Ralf W. Wilhelms is a retired German

association football 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 played professionally in Germany and the United States. He coached in the United States and Hungary and served in various executive positions with American soccer teams for over a decade. He is a professor at

Lake Superior State University Lake Superior State University (colloquially Lake State, Lake Superior State, Soo Tech, and LSSU) is a public college in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. It is enrolls approximately 2,000 students. Due to its proximity to the Canadian border, and the ...

in Strategic Management and International Business.

Player

Wilhelms played for

Borussia Mönchengladbach Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 e. V. Mönchengladbach, commonly known as Borussia Mönchengladbach (), Mönchengladbach () or Gladbach (; abbreviated as Borussia MG, BMG), is a professional Association football, football club based in ...

from 1979 to 82 and

Bonner SC Bonner SC is a German association football club based in Bonn. The club was formed in 1965 through the merger of ''Bonner FV'' and ''Tura Bonn''. Its former women's football department won the German national championship in 1975. History ''B ...

from 1982 to 86. He moved to the United States to work on a graduate degree in business. While in the United States, he came to the attention of

Ron Newman Ronald Vernon Newman (19 January 1934 – 27 August 2018) was an English professional association football player and coach. He was a member of the American National Soccer Hall of Fame. Life Born in Fareham, Newman, after non-league footbal ...

, coach of the San Diego Sockers. On 25 June 1987, the Sockers selected Wilhelms in the first round (seventh overall) of the Major Indoor Soccer League draft. He spent two seasons on the Sockers' backline. In 1993, he played for the

Arizona Sandsharks Arizona Sandsharks was a U.S. indoor soccer team that played in the Continental Indoor Soccer League (CISL). It was founded in 1992 and folded in 1997, along with the CISL. Club history The Sandsharks were founded on August 3, 1992, under the own ...

of the

Continental Indoor Soccer League The Continental Indoor Soccer League (CISL) was a professional indoor soccer league that played from 1993 to 1997. History In the summer of 1989 Dr Jerry Buss, the owner of the Los Angeles Lakers and California Sports, told his executive Vice Pre ...

to then return to the San Diego Sockers for the 1994 season in the CISL. Ralf Wilhelms scored 22 goals and recorded 25 assists in his 128-game career with the San Diego Sockers and Arizona Sandsharks in the US. He began playing during the 1987 season and last took the pitch during the 1994 campaign.

Team management

After his release by the Sockers in 1989, Wilhelms entered the

U.S. International University United States International University (USIU) was a nonprofit university based in San Diego, California that was accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. At its peak, it had two additional American campuses and three interna ...

. On 31 July 1990, the school hired Wilhelms to coach its men's soccer team to a 5 win 12 loss season. USIU had players from Brazil, Turkey, Great Britain, Germany, Spain, Portugal, United States, the Netherlands, African Nations, and the confluence of the world with the team proved to be challenging and brotherly. On 3 March 1995, he became an assistant coach with the San Diego Sockers. He held that position until 1996. On 13 January 1998, he became the first head coach of the San Diego Flash. He took the team to an 8–5 record before leaving the team to become manager of Kerület FC. In 2001, Wilhelms joint Brian Quinn as his assistant coach to manage the San Diego Sockers in the Major Indoor Soccer League II. January 2004, Wilhelms became the executive vice president of Sockers.

Academics

In 1990, Willhelms received his Master of international Business and Administration from United States International University. In 2008, he earned his Doctor of Business Administration from the Marshall Goldsmith School of Management at

Alliant International University Alliant International University, often called Alliant, is a private for-profit university with its main campus in San Diego and other campuses in California. It offers programs in six California campuses – in San Francisco, San Diego, Los Ang ...

. He is a professor at

.Lake Superior State University staff bio
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References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilhelms, Ralf Living people 1962 births Arizona Sandsharks players Bonner SC players Continental Indoor Soccer League players German football managers Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) players San Diego Sockers (1978–1996) indoor players USL First Division coaches West German footballers West German expatriate footballers Men's association football defenders Nemzeti Bajnokság I managers West German expatriate sportspeople in the United States German expatriate sportspeople in Hungary West German football managers German expatriate football managers German expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate football managers in Hungary Expatriate soccer coaches in the United States