MONTGOMERY, Ala. - Jon Ireland is once again an Eagle, returning as the eighth head coach of Faulkner Women's Soccer.
"I'm super excited," Ireland said. "It's kind of crazy that 20 years ago I got my coaching start here and now to be able to return is really special for me…The biggest thing that I'm bringing is experience of things to not to do and things that work," Ireland said. "When I started 20 years ago, I didn't have a whole lot of experience or knowledge so the biggest thing is over the course of 20 years you experience so much. A lot of good, a lot of struggle. What I'm bringing now is a lot of solutions and experience. You can't buy experience, you have to win it."
"We are excited about adding Coach Ireland, Hailee, and their three kids to our Faulkner Athletic family," VP of Athletics Reed Sutton said. "We are looking forward to getting him on campus and in front of the team for a productive spring. I can't wait to see how the team will grow under his guidance."
Ireland brings a proven track record of winning at several levels of college soccer in both men's and women's.
Ireland started his head coaching journey in 2006 at Faulkner when he took the Lady Eagles to a 10-8 season. Ireland brought the first winning season and conference tournament appearance in program history in year one. He inherited a program that had won just six games over its first two seasons. Jon is one of two coaches with a winning record at Faulkner alongside his brother, Jeff Ireland, who coached the Lady Eagles from 2007-2011.
After one season at Faulkner, Ireland took over the women's program at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee, where he became the winningest coach in program history. He led a Bison team that had not won a conference match in the previous seven seasons to its most successful campaigns to date. Ireland recorded 28 total victories in the women's game during his tenure.
"The fact that it's a Christian school is very important to me and that it is women's soccer is very important. I've got two daughters and I've gotten to coach them in club the past few years and it drew me back to the women's game. I'm very grateful for the search committee and the support of President Henry and Reed Sutton. Reed has been so instrumental in getting me to Faulkner!"
Ireland switched to the men's game in 2012 at York University in York, Nebraska where he took the Panthers to back-to-back postseason appearances after a 13 year drought and the first winning season in program history by year four.
Following the success at York, he went to his alma mater Harding where he flipped a 4-12-2 program immediately into a 14-6 season for the program's first winning season and conference title in his first year. He then went on to back-to-back regular season championships the next two years. Ireland went on to be the winningest coach in Harding history and nearly 100 points higher in win percentage than second place over the next decade.
In his hometown, he was named the 2017 Great American Conference Coach of the Year and produced one All-America, one GAC Player of the Year, 23 All-Region, 30 All-GAC, 55 Academic All-GAC, 22 CoSIDA/CSC Academic All-District and one CoSIDA/CSC Academic All-America honor. In 2016, the team held 11 clean sheets in 20 games. He amassed 82 wins in the men's game for 110 wins between the two sports.
Ireland is married to the former Hailee Augsberger and has three children: Finn, Pippa and Gemma.
Ireland played for Harding from 2000-2002 where he was an All-Gulf South Conference midfielder. The Academic All-GSC performer graduated with a degree in Kinesiology in 2003.
Ireland holds a US Soccer Federation ''B" Coaching License and a NSCAA Level II goalkeeper diploma.
He has seen a lot of success at the youth and club level, coaching nine club teams to state championships and serving as an Olympic Development Program coach for three years.
