Chris Whalley

Blessed with an exceptional soccer coaching career that spans nearly a decade, Chris Whalley has consistently demonstrated stellar performance as well as a strong determination to help players reach their greatest potentials. Committed to promoting good sportsmanship as well as scholastic excellence in all team members, Chris has been twice nominated at the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) for National Coach of the Year awards (2007 and 2009). In addition, he was also recognized for his extraordinary coaching talent when he was accorded Conference Carolinas Coach of the Year awards in 2007 and 2009, as well as NSCAA Southeast Regional Coach of the Year in 2007. His more than five years of tenure (August 2004 to April 2010) as Head Soccer Coach of Men’s Division at Lees-McRae College was highlighted by the team’s unsurpassed win percentage in history. Employing ingenious booster club influence and augmenting this with firm community relations, Chris worked hard to successfully implement peerless training and playing programs for the team, empowering the group to achieve top rank in the National Ranking system in 2009. That began a string of achievements for the entire team while Chris was at the helm. After his coaching tenure at Lees-McRae, Chris Whalley went on to coach at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee from 2010 till 2012, then from there at the Appalachian State University since 2012 to the present. His matchless coaching talent was optimized by both teams as he led them to greatly improve their playing records. Chris also saw two players at Milwaukee go on to pursue professional playing careers during his regime. Taking his soccer coach duties quite seriously and gaining a wealth of experience from it, Chris has been able to prove himself both in his native England and the US. He holds a Master of Science degree in Organizational Leadership obtained from Mercyhurst College, which has enabled him to gain success in his coaching career. His solid foundation is further bolstered by his father and grandfather having been professional soccer players in their own lifetimes. When he’s not coaching professionally, Chris enjoys teaching soccer to children of all ages or spending time with his family.