New Jersey City University Athletics

As a Hall-of-Fame collegian and on the professional soccer ranks, Nansha Kalonji excelled as an attacker, and the experienced soccer veteran brings the same brand of exciting soccer to New Jersey City University as head men’s soccer coach of one of the top programs in the region this century.

 

Known as a player’s coach who values input from his athletes, Kalonji was named the 12^th head coach in program history in July 2009 on an acting basis before being named permanently to that position in July 2010. He begins his second season at the helm of the Gothic Knights in 2010. He also serves as the athletic department’s residence life coordinator.

In 2009, he took over a program that had just graduated most of its starting line-up after making championship runs for much of the decade. Despite this obstacle, Kalonji led a young Gothic Knight squad to several notable victories, including an upset of then #3 ranked Montclair State University, and an appearance on ESPN’s SportsCenter “Top Plays.” The win over Montclair, one of seven for NJCU during the 2009 campaign, marked the highest ranked team ever defeated in the 51-year history of the program and snapped MSU’s 19-game NJAC regular season unbeaten streak—23 games including the NJAC Tournament—and 37-game regular-season unbeaten streak.

Kalonji came to NJCU from NJAC-rival Ramapo College, where he served as an assistant coach from 2006-09 at a program where he was a Hall-of-Fame, record-setting athlete.

 

In 2007, the Roadrunners were fifth in the NJAC, reaching the league tournament with a 12-5-2 mark and 4-3-2 in the conference.

 

He served three years as the part-time head coach of Rutgers-Newark from 2004-06, finishing with a mark of 18-32-3 after taking over that program just three weeks before the start of the 2004 campaign.

 

As an assistant coach at Greensboro (NC) College from 2002-04, Kalonji was an important piece of a perennial NCAA tournament squad under head coach Rusty Scarborough which went a combined 41-14-6 in his time with the program. In addition to practice preparation, he helped coordinate camps for the Carolina Dynamo.

 

In 2002, the Pride went 16-5, qualified for the NCAA Tournament for the ninth consecutive year and advanced to the Sweet 16, after winning the Dixie Conference regular season and tournament titles. In 2003, Greensboro was 14-4-3, won the USA South Conference tournament and was ranked in the Top 11 of the NSCAA national poll in 10 of 11 weeks, while reaching the NCAA Tournament for the 10^th consecutive year. The 2004 squad went 11-5-3 and placed second in the USA South.

 

Kalonji broke into coaching in 1996 as a volunteer assistant with the Ramapo women’s team before serving two seasons as assistant coach of the Ramapo men’s team from 1998-99 while simultaneously pursuing a professional playing career. In 2000 and 2001 he was the assistant coach for the West Orange High School varsity squad and in 1999 coached the Queen of Peace High School junior varsity boys’ team.

 

Kalonji enjoyed a six-year professional playing career, most notably for the New York Red Bulls—then the Metrostars—during the 1999 season, playing three different positions for the Major League Soccer club: right back, right mid and forward.

 

After spending the 2000 season on injured reserve with a broken leg, he signed with the Carolina Dynamo of the United States Soccer League (USL) in Greensboro, NC, and led the club to its first USL regular season title while serving as captain while playing during the 2001 and 2002 seasons. He began his professional career in 1998 with the New Jersey Reptile of the United States Soccer League.

 

As a student-athlete at Ramapo from 1993-94 and 1996-97, Kalonji was a record-setting attacker and midfielder for Coach Pepe Pinton, and among the most prolific scorers in the history of the New Jersey Athletic Conference. He was inducted into the Ramapo Hall of Fame in 2007. He concluded his four-year collegiate career with 52 goals, 42 assists, 146 points and 12 game-winning goals—all of which are still all-time program records for the Roadrunners. His 146 points are seventh most in the history of the conference. Kalonji also holds Ramapo’s single-season records for goals (19, 1997), assists (18, 1994), points (48, 1997) and game-winners (6, 1997). He earned First-Team All-NJAC and First-Team NSCAA Umbro All-Mid Atlantic Region accolades in 1996 and 1997 and Second-Team All-NJAC distinction in 1994. He was the NJAC Player of the Week on November 4, 1996 and September 27, 1997.

 

Following his professional playing career, Kalonji completed a major in Social Science with a concentration in Economics, earning a Bachelor of Arts from Ramapo in 2002.

 

He produced the top two single-season goal outputs and three of the top seven assist marks in RCNJ history. As a freshman in 1993 he contributed six assists and five goals (16 points) before setting a school record with 18 assists and 38 points with 10 goals as a sophomore in 1994. After missing the 1995 season, he returned with a vengeance in 1996, leading the Roadrunners to the ECAC Metro Championship while demolishing the single-season goals record with 18, surpassing the previous mark of 11. He added eight assists for 44-point campaign. Then, as a senior captain in 1997, he broke his own record by one, notching 19 goals, while contributing 10 assists for a school-record 48-point year. He led RCNJ to 16 victories and an NCAA tournament berth.

 

Kalonji played his prep soccer at Ferris High School in Jersey City from 1990-92. There the team captain earned All-State and All-Conference honors for the Bulldogs as a senior. He collected MVP honors while leading Ferris to the Jersey City city championship and was selected the city Player of the Year.

 

Kalonji describes himself as a student of the game and notes that teaching is his favorite part about coaching soccer. When not playing soccer, he enjoys traveling and real estate.

 

Born in Bruxell, Belgium, the 37-year-old Kalonji has lived in both Belgium and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Kinshasa, Zaire). Additionally, he is well traveled, having visited such countries as Germany, France, Portugal, Italy, Ghana, Benin, Togo, and Mexico.

Kalonjicurrently resides in Jersey City with his wife, Judith and their three sons—Aron (14), Noah (3) and Jarius (1).