STANFORD, Calif. – Collin Audley, a four-year letterwinner and former captain at Denver, has been added to the Stanford men's soccer staff as a volunteer assistant coach, Jeremy Gunn announced Friday.
A midfielder for the Pioneers from 2006-09, Audley captained the squad as a junior and senior and was a three-time All-MPSF honoree. He started all 74 games during his career, scored 13 goals, including eight game-winners, and assisted on 15 others. He played a key role in leading Denver to its first Mountain Pacific Sports Federation championship in 2008, which earned the Pioneers their first NCAA Tournament berth since 1970.
"We're excited to have Collin join the staff," Gunn said. "He had a fantastic playing career and brings a wealth of soccer coaching experience, not just at the college level, but also in club soccer. He will bring a wonderful balance of hard work, soccer knowledge, experience and humor to the program, things we love to have within our staff and within our team."
Audley, who graduated from Denver in 2010 with his bachelor's in communications, followed up his collegiate career with MLS trials and reserve-team appearances with the Colorado Rapids (2010-11) and Chicago Fire (2011-12). He coached at Colorado School of Mines during the 2014 and 2015 seasons, was on staff at his alma mater for a year before that and has also been heavily involved with Real Colorado of the U.S. Soccer Development Academy since 2013.
"I'm humbled and honored for this opportunity," Audley said. "It's unique for a young coach, or any coach, to come and learn from [Jeremy] Gunn in the environment and the culture that he has created. The players are high-level, they play in a great conference and they're trying to win championships every single year so for me it's very exciting to be here."
The Orediggers went 30-8-4 during Audley's two seasons on staff, won the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference regular-season title in 2015 and RMAC Tournament championships in both 2014 and 2015. CSM went 18-1-3 in 2015, set a school record for victories, and made its deepest run in the NCAA Division II Tournament in advancing to the quarterfinals.
He joins a Stanford program that has won each of the past two NCAA crowns, three straight Pac-12 championships and is the winningest program in the country over the past three seasons.
"The same values we look for in a player are those that we look for in a coach in many respects," Gunn commented on adding to his staff. "We look for a wonderful work ethic and a person that truly lives for the journey we go on. We want people to come in and fit into the culture that we have, but also to help mold the future of it. It's organic and it's always changing. We want to keep the core values that go through the spine of the program, but also continue to advance and stay ahead of the curve in whichever ways we can."
Audley has been on campus for a few weeks already, taking part in Stanford's spring training as it works to become the second program to win three straight NCAA titles (Virginia; 1991-94). The Cardinal, which is coming off a 5-2 victory at CSU Bakersfield last Saturday, hosts its alumni games and national championship ring ceremony tomorrow evening.
In December, Stanford became the first program in a dozen years to win consecutive NCAA titles when it beat Wake Forest in penalties following a scoreless 110 minutes. The Cardinal did not allow a goal throughout the entire tournament on the way to its second crown, becoming just the third team to win the championship while posting at 0.00 postseason goals against average.
"The first thing that I noticed is the team's energy, from warmups all the way through to the end of a session," Audley added. "There is an attention to detail in everything that they're doing and have very intense, competitive training. I love that and think that's the right way to do things. The players are smart, passionate and humble. They look out for each other and are really easy to work with."