Notre Dame associate head coach Brian Wiese has been named the new head coach at Georgetown University.

Irish Assistants Brian Wiese And Mike Avery Take New Positions At Georgetown And Louisville, Respectively

March 1, 2006

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Notre Dame men’s soccer assistant coaches Brian Wiese and Mike Avery have recently accepted new positions at Georgetown University and the University of Louisville, respectively. Wiese, who was at Notre Dame for five seasons and was promoted to associate head coach last year, has been named as the Hoyas’ new head coach, while Avery, who spent six seasons at Notre Dame, will become the new top assistant for the Cardinals.

Avery began his Irish career under head coach Chris Apple back in 2000 and remained when current head coach Bobby Clark took over in 2001. Wiese came with Clark to South Bend and the trio has produced a 65-27-13 record over the past five seasons, including five NCAA tournament appearances and two trips to the Sweet 16. They have also been named the BIG EAST Coaching Staff of the Year on two occasions (2001, 2004).

The Irish advanced to the Round of 16 in 2003, which was the same year the team won the BIG EAST tournament title and produced an overall record of 16-3-4. Notre Dame had a tremendous year again in 2004, as the Irish recorded a 13-3-3 mark and captured the program’s first-ever regular season BIG EAST title. The Irish made the Sweet 16 again this past year after knocking off two-time defending national champion Indiana in the second round before falling to Clemson, 1-0, in the third round in what would end up being that final match for Avery and Wiese at Notre Dame.

“This is a great opportunity for Mike to go and become the first assistant at Louisville,” says Clark. “It’s a great situation to work with Ken Lolla, who is an excellent coach, and to move up to the first assistant position is a great opportunity for him. Then a couple of weeks later, Georgetown came calling for Brian. It’s a great opportunity for him to become a head coach in arguably the best soccer league in the country. The three of us have shared a great five years together and it’s obviously sad to see them part but I feel they are both going on to excellent situations. I know they’ll both be a success.”

Wiese also served as an assistant under Clark at Stanford for five years prior to their arrival at Notre Dame and he played for Clark at Dartmouth for three seasons.

“This is a very exciting opportunity,” states Wiese. “To take the things I’ve learned from Bobby over the past 10 years in coaching and apply them to my own team now is tremendously exciting for me. The fact that I’m able to do this at a school that is on par academically with Notre Dame and Stanford is also exciting and also very important to me.”

Avery and Wiese coached a total of eight Notre Dame All-American selections and three M.A.C. Hermann Trophy semifinalists. They have also helped produce a plethora of all-BIG EAST Conference performers.

“I was at Notre Dame for six years and I enjoyed coming to work every day,” says Avery. “Notre Dame is the greatest university in the country and Bobby Clark is the greatest coach in the country, but I needed a new challenge. I’m very excited to be able to work with Ken Lolla at the University of Louisville. I hope that we can come close to accomplishing what Notre Dame has done under Bobby.”

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