STANFORD, Calif. – Charles Rodriguez has been elevated to a full-time assistant coach Jeremy Gunn announced Wednesday.
Rodriguez, a 2011 NSCAA First Team All-American and team captain under Gunn at Charlotte, was brought on board last April as a volunteer assistant mainly responsible for working with the Cardinal's back four.
"I am really excited to promote Charles to a full assistant position," Gunn said. "He's a very thoughtful coach and one that is analytical and thorough with how he approaches the game. That attention to detail is a trademark of how we try to do things."
A strong believer that there is an art to defending, Rodriguez and Stanford painted a masterpiece in 2016. The Cardinal finished the year fourth nationally with a 0.56 goals against average, tied for the second-best mark in program history. Stanford's 13 shutouts also tied for third in the country and were its most since 2000 (16).
Stanford did not allow a single goal throughout the entire NCAA tournament and became the third program to win a title while posting a 0.00 postseason goals against average. The Cardinal will head into 2017 with an active shutout streak of 548:29.
"There's definitely room for improvement," Rodriguez said. "From top to bottom, our forwards to our goalkeeper, defending is something that is preached day in and day out. As Gunn will say 'great defending leads to great attacking.' In working with the back four specifically, those guys are always pushing each other and genuinely want to learn and get better. That's what you ask for as a coach."
Rodriguez fills the role of the departed Nick Kirchhof, who had been on staff with Gunn since he started at Stanford and recently moved home to Colorado with his wife Angela. Kirchhof won a national championship as a player at Fort Lewis under Gunn in 2005, served two years as a volunteer assistant for the Cardinal in 2012 and 2013 and the last three as a full-time assistant in helping the program win back-to-back NCAA titles.
"I can't say enough about Nick," Gunn added. "He was a joy to coach as a player and been an immense part of the program since we started here. His work ethic, attitude and personality have been so consistent, so valued and obvious for everyone to see. It has really been a benchmark for how we want to do things. We're completely indebted to him for everything he's done, but are so excited for his future ventures. I know with that sort of personality and those values that he'll be successful in whatever he turns to in the future."
Kirchhof, Rodriguez and second-year assistant coach Oige Kennedy all started on staff in a volunteer capacity.
"I really believe in rewarding people for hard work and promoting from within," Gunn said. "For Charles, Nick and Oige to come on as volunteers and work their way up, it's a sign of having a great culture. You can have people come into the program and grow and prosper like we hope our student-athletes do."
Rodriguez played for Gunn with the 49ers and captained the squad that advanced to the 2011 College Cup Championship match. As a senior that season, he was named a Soccer America First Team All American, was a NSCAA First Team All-Mid-Atlantic Region selection and became the first defender in Charlotte history to earn NSCAA First Team All-America honors. He was also named to the 2011 NCAA College Cup All-Tournament Team while captaining the 49ers to the national final for the first time in school history.
"It was a bit different learning from Gunn as a coach than as a player," Rodriguez admitted. "As a player you don't realize all the conversations and the stones that are overturned to try and gain any marginal advantage. He wants healthy disagreement and it's really fun to be part of a staff like that."
Stanford became the sixth program to win back-to-back men's soccer national championships when it beat Wake Forest in penalties on Dec. 11.
"We talk about having a growth mindset," Rodriguez added. "We've put a line behind 2016. There's still some parts we can get better at and that's exciting for us. It's already a new team. While you have a great group of seniors that are leaving, you have others that are now going to be more vocal. It will be great to see how they grow within this program."
Gunn, Rodriguez and Kennedy are currently in the process of identifying a volunteer assistant to join the staff for the 2017 season.