Tuesday, the Michigan women’s soccer team announced its hiring of new head coach Dave DiIanni. This follows the resignation of former coach Jen Klein, who led the Wolverines for the past eight seasons.
DiIanni spent the past 12 years as the coach at Iowa, where he totaled a 125-82-30 career record and became the program’s all-time leader in wins. Before that, DiIanni coached for 11 years at Grand Valley State where he won three Division II national championships. His 346 career wins in 23 years rank 19th among active women’s soccer coaches.
“We are excited to bring Dave and his family back to the state of Michigan,” Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel said in the announcement. “He is a proven national championship-winning coach who has been successful at every level he has coached. He brings a wealth of experience to Michigan, and we look forward to his leadership of our women’s soccer program.”
In his career at Iowa, DiIanni took the Hawkeyes to new heights. He won Iowa’s first two Big Ten Tournament titles and reached the program’s first ever Round of 16 appearance in the NCAA Tournament. Last season, the Hawkeyes went 12-5-4 with one win in the NCAA Tournament.
DiIanni takes over a Michigan program that’s been on a downtrend in recent years. After the Wolverines finished top-3 in the Big Ten and claimed NCAA Tournament wins in two of Klein’s first four seasons, they’ve been toward the bottom of the conference as of late. Michigan has finished 9th or worse in the Big Ten in each of the last four seasons, failing to qualify for the Big Ten Tournament each time and making the NCAA Tournament just once.
DiIanni will bring his roots in the state of Michigan as well as his long track record of success to Ann Arbor to try and get the Wolverines back on the right track.
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