By: Habtom Keleta-Asst. AD for Media Relations
GRAMBLING, La. | The post-Wager Era is officially underway as Grambling announced a new head coach for its soccer program. Coach Rob, also known as
Craig Roberts, is the new head soccer coach at Grambling State University and brings a wealth of knowledge and winning to a program that has been to the Southwestern Athletic Conference championship twice in the last three years and went 35-26-3 in the last three years.
"I would first like to thank
Dr. David Ponton and the rest of the search committee for affording me with a tremendous opportunity to work at such a historical and prestigious institution," said Coach Roberts. "It is an honor and a privilege to be selected as the next head coach at Grambling State University. Moving forward, I'm highly motivated to lead these student-athletes on and off the field and to continue developing a championship culture."
Roberts brings coaching experience at the National Level as he was involved with World Cup preparations with the Puerto Rico National Team as well as the U17 Haiti National Team along with over 19 years of competing at the NCAA Division I level. A Park University graduate (Parkville, Mo.) who received his bachelor of arts in education with a concentration in athletic training and biology, also received a master of arts in Education from the same University. He also earned a State of Missouri certified Secondary Education Teaching Certificate and later received a master of arts in Kinesiology from St. Mary's College of California (Moraga, Calif). It was at his alma mater (Park) where Roberts got his start as a men's and women's assistant soccer coach from 2000-03, helping his teams stay nationally ranked in the NAIA top-10.
He then went on to his other alma mater (St. Mary's-California) where he became assistant women's soccer coach for one season, where his ladies ranked as high as 24th in the nation. Following that stint, Roberts was nearly atop of a Division 1 program as he was named associate men's head soccer coach at Virginia Military Institute, where he was nominated for NSCAA Assistant Coach of the Year in 2005. During his two years there, the team had achieved its first winning season in 16 years while being ranked the sixteenth most improved Division I soccer program in the country.
Following his stint at VMI, he became head women's soccer coach of the University of Tennessee-Martin where he coached the team to its first ever conference final championship game in 2008, then produced the school's first ever Ohio Valley Conference Championship winning team in 2009. Roberts held a 19-3-1 record at home over his last three seasons, and broke (or tied) a total of 34 school records.
In 2010, Roberts was named head women's soccer coach at Ball State University, where he completely flipped the program from the bottom of the Mid-American Conference to winning three consecutive championship titles.
Roberts comes right in time before the GSU Tigers begin their unprecedented soccer spring season. However, Coach Roberts is an experienced coach who has a plethora of coaching experience and holds five professional licenses: NSCAA Premier License (Florida), NSCAA Goalkeeper Diploma (KC, Mo.), USSF Youth Specialist License (Mass.), USSF A License (Corvallis, Ore.), FA Coaching License (England).
Roberts and his new team received a blessing and a curse with its first two games postponed and potentially canceled due to inclement weather in north Louisiana. Grambling was set to start the season at home on Friday, February 19 against North Texas with a follow up game on Sunday, February 21 versus the University of Louisiana at Monroe, and would have been a good chance for the new coach to get acclimated with his team in real competition before the beginning of SWAC play, which has now become the season opener as the Tigers host Prairie View A&M on Friday, February 26 at 3 p.m. at the GSU Soccer Complex. The last time the Tigers took the field for official competition was
in November of 2019 at the SWAC Women's Soccer Tournament.
"The team is highly motivated and eager to compete," said Coach Roberts. With the hire being so close to the season, it has required me to expedite my evaluation process. During these unprecedented times, it's important my staff and players remain positive and deal with each adverse challenge they face the best they can," Roberts explained.
Click
here to view the remainder of Grambling's 2021 spring soccer schedule.
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