Ryan Fahey Steps Down to Accept Associate Head Coach Position at UConn

CLAREMONT, Calif. – Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's soccer head coach Ryan Fahey stepped down to accept the associate head coaching position at the University of Connecticut, it was announced today by UConn head coach Chris Gbandi.

Fahey will be reunited with Gbandi after the two were on the same coaching staff at Dartmouth for two seasons (2014-15) under head coach Chad Riley, where they won Ivy League titles both seasons. Gbandi went on to become the head coach at Northeastern, and was recently hired in December as the head coach at UConn, his alma mater, where he helped the Huskies to the 2000 NCAA Championship and earned the Hermann Trophy as the top player in the nation.

Fahey, meanwhile, stayed with Riley as an assistant at Dartmouth, and remained on Riley's staff when he became the head coach at Notre Dame in 2017. After three seasons in South Bend, Fahey then returned to become the head coach at CMS, where he played goalkeeper for four years from 2006-09.

Fahey graduated from Claremont McKenna in 2010, after leading the Stags to a SCIAC title as a senior 2009. He remained in Claremont as a graduate assistant under head coach Dan Calichman to help the program to three more NCAA bids from 2010-12, before taking a full-time assistant job at Dartmouth.

After returning to CMS two years ago, Fahey had the daunting task of managing the program through a year of no competition due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and then rebuilding the team back up after heavy roster turnover. The Stags didn't miss a beat, finishing with their first undefeated regular season in SCIAC play since 1994, and ending with the first undefeated regular season against Division III opponents in program history (the only regular season defeat was an overtime loss to Westmont from the NAIA).

For his efforts, Fahey and assistant coaches Trevor Swartz and Stefan Gonzalez were named the SCIAC Coaching Staff of the Year, after compiling a 14-2-3 record and 10-0-2 mark in league games.

A nationwide search for a new head coach is underway, as CMS will look to continue the success of a program that has won the last three regular season SCIAC titles outright, and compiled an impressive 45-7-6 overall record in that span.