Soccer Head Coach Bryan Blitz Inks Three-Year Contract
12/13/1999 12:00:00 AM | Soccer
Dec. 13, 1999
Columbia, Mo. - University of Missouri Head Women?s Soccer Coach BRYAN BLITZ has signed a three-year contract to coach the program through the 2002 season Director of Athletics MICHAEL ALDEN announced today. The contract goes into effect JANUARY 1, 2000.
?Chief among our goals is the creation of an environment where each student-athlete can succeed on and off the field of play,? Associate Athletic Director SARAH REESMAN said. ?Over the past four years, Bryan Blitz has demonstrated the ability to create that environment. We are thrilled that he will continue the program?s development at Missouri.?
The contract is the first multi-year deal for Blitz, who has operated under one-year agreements since coming to Missouri in 1996. He is the only soccer coach Missouri has ever known, taking the program from birth in 1996 to an NCAA Tournament berth in 1999.
?This is a tremendous sign of support from the University administration, from both the athletic and academic sectors,? BRYAN BLITZ said. ?My family is so thankful for the opportunity here at Missouri. I am pleased that we will be able to continue to build toward a national championship here at MU.?
Blitz recently completed his fourth and most successful season at MU. The 1999 Tiger squad finished 14-8-1, advancing to the the school?s first NCAA Soccer Tournament, while also earning a trip to the Big 12 Tournament Championship match for the second consecutive season.
At Missouri, Blitz? s teams have increased their win total each of his four seasons, totaling a 38-43-2 record at Missouri for the coach. Before arriving at MU, Blitz spent five seasons as the head women?s soccer coach at Butler University in Indianapolis, Ind. He also started the women?s soccer program at Butler, taking the school from inception in 1991 to the Midwestern Collegiate Conference regular season championship in 1995. His career record over nine seasons stands at 83-87-10.
His coaching career began at his alma mater, Tulsa University, where upon his graduation in 1987, he served as an assistant coach during that program?s first season. After playing two seasons in the Northeast Super Soccer League with teams in Dallas and New York, Blitz returned to coaching in 1989 as a graduate assistant with the men?s soccer team at Butler. Two years later he took the challenge of building the women?s program as the team?s first head coach.
Blitz, 36, is a native of Queens, New York. He earned a bachelor?s degree from Tulsa University in 1987 and a master?s degree in business from Butler University in 1990. He and his wife, Alie, are the parents of two girls and a boy, Madison (4) and Abby (9 months) and Connor (3). The couple is expecting their fourth child in May of 2000.
