April 24, 2007

UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. - Todd Crawford has joined the men's soccer coaching staff as an assistant coach, head coach Jeff Gettler announced.

Crawford was the head men's soccer coach at Concordia University from 2001-02, recording his first collegiate win over the No. 3 nationally ranked team in Division II. He was also an assistant coach at Longwood from 2000-01, where he helped the Lancers to their first conference championship in any sport. From 1999-00 he was an assistant men's soccer coach at VMI.

"We're excited to have someone with Todd's extensive background in college coaching as our new addition to the staff," Gettler said. "We look forward to him complimenting our coaching staff in a variety of positive ways."

Crawford graduated from the College of Charleston in 1995, where he majored in political science. He received his masters in educational psychology from Webster University in 2001.

He coached several teams for the Chesterfield United Soccer Club, including the under-18 boys' elite team. Crawford started his own premier soccer training program, Ice Premier Soccer Club, which provided one-on-one instruction for players in the Olympic Development Program and prepared players for state, regional and national tryouts.

He also coached teams to the North American Indoor Soccer Tournament two-straight years, posting second and third-place finishes.

Crawford was a military officer from 1995-2000, responsible for leading a top secret multi-agency team in defining and acquiring the resources needed to carry out the mission of foreign technology acquisition and reverse engineering. He was a key member of the Air Force Research Laboratory, which was responsible for leading, planning and directing all aspects of the Air Force's Science and Technology program.

He was offered tryouts with professional teams, but was not able to play due to his military service.