After the conclusion of his 19th season at the helm of the Utah Women’s Soccer program, head coach Rich Manning announced Thursday that he will be stepping down from his role with the Utes in order to pursue other career opportunities.

During those 19 seasons, Manning put together an overall record of 192-144-53, including eight NCAA tournament appearances with the majority of those appearances in his first five seasons with the program and most notably, an appearance in the sweet sixteen back in 2016. This is what Manning had to say about his 19 seasons with Utah:

“After 19 years, it’s time for a new adventure. It’s been a privilege to be the women’s soccer coach at the University of Utah. I’m proud of the way we played the game and how our teams represented the University. I want to give a huge thanks to the great people in the department. I will be forever grateful to our soccer staff: Scott Halasz, Allie Wisner, Devin Zimmerman, Tom Iriye and Cody Lockling have been the best colleagues, and I’m a better person for having worked with them. Big thanks to my family, especially my wife Sue. Most of all I want to thank all of the wonderful women who have put on the Utah jersey and given their all for the Utes. They are the best of college athletics. I look forward to watching the team shine in the future.”

While the last few years have been somewhat of a struggle as far as producing winning seasons, Manning did incredible things for the program over nearly two decades at the helm. While head coach, Manning has produced 27 NSCAA All Region players, 54 all-conference selections and 24 first-team selections. From a classroom standpoint, he also produced an NSCAA Team Academic Award every year since 2009, 111 all-academic selections since joining the Pac-12 conference and five NSCAA Scholar All-Americans.

“I want to thank Rich for his contributions to our program over his 19 years as head coach,” Director of Athletics Mark Harlan said in his announcement with Utah Athletics. “I am appreciative of the dedicated service Rich has provided to our program and his commitment to the well-being of our student-athletes in their academic and athletic pursuits, as well as their personal development.”

With Manning stepping down, Harlan has entrusted Deputy Athletics Director Charmelle Green and Associate Athletics Director Liz Prince with the assignment of conducting a national search in order to find the program’s next head coach. 

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