FC America Names Jim Cofer Boys Director of Coaching and Player Development
 

May 7, 2008 ... ORLANDO, Fla. (www.fcamerica.org) - FC America Soccer Academy is proud to present Jim Cofer as the new Boys Director of Coaching and Player Development.  Scott Betsinger will continue as a member of the FC America Board of Directors and Head Coach in the club.

Jim formerly served as head coach in the Academy Program for the U13-U17 boys and girls from November 2000-June 2006 for the Colorado Rush Soccer Club, one of the nation's largest youth programs. It was there that Jim was able to cultivate strong recruiting connections as he maintained day-to-day contact with numerous coaches at the NCAA, NAIA and NJCAA levels. Jim was part of the writing team that developed the coaching manuals and curriculum for the satellite Rush clubs throughout the country. He also served as the Director of Coaching for the Adults Program in Denver including the coordination of the 100-team Comets Adult Soccer League. He headed up fiscal management for two tournaments hosted by the Rush.

Jim was recently announced as the new assistant coach and recruiting director for University of Central Florida Men’s Soccer team after two years as an assistant coach at Oregon State, a Pacific 10 Conference member. Jim is already known as one of the nation's top goalkeeping instructors and has garnered successful coaching experience at all levels of the game. With the Beavers, Jim worked with the team's goalkeepers, coordinated recruiting efforts and headed up game preparation by working with the scout team.
Jim was one of the directors of Oregon State’s highly popular summer and winter camps and coordinated the team's strength and conditioning sessions. At Oregon State, his emphasis was also on academics, as the Beavers had 10 academic all-conference selections in 2007.

Prior to his time with Oregon State, Jim spent two years as an assistant coach at Metro State in Denver. He coached both the men's and women's goalkeepers. During his tenure, the women's team captured the 2004 NCAA Division II National Championship, while the men won the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament in 2004.

While in Denver, Jim served as a volunteer assistant goalkeeping coach for the Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer. There, he assisted the head goalkeeping coach by planning and running all goalkeeper-related sessions and handling game-related warm-ups and training.

Since 2001, Jim has been a member of the USYSA Olympic Development program, most recently serving on the Region IV ODP staff as a goalkeeper coach. In that role, it was his responsibility to identify and train the initial pool of players from the Western half of the United States to the final pool of players for the Region IV team.

Jim coaching career began in the Sunshine State, where he worked with various club teams and was the head boys coach at Mulberry High School (Mulberry, Fla.) from 1998-2000.

Jim graduated from the University of Mississippi in 1993 with a bachelor degree in accounting. He was a member of three Southeastern Conference club soccer championships. Jim and his wife, Meghan, have two children, Jim (7) and Jack (4).