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11/15/2011
Stanford men's head soccer coach Bret Simon resigns after 11 seasons.
11/11/2011
Stanford Closes Season with a 3-0 Win at Cal
The Cardinal play a complete game in dismantling its archrival.
11/09/2011
Stanford Closes Season Friday at Cal
The Cardinal will finish up the 2011 campaign against rival California.
11/04/2011
Stanford Blasts San Diego State, 4-1
The Cardinal has its top scoring effort of the season in defeating San Diego State.
10/16/2011
Stanford Beats Oregon State, 3-2
The Cardinal build a three-goal lead and then hang on for the 3-2 victory.
In 10 seasons at Stanford, Bret Simon has guided teams to two a pair of College Cups, a Pacific-10 Conference title and has guided several players onto play in the professional ranks.
The Cardinal are coming off an 8-10-0 season, but as recent as 2009, Simon was named Pac-10 Coach of the Year after guiding Stanford to the round of 16 at the NCAA Tournament.
Simon has already been at the helm for some of the biggest achievements in Stanford soccer history.But that's not surprising. Now in his 22nd season as a collegiate head coach, Simon has a history of winning. He has an overall record of 267-148-52, including nine appearances in the NCAA tournament. In his 15 years in Division I, Simon has built a 184-105-36 career mark, including an impressive17-9-2 (.654) record in NCAA postseason competition, thanks largely to four appearances in the College Cup. Since arriving at Stanford in 2001, Simon has compiled an 88-79-28 overall record for a .527 winning percentage.
Simon is one of only two coaches in NCAA history to take two different programs to the NCAA College Cup, and has been named Coach of the Year in two conferences.
Simon has coached 29 all-conference first-team selections, six conference players of the year, six NSCAA first-team All-Americans, four United States national team players and a Hermann Trophy winner.
In 2009, Simon coached NSCAA first team All-American and Herman Trophy semifinalist, Bobby Warshaw. Last spring Warshaw was selected in the first round of the MLS Draft by FC Dallas.
Fifteen of his players have advanced to Major League Soccer, including two last season -- Warshaw and Ryan Thomas. Overall, six former Stanford stars -- Todd Dunivant, Taylor Graham, Roger Levesque, Chad Marshall, Thomas and Warshaw are currently playing in MLS.
Simon piloted the Cardinal to College Cup appearances in his first two seasons on The Farm, including a trip to the 2002 NCAA final. It marked the second time a Simon coached team reached the championship match, following an appearance with Creighton in 2000.
Last season was one of ups and downs for the Cardinal. After beginning with four-straight one-goal losses, the Cardinal responded with four straight wins. Stanford began strong in Pac-10 play and had its record at 8-7 before losing its final three. The middle of the pack Pac-10 finish was a disappointment, but one that will provide the Cardinal with motivation heading into 2011.
2009 was a bounce back season for Stanford under Simon's guidance. The Cardinal won 12 games, including knocking off Saint Mary's and UC Irvine in the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament. Simon was named Pac-10 Coach of the Year for his efforts. Among the achievements for Stanford was beating UCLA, 2-0 at home when the Bruins entered the game ranked No. 2 in the nation. Two of Simon's players were named to the All-Pac-10 first team, while five others were second team or honorable mention.
The 2008 season was a tough one as the Cardinal suffered several key injuries and struggled offensively to finish with a 4-11-3 record, his first losing season since 2005.
In 2007, Stanford proved it was back on the upswing, earning Simon his 10th winning season in 13 years. Among the highlights of the 7-6-5 campaign was a 2-1-1 record against the top Pac-10 finishers, Cal and UCLA, and a doubleovertime draw with defending national champion UC Santa Barbara.
During his first two seasons at Stanford, Simon had a combined record of 36-7-4, equaling the winningest two-year streak in the program's 94 years of existence.
The 2002 club finished with a 17-5-3 overall record on its way to an NCAA runner-up finish. Simon, who was a semifinalist for Far West Coach of the Year, led a hot team to four straight NCAA Tournament victories and six consecutive wins overall late in the season to reach the national championship game against UCLA.
In his rookie season at Stanford in 2001, Simon garnered two coach of the year honors when he was named the NSCAA/adidas Far West Regional Coach of the Year and Pac-10 Coach of the Year after leading the Cardinal to its first Pac-10 championship. Simon guided Stanford to its best overall record ever (19-2-1) as the club advanced to its second College Cup in program history and made its fifth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance.
Simon achieved his 100th career Division I win in his first season with the Cardinal, a 3-1 triumph over Cal State Fullerton on September 9, 2001.
Before coming to Stanford, Simon led Creighton to the 2000 NCAA final, completing an eight-year run in Omaha, the final six as head coach. His .769 winning percentage (96-26-8) remains the best in school history. His final Bluejay team finished 22-4 and remains the program's most successful team. The team's appearance in the NCAA final was the first by any Creighton athletic squad. A four-time conference Coach of the Year honoree, Simon led the Bluejays to four postseason Missouri Valley Conferencetournament championships, a pair of MVC regular-season titles and six NCAA Tournament appearances. Simon's 96 wins at the school ranks second on the Bluejays' all time list.
Among the players Simon coached from 1995-2000 were future U.S. national team players Richard Mulrooney and Brian Mullan, 1997 Hermann Trophy winner Johnny Torres, and two-time MLS All-Star Ross Paule. Altogether, Simon has coached four member of the national team: Mulrooney, Mullan, as well as ex- Stanford stars Dunivant and Marshall.
A 1980 graduate of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Simon earned his master's degree in business administration with an emphasis in marketing and management from Berry College in Mount Berry, Ga., in 1982.
During a 13-year tenure at Berry, Simon was involved in numerous aspects of the athletic department including coaching, teaching, publicity and as the Vikings' athletic director. After six seasons as a Berry assistant, Simon compiled an 83- 43-16 record as head coach of the NAIA school from 1986-92.
Simon, who was born on June 19, 1958, is married to the former Pam Gradoville, a Creighton Athletic Hall of Fame basketball player. They have two sons, Benjamin and Jacob.