HEAD COACH KATHY BRAWN

Founded in 1819, Colgate University has spent the last 183 years building a tradition unlike many other schools in the nation.  Hired in 1991, Kathy Brawn has taken approximately 172 years less to accomplish a similar feat. 

Kathy Brawn, who enters her 15th season as head coach of the Raiders, took over a program that, while successful, was still in the infantile stages of greatness and developed it into one of the premier programs in the east.

Brawn, the fifth head coach in the 22- year history of the program, has guided the Raiders to nine Patriot League championships, three ECAC championships, four NCAA Tournament appearances and a 167-8-21 record.

While Brawn’s team’s accomplishments are enough to confirm her stature as a commander, their classroom achievements prove her value reaches far beyond wins and losses. Brawn’s emphasis on the “student” end of student-athlete is evidenced by the 112 players she has coached that have been named to the Patriot League Academic Honor Roll, an honor reserved for student-athletes with a 3.2 grade point average or better. In recognition of her commitment to excellence both on and off the field, Colgate has bestowed the Howard Hartman Award on Brawn on three occasions in 1993, 1999 and 2005.

Brawn has also been named Patriot League Coach of the Year twice, winning the award in 1993 and 1994. In ‘94, she was also named the Northeast Region Coach of the Year by the NSCAA and received the same honor from Socccer Buzz.com in 2004.

During her tenure, the Raiders have rolled to a 66-16-5 conference record. They were unbeaten and untied in the league in the 1996 and 1997 seasons. The 1996 team, possibly Colgate’s best ever, posted a 19-2 mark and won both the Patriot League and ECAC titles in dominant fashion. The only two losses that season came at the hands of nationally-ranked Connecticut and Virginia. From 1997-99, Colgate posted a 22-2 record in the league, winning the conference title each year, and advancing to the NCAA Tournament.

In the 1997 NCAA Tournament, the Raiders fell 4-1 to Hartford. In
‘98 Colgate hosted the first-ever NCAA Tournament game played on Van Doren Field in a 4-1 loss to Syracuse. The Raiders appeared in the tournament the following season, drawing Dartmouth in the first round. Despite the 3-0 loss to the Big Green, Colgate had become a familiar face in the national tournament picture. It was in the ‘99 season when the Raiders won their 12th straight Patriot League Tournament game, a streak that began in 1994, when the Raiders claimed their third league crown under Brawn.

In 2004, the Raiders were successful in regaining the Patriot League crown, the ninth title for Colgate. The win gave the team yet another invitation to the NCAA Tournament. In amazing fashion, the Raiders upset No. 13 ranked-Arizona in the first round with a 2-0 shutout, for the first NCAA win in Colgate and Patriot League history.

Brawn’s coaching career began in 1984, when she coached the junior varsity team at Paramus Catholic High School (N.J.). After three seasons at Paramus Catholic, she moved on to the collegiate coaching scene as an assistant at Yale. After one season at Yale, Brawn went back to the high school ranks for a year, before heading to Princeton as an assistant in 1989. She followed Princeton with a year at Cornell. Both Cornell and Priceton were ranked in the Top 20 nationally during her one-year stints.

Brawn earned a USSF “A” license in 1995 and has served as an Olympic Development coach in both New York and New Jersey. She has always been committed to giving back to the soccer community, organizing camps and clinics since 1978. In 1981, Brawn founded and directed the Franklin Lakes Soccer Camps in Franklin Lakes, N.J. At Colgate, she began the Colgate Soccer Fit Academy.

In the spring of 2000, Brawn represented Colgate as a speaker on the coaches panel as well as serving as a facilitator at the NCAA Foundation Leadership Conference held in Orlando, Fla. Brawn is extremely active in shaping the academic and athletic landscape at Colgate as well. She serves on the Academic Affairs Board and is the chair of the Admissions Liaison Committee. She is also one of the founders of P.L.A.Y. (Promoting Life-long Activity for Youth) in Hamilton.

Currently a member of the NCAA Tournament Regional Selection Committee, Brawn has served as the Vice President, representing all women’s programs on the Intercollegiate Soccer Association of America Executive Board. She has also been involved in the ISAA regional and national rankings as well as a member of the coaching staff at the NCAA’s YES Clinics in 1994, ‘97, and ‘98.