Nick Kirchhof is in his fifth season on the Stanford men's soccer staff. He was promoted to the position of assistant coach in May 2014 after serving the previous two years as a volunteer assistant.
While with the Cardinal, Kirchhof has played an integral role in Stanford’s rise among the nation’s elite over the past four seasons. Stanford won the program’s first national championship in 2015 when the Cardinal routed Clemson, 4-0, at Sporting Park in Kansas City. The win, which was the largest margin of victory in a College Cup final since 1975, extended the school’s streak of at least one NCAA team championship to an ongoing record 40 years and was Stanford’s 108th NCAA team title.
The Cardinal is 50-20-11 (.685) with Kirchhof on staff, including a 31-5-6 (.810) combined mark in 2014 and 2015. On the heels of Stanford’s national championship, Jordan Morris became the first MAC Hermann Trophy winner in program history and signed the most anticipated Homegrown Player contract in MLS history when he inked a deal with the Seattle Sounders in late January. The Cardinal also had three players – Brandon Vincent, Eric Verso and Ty Thompson – taken in the MLS SuperDraft for the first time in 13 years.
Since 2012, the Cardinal has produced a pair of two-time NSCAA First Team All-Americans in Morris and Vincent, 13 NSCAA All-Far West Region winners, three players recognized among the nation’s best freshmen by Soccer America, Top Drawer Soccer and College Soccer News and 30 All-Pac-12 honorees. Stanford student-athletes have also won recognition as Pac-12 Player of the Year (Jordan Morris – 2015), Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year (Brandon Vincent – 2014 and 2015), Pac-12 Freshman of the Year (Aaron Kovar – 2012) and Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year (Brandon Vincent – 2015).
Academically, one has been an NSCAA Scholar All-American (Ty Thompson – 2015), six have been named NSCAA Far West Region Scholars, 11 have claimed CoSIDA Academic All-District Accolades and Stanford men’s soccer student-athletes have found themselves on various conference all-academic squads 48 times over the past three seasons.
Before coming to The Farm, Kirchhof was the University of Denver's director of men's soccer operations from 2011-2012. He oversaw community relations and outreach, student-athlete academics and the 2011 MSPF Conference Tournament. He also helped with fundraising, camps, clinics, travel, social media and video editing.
Kirchhof spent 2008-10 as the assistant coach at Colorado Mesa University, a Division II school in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. While at CMU he assisted in all aspects of the program, including tactical and technical training sessions, recruitment of student-athletes, marketing, fundraising, camp administration and teaching responsibilities.
Prior to joining CMU, Kirchhof had four years of coaching experience in Durango, Colo., working with the Durango Youth Soccer Association, local high school soccer teams and as training director for The Academy Youth Program at Fort Lewis College.
A 2008 graduate of Fort Lewis College, Kirchhof had an impressive career as a student-athlete with the Skyhawks from 2004-07. In his four seasons at Fort Lewis, the Skyhawks went to the NCAA Division II Tournament each year, won the NCAA Division II National Championship in 2005 and had a national runner-up finish in 2006. Fort Lewis won three Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference regular-season titles and three RMAC Tournament Championships during his career. In his final season, Kirchhof led the Skyhawks to a 15-6-1 mark and was named the RMAC Tournament Most Valuable Player.
Off the field, Kirchhof received many conference academic awards. He was the 2008 Fort Lewis College Dr. Troy Bledsoe Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year, as well as the 2007-08 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Honor Scholar-Athlete. He was a three-time RMAC All-Academic honoree and was selected to the 2007 RMAC All-Academic First Team.
Kirchhof earned a degree in interdisciplinary studies at Fort Lewis College and a master's degree in sport management from California University of Pennsylvania. He holds an NSCAA Advanced National License.