The College of Southern Maryland (CSM) announces that CSM Men’s Soccer Assistant Coach Zach Bowman will lead the Hawks team as Head Coach in 2019. He will guide the team with the support of CSM Associate Soccer Coach Gary Knight.
“Coach Bowman brings a unique strength to our soccer program, having played both in college and professionally, and earning several impressive appearances at the NCAA tournaments,” said Michelle Ruble, CSM’s executive director of student life and athletics. “Coach Bowman also had a strong hand in helping to build our soccer program last year. This young roster showed marked improvement every time they took to the field.”
“Zach and Gary bring distinct coaching styles and strengths to the field,” shared CSM Assistant Director of Athletics Sarah Williams. “The two of them paired together are going to lead our athletes to a new level. I am very excited about what the upcoming soccer season will bring for the men’s team.”
Bowman, a professional personal trainer, shared that working with the CSM Hawks last year was a great learning curve for the coaches and the players.
“We had a large stash of young players and we saw a lot of improvement individually and as a team,” Bowman said. “The biggest thing I plan on delivering this year is building players who have stronger technical abilities. We need to get sharper on the ball and execute a lot more passing.”
The coach said the team is working hard through this off-season. “We are holding open sessions on the weekends and running Tuesday and Thursday early-morning practices,” he explained, adding that the players are working hard on speed and agility.
“I am excited about taking the reins of the men’s soccer program at CSM,” said Bowman. “I consider it a privilege to help these young men fulfill their goals and aspirations both on and off the field.”
Bowman was a four-year member of the Stevens Institute of Technology men’s soccer team and helped take Stevens to four straight NCAA Tournaments, including a national runner-up finish in 2008 and an Elite Eight appearance in 2011. Stevens was 69-11-10 (.822) during Bowman’s four years at the school.
Bowman played professional soccer with the York Region Shooters in Toronto in the Canadian Soccer League in 2012-13. He also spent three winters (2013-16) playing professional arena soccer for the Detroit Waza Flo in the Major Arena Soccer League and played one season for the Evergreen Diplomats (2014-15) in the semi-pro American Soccer League. Before joining the CSM coaching staff in 2018, he was an assistant coach at the U.S. Naval Academy.
A La Plata native, Bowman graduated from La Plata High School (LPHS) in 2008. During his youth playing career, he was a member of local soccer clubs in Maryland including Waldorf Soccer, Freestate Soccer (now Maryland United) and the Maryland Junior Terps.
While growing up in Southern Maryland, he served as an assistant coach at LPHS during the 2015 and 2016 seasons, helping the program to a combined 27-11 record and two 2A South Region Championships. La Plata advanced to the state championship game in 2015 and made it to the Final Four in 2016. He also holds a Personal Training Certificate. Bowman graduated from Stevens with a degree in chemical engineering in 2012.
“Obviously, I left the Southern Maryland area for a while to experience things all over the world and play soccer,” Bowman said. “I learned a lot things that I want to bring home to the Southern Maryland area and it’s good to be home.”
For information on CSM’s athletic programs, visit www.csmd.edu/athletics.