for
Cal State Dominguez Hills
California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH, CSU Dominguez Hills, or Cal State Dominguez Hills) is a public university in Carson, California. It was founded in 1960 and is part of the California State University (CSU) system.
In 2020, ...
as they won the
CCAA Championship.
Webster has coached numerous club teams in the Southern California region winning multiple league and tournament titles.
In late 2018 Webster again teamed up with Eric Wynalda at the
Las Vegas Lights FC
Las Vegas Lights FC is an American professional soccer team based in Las Vegas, Nevada
Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho ...
in the
United Soccer League
United Soccer League (USL), formerly known as United Soccer Leagues, is a Association football, soccer league in the United States and Canada. It organizes several men's and women's leagues, both professional and amateur. Men's leagues curren ...
working with the first team in how to win the mental game. He is continuing this work with Wynalda as they embark on their second season together. He is also teaming up once again with Cal FC as they look to qualify for the 2021 edition of the US Open Cup by reprising the Head Coaching role. The team will be competing for the USASA National Amateur Cup Final in Chicago on August 5.
In the spring of 2020, Webster began coaching at
UCSB
The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduates and 2,983 graduate students enrolled in 2021–2022. It is part of the U ...
and assisting on the women's Division 1 program under Head Coach, Paul Stumpf.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Webster, Nick
American sports announcers
1964 births
Living people