Faulkner University

Jon Ireland is once again an Eagle, returning as the eighth head coach of Faulkner Women's Soccer.

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.

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.