Rutgers University - Camden Men's Soccer

Oswald (11th season) High School:                Father Judge (PA) College:                       Elizabethtown College (2001) Major:                          Elementary Education Minor:                          Social Work Grad School:               Widener University (2003) Degree:                        M.Ed. (Counselor Education)   Tim Oswald continues rewriting the soccer record books at Rutgers-Camden and around the New Jersey Athletic Conference.   As he begins his 11th season with the Scarlet Raptors, Oswald becomes the longest-tenured coach in program history, breaking the tie he shared with Mark Sandberg (1990-99) at 10 seasons. The eighth head coach in program history, Oswald long ago passed every program standard for success. He enters the 2016 season with a 152-55-25 record, more than doubling the previous program mark for victories (68). His .709 winning percentage is 23rd in the NCAA Division III record book among all active coaches with a minimum of five years, while it ranks 35th on the Div. III all-time list for any coaches with a minimum  of 10 years.   Oswald owns the only four NJAC championships, the only five NCAA tournament berths and the only four ECAC championships in program history. His four conference titles are the most of any active NJAC coach.   Oswalds two NJAC Coach of the Year honors represent half of those ever won by a Rutgers-Camden mens soccer coach, and his 2013 team was the only Scarlet Raptor squad ever to play in the NCAA Mens Soccer Championship title game. That accomplishment earned him three national Coach of the Year honors.   Last season Oswald led Rutgers-Camden to its fifth consecutive berth in the NJAC championship game something no other mens soccer program had ever accomplished in conference history. The Raptors went on to win their fourth NJAC title in five years and secured the fifth NCAA Tournament berth in program history. They advanced to the second round of the NCAA tourney and finished with a 14-8-2 record despite playing 15 games against teams either ranked in the Top 25 or receiving votes toward the polls. Rutgers-Camden went 7-6-2 against that powerful schedule.   The 2015 season also saw Rutgers-Camden All-American Mike Ryan finish his stellar career with 75 goals, setting an all-time NJAC record.   Facing another brutal schedule that included 11 games against teams that either appeared in, or received votes toward the Top 25 (going 6-5 against that competition), the Scarlet Raptors posted a 16-8-1 record in 2014. They reached their fourth consecutive NJAC title game before finishing as the conference runner-up, then capped the season with a run to their fourth ECAC title. In winning the ECAC Metro/Upstate championship game with a 2-1 victory over Richard Stockton College, the Scarlet Raptors added to their collection of ECAC crowns won in 2006, 2007 and 2010.  The Oswald File Oswald has produced 54 All-NJAC players in his 10 seasons, including six during the 2015 campaign. He has had eight All-Americans, 20 regional All-Americans, six Academic All-Americans and 47 NJAC All-Academic players.   Tim Oswald's Rutgers-Camden record Few coaches in any sport have ever had the kind of season that Oswald experienced with Rutgers-Camden in 2013.   Oswalds Scarlet Raptors posted a 23-1-2 record, won their third consecutive New Jersey Athletic Conference title, advanced to the first NCAA championship game in program history and set numerous program marks, including the teams highest final rankings ever. The Raptors were ranked No. 2 in the season-ending NSCAA and D3soccer.com national polls.   Along the way, Oswald captured his 100th career coaching victory at Rutgers-Camden (a 1-0 season-opening win at Muhlenberg College Aug. 30), watched his team run off a pair of 11-game winning streaks and post a 12-1-2 record against programs appearing in the national polls. The Raptors stretched their two-year unbeaten string to 37 games (32-0-5), the eighth-longest Division III streak ever, on an amazing 75-yard game-winning goal by Keegan Balle in the national semifinals, a shot that went viral. The season ended in the national championship game with a 2-1 double-overtime loss against defending champion Messiah College.   Oswald capped his season by earning national Coach of the Year honors from the NSCAA, D3soccer.com and CaptainU, adding to a collection of accolades that included the South Atlantic Region Coach of the Year, his second honor as the NJAC Coach of the Year and a Coach of the Year honor from The Philly  Soccer Page.   Two of Oswalds players earned NSCAA All-America honors (Mike Ryan, First Team, and Mitch Grotti, Third Team) and three captured First Team All-America honors from D3soccer.com (Grotti, Ryan and Mike Randall, who was named the Goalkeeper of the Year), setting program marks for most overall All-American and NSCAA All-American honors in a season. Two other players were named to the Academic All-America Third Team (Auleta and Bobby Foster), with Auleta also earning a berth on the NSCAA Mens College Division Scholar All-America Third Team. The Scarlet Raptors also featured eight All-NJAC members, including Oswald, who won his second NJAC coaching honor in three years.   Oswald has carved out an amazing 152-55-25 (.709) record during his first 10 seasons. He left the old program mark of 68 coaching victories in the dust and has compiled a stunning record of 89-22-10 over the past five seasons. During that span, the club allowed only 112 goals and posted 50 shutouts while playing many of the nations top teams.   