JERSEY CITY, NJ (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | After serving as the head men's soccer coach at
New Jersey City University in a part-time capacity since February, 2012,
Patrick Snyder has been elevated to full-time head coach on a permanent basis, following a search to fill the position.
Snyder, who came to NJCU after previous stints as head coach at Division II Felician College and Mercer County Community College, is the 13
th head coach in the 54-year history of the
New Jersey City University men's soccer program and just the fourth to serve in that role full-time.
“In five months as our men's soccer coach in a part time capacity,
Patrick Snyder has proven to be a successful recruiter and has built a positive rapport within our athletics department, University community, and with our alumni,” said
Alice De Fazio, Director of Athletics
. “He has also been very supportive of athletic department initiatives and alumni events. I am confident that our men's soccer program will continue to thrive under his leadership.”
Snyder, the current head coach for U17 Boys for the New Jersey Olympic Development Program (ODP), served as head coach at Mercer County College during the 2011 season and guided the perennially successful program to an 11-7-1 record and to a berth in the NJCAA Region XIX championship game, before falling 3-2 in the finals.
He served as first assistant/goalkeeper coach under Coach Larry Povia during the fall 2010 season when the Vikings won the Region 19 title and finished 15th nationally.
Snyder noted “I am most definitely appreciative of the opportunity and just couldn't be more excited to be a full-time college head coach. The season couldn't get here soon enough. I can't wait to get to games and training and get the boys into preseason and to get started.”
A soccer player at Mercer in 1997 under then head coach Charlie Inverso,
Snyder had been an assistant coach with the Vikings for four total seasons including the 2004-06 campaigns. The 2004 team won the NJCAA national title and was national runners-up in 2006. The Vikings posted a combined 71-8-2 mark during his tenure as an assistant.
In 2007,
Snyder was named only the third head coach ever at Division II Felician College in Rutherford, NJ and led the Golden Falcons to 13 victories. In three seasons at the helm of Felician, his best season was 2008, when the Falcons put together a 6-10-1 record, including a 1-0 victory over #20 nationally-ranked Dominican (NY) College on October 28 of that season.
At Felician, he coached three Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) players, including Lukasz Fraczek, who went on to play professionally in Poland.
He also has experience as an assistant coach at Delaware Valley College (Doylestown, Pa.) in 2002 and 2003 and as an assistant coach for the U14 Boys in the New Jersey Olympic Development Program beginning in 2005. His first coaching position was as the freshman coach and goalkeeper trainer at Northern Burlington High School in Columbus, NJ in 2001.
Snyder also currently works for the Player Development Academy (PDA) and is a staff coach for the Mooch Myernick Foundation based out of Trenton, NJ, which works with local, underprivileged kids.
Snyder possesses a National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) National Diploma and a United States Soccer Federation (USSF) National 'D' license. He also earned
a New Jersey State Youth Soccer Association (NJSYSA) 'E' License.
He began his collegiate playing career as a midfielder at Ursinus College in 1995 before transferring to Mercer where he played one season as a goalkeeper and midfielder for Coach Inverso on a team that advanced to the national finals.
Snyder is a 2002 graduate of The College of New Jersey, earning a bachelor's degree in Communications. He worked as an athletics site manager for TCNJ from 1999-2002 for intercollegiate home games and special events.
A 1995 graduate of Notre Dame High School in Lawrence Township, NJ, he played four seasons (two varsity) for the Fighting Irish for Coach Mike Perone. He also is a former player for the German American Club (GAK) of Trenton, winning a state championship in 1995.
Snyder, 35, resides in Chesterfield, NJ with his wife, Michele, and their two young sons—Joseph (2) and Daniel (11 months).
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