Ben Graham joined the Stanford men's soccer staff in February 2014. He works with the program’s goalkeepers and assists with scouting and recruiting.
In his first year on The Farm, Graham’s tutelage of Andrew Epstein led to one of the Cardinal’s most formidable defensive efforts of the past decade. Stanford’s sophomore keeper allowed just 17 goals in 1,785 minutes and registered five clean sheets. His 0.86 goals against average led the Pac-12 and is seventh in Stanford single-season history. Epstein’s orchestration in the back guided a Pac-12 championship defense that topped the league in goals against average for the first time since 2002.
Stanford had a historic season in 2014, including the program’s first league title since 2001, a No. 1 NSCAA ranking, its most wins (13) since 2002 and its best winning percentage (.763) since 2001. The team went 13-3-3 overall and 6-1-3 in conference to advance to its second consecutive NCAA Tournament.
Graham came to Stanford after spending the 2012 and 2013 seasons on the coaching staff at Northeastern. Prior to that, he served as the head men’s and women’s soccer coach at Marymount College, Palos Verdes for three seasons.
At Northeastern, Graham helped lead the Huskies to their first CAA championship in 2012, an appearance in the NCAA tournament for the first time in a decade and the program’s first NSCAA national ranking. During that season, Graham coached Northeastern senior Oliver Blum to the fifth-lowest goals-against average (0.56) in the NCAA.
While at Marymount, Graham built the men’s and women’s soccer programs – the school’s first varsity teams – from the ground up as they transitioned to fully accredited NAIA programs. In three seasons he led the Mariners to 31 combined wins and matched a men’s program-best with eight wins in 2010. Under Graham, three Mariners earned all-conference status and two were named NAIA/Daktronics All-Scholar-Athletes.
Prior to Marymount, Graham was an assistant coach at CSU Bakersfield for two seasons and assisted in the Roadrunners’ transition from Division II to Division I. He also served as a graduate assistant at the University of Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas, from 2005 to 2007, where he helped the Cardinals to two NCAA Division II tournaments.
Originally from Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, England, Graham received his bachelor of laws and juris doctor degrees from the University of Sheffield (England) in 1996 and 1998, respectively. He played semi-professionally in the United Kingdom before coming to the United States to pursue coaching at the high school and club level in 2000. He won a high school state championship in Maine in 2002 and was named the NSCAA Coach of the Year in the state.
Graham currently holds a USSF A license, a USSF National Goalkeeping License and an NSCAA Premier Diploma.