Chris McLain is in his 5th season at Villanova University as Head Coach of the Women’s Soccer program. His goal, quite basic, get this program back on the right track.
Needless to say, in just his four year as head coach, McLain has lead Villanova back to its winning ways, with a 10-7-3 record in 2019. Villanova now has the highest winning percentage (.575) and the first winning record since 2009.
The Wildcats finished fourth in the BIG EAST standings this season at 5-3-1, while hosting a BIG EAST Championship match for the first time since 2004. After beating DePaul for a 2nd time in the same season, they advanced to the final four of the BIG EAST Championship for the 1st time in over 15 years.
Since arriving at Villanova, some notable wins have been 2018 SEC Champions, LSU; 2018 CAA Champions, JMU; 2019 IVY League Champions, Brown University; and finally 2019 BIG EAST Regular Season/ Tournament Champions, Xavier University.
McLain came to Villanova from The Ohio State University, where he served as the women’s soccer Associate Head Coach and Recruiting Coordinator. Prior to Ohio State, he previously spent 11 seasons as the Associate Head Coach at Colgate University.
During his two seasons at Ohio State, McLain helped to elevate a 6-10-3 Buckeyes program back into a place of national prominence. He led the team from a 6 win season to a 13 win season in just his 1st year there. The team advanced to the NCAA Tournament in both 2015 and 2016, reaching the Sweet 16 his 1st year and the second round his final season. While at Ohio State, he had a 24-14-6 overall record in his two seasons as an associate head coach on the coaching staff. The program was ranked in the top 30 of the RPI in each of McLain’s two years in Columbus, finishing at No. 27 in his final year and No. 21 in his first season.
Among the players that McLain worked with at Ohio State were 2016 seniors Lindsay Agnew and Nichelle Prince. Both are members of the Canadian Women’s National Team and participated in the World Cup. They were among the four Buckeyes who were named second team All-Big Ten selections. McLain was also instrumental in putting together Ohio State’s recruiting class which paid immediate dividends during the 2016 and 2017 season. Freshman defender Haley Walker-Robinson started all 21 games for a Buckeyes defense which tallied six shutouts and surrendered fewer than five shots on goal per game.
Prior to his stint at Ohio State, McLain spent 11 years as Associate Head Coach in the Colgate program that enjoyed an unprecedented level of success for a Patriot League program. The Raiders won 118 (11 wins/season avg.) games during McLain’s time there, and the team captured five Patriot League regular season titles and three Patriot League tournament championships. McLain was a part of three NCAA Tournament berths with the Raiders, and in 2004 the program became the first from the Patriot League to win an NCAA Tournament game when Colgate knocked off nationally-ranked Pac-10 champion Arizona in the first round of the tournament. That was in McLain’s first season with the Raiders, when the team went 13-7-2 and won both the regular season and postseason Patriot League crowns.
McLain played a direct role in Colgate’s recruiting efforts as an associate head coach, and he was responsible for bringing three Patriot League Offensive Players of the Year, one league Defensive Player of the Year, six Patriot League Freshmen of the Year and three conference tournament MVPs into the program.
In addition to his assistant coaching stops at Colgate and Ohio State, McLain has two years of head coaching experience at his alma mater, Eastern Nazarene College, in Quincy, Mass. He led the Lions for the 2002 and 2003 seasons while coaching a young program that was only in its fifth year of existence when he took over as head coach.
McLain has also been heavily involved in soccer at the youth level and is active in the Olympic Development Program. He served on the Antigua National Team coaching staff in 2012 and the U-18 U.S. National Team staff in 2008. He holds an Advanced National Diploma from the National Soccer Coaching Association of America (NSCAA) and a U.S. Soccer Federation “A” Coaching License.
At Villanova, McLain has taken over the reins of a program that has made six NCAA Tournament appearances (2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2009) and won a BIG EAST championship in 2003. The Wildcats now have an all-time record of 356-295-73 and have produced 20 winning seasons. Villanova has produced seven NSCAA All-Americans and 30 all-region performers over the years. The program has also won six major BIG EAST awards and had its student-athletes earn All-BIG EAST recognition over 50 times.
“Villanova is clearly one of the top academic institutions in the country, if not the world,” McLain said. “To be a part of something this special almost doesn’t seem real. As we move forward, we will honor those that have been a part of this program’s past and embark on our journey to a National Championship. Without question, outside of getting married and the birth of my three amazing kids, this could go down as the most exciting day of my entire life. Honestly I don’t think enough people know how special this place really is. The faster I can get that secret out there, the sooner we will win a National Championship.”
McLain graduated from Eastern Nazarene with a degree in general sciences and a minor in Chemistry. He and his wife, Claire, are parents of three children: Maeghan, Gavin and Caitlin.
HEAD COACHING RECORD
Year Overall BIG EAST
2017 6-12-0 2-8-0 / 9th
2018 9-9-0 3-6-0 / 8th
2019 10-7-3 5-3-1 / 4th
2020 3-10-2 2-6-2/ 5th East
