By Malika Andrews |
Nick Carlin-Voigt has been named as the head coach of the University of Portland’s men’s soccer team, athletic director Scott Leykam announced Monday morning. Carlin-Voigt, who served as associate head coach and recruiting coordinator at UCLA, said he is excited to coach on Merlo Field: the gem of the west coast.
“It’s potentially the best soccer specific stadium in the country,” Carlin-Voigt said while visiting The Bluff Tuesday. “So any time you can coach at a University where half the student body comes to the games, it tells you that soccer is really relevant.”
While with the Bruins, Carlin-Voigt helped assemble the number one recruiting classes in the nation in 2013, 2014 and 2015. Under his leadership, UCLA finished as the No. 1 overall seed in 2013 and played in the post season all four years of Carlin-Voigt’s tenure. He said that he hopes to extend this legacy of winning to Merlo Field.
“This was an incredible opportunity to come and be the head coach at the University of Portland with a school that is really and truly a soccer school,” Carlin-Voigt said. There’s not a lot of Universities like that and so everything that the Villa Drum squad brings to Merlo Field and everything this place has to offer with being soccer city USA in Portland, it was a dream opportunity.”
Carlin-Voigt grew up in at Kalamazoo, Michigan and started playing soccer at 5-years-old. He was recruited by several Division I schools, but ultimately chose to attend Kalamazoo College where he played basketball and soccer and became a Division III All-American.
His professional career in Mexico was cut short by a PCL (Posterior Cruciate Ligament) tear. After playing some semi-professional soccer back at home in Kalamazoo, Carlin-Voigt rehabbed and played overseas in Germany. When he was not offered a contract, he decided to coach.
“His recruiting pedigree speaks for itself and we are excited to see him bring Portland men's soccer back to the forefront of the conference and national scenes," Leykam said in the University’s press release.
Carlin-Voigt met with the team for the first time Tuesday morning. He replaces Bill Irwin who stepped down in November after 29 years at UP.
Malika Andrews is the sports editor for The Beacon. She can be reached at andrewsm17@up.edu or on Twitter @malika_andrews.