Oswalds post-season record is even more impressive. Between his tournament marks in the NCAA (9-4-1), ECAC (11-0) and NJAC (11-3-3), he is a combined 31-7-4 (78.6 percent). In a combined 11 championship game appearances in the NCAA, ECAC and NJAC tournaments, his teams are 8-2-1 (77.3).   Records, milestones and accomplishments have been the norm for the Scarlet Raptors during the Oswald era. During the past five seasons, Rutgers-Camden has won the only four NJAC titles in program history. In 2008, Oswald led the program to its first-ever berth in the NCAA tournament, and his team has gone 9-3-1 over the past five seasons in NCAA tourney play, reaching the Elite Eight in 2011 and the title game in 2013.   The Scarlet Raptors finished the 2012 season with a 17-2-3 record and were ranked No. 17 in the final NSCAA/Continental Tire NCAA Division III Top 25 poll. They were 16th-ranked in the season-ending D3soccer.com poll.   In 2011, they finished fifth in the NSCAA and eighth in the D3soccer.com final polls.   The Scarlet Raptors appeared in one or both national polls for 39 consecutive weeks, beginning with votes to the Sept. 13, 2011 D3soccer.com rankings. That streak ended on Sept. 23, 2014. The Raptors broke into the NSCAA national poll at No. 16 on Sept. 27, 2011 and remained in the national Top 25 in one or both polls for the next 36 weeks, through Sept. 9, 2014. They ended the 2013 season ranking in the Top 10 for 10 straight weeks, were a Top 5 program for the last nine weeks and were ranked No. 2 in both the final 2013 and the pre-season 2014 NSCAA polls.   Not only has Oswalds program excelled on the soccer pitch, but the Scarlet Raptors have posted outstanding success in the classroom as well. The 2013 team became the first Raptor squad to earn a NSCAA Team Academic Award (GPA 3.0 or higher) and co-captains Auleta and Bobby Foster became the fourth and fifth Academic All-Americans during Oswalds tenure. One of them, Kevin Burke in 2012, became the first athlete in school history to earn recognition as a First Team Academic All-American.   In his 10 years at Rutgers-Camden, Oswald has led the team to five NCAA tournament berths (2008, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2015), four NJAC championships (2011, 2012, 2013 and 2015) and two other conference finalist spots (2008 and 2014). His Scarlet Raptors also have won four ECAC championships (2006, 2007, 2010 and 2014).   Oswald, meanwhile, was named the NJAC Coach of the Year in 2011 and 2013, and has captured five honors as Rutgers-Camdens Coach of the Year. He won that award back-to-back in both the 2007-08/2008-09 scholastic years and the 2010-11/2011-12 campaigns.  He added his fifth honor during the 2013-14 scholastic year. Oswalds vast soccer success goes beyond his work at Rutgers-Camden. As the fifth-year Head Coach of the Ocean City Noreasters Premier Development League team (the PDL is the highest level of amateur soccer in the country and the fourth level of soccer overall behind USL Pro, NASL and MLS), Oswald is the winningest coach in program history. He led his team to its first-ever appearance in the PDL national semifinals in 2013 and his 2016 squad added another run to the PDL semifinals. His 2014 team reached the USASA National Amateur Championship Final Four before watching a program-record four players get selected in the 2015 MLS Draft. The Noreasters matched that mark in the 2016 MLS Draft.  A total of 25 players during his five-year tenure with the Noreasters have signed contracts in the NASL, USL Pro and across the world at the professional level outside of MLS.   Oswald led his squad to its second straight Mid-Atlantic Division Championship in 2013. They won the Eastern Conference Championship, competed in the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup (beating the USL Pro Pittsburgh Riverhounds, 1-0, and losing in stoppage time, 2-1, against the MLS Philadelphia Union) and advancing all the way to the USL PDL Final 4, where they lost, 1-0, in the semifinals to eventual champion Austin Aztex.    His Noreasters won the 2012 Eastern Conference regular season championship, made a USL PDL Sweet 16 appearance and earned him recognition as a USL PDL finalist for National Coach of the Year.   Oswald signed a three-year extension with the Noreasters in May, 2014.   Oswald has taken his teams to five Final Fours on three different levels: college, professional and club ball.   Oswald is a member of the NSCAA South Atlantic Regional Ranking Committee, and completed his first year on the NCAA South Atlantic Regional Committee for NCAA Tournament selection in 2013. He also has served as the NJAC chair for the NSCAA.   Not content to build his record against mediocre teams, Oswald is constantly upgrading the Raptors rugged schedule to face the top teams in the country. In his 232 games at Rutgers-Camden, Oswald has coached 111 times against nationally-ranked teams (47.8 percent of their games), leading the Scarlet Raptors to 56 wins and 15 ties against that rugged competition. During that span, the Scarlet Raptors are 96-15-10 against unranked opponents.   Overall, Oswalds Rutgers-Camden teams have produced eight All-Americans, 20 NSCAA Regional All-Americans and 54 All-NJAC honors in his nine seasons. He also has had six Academic All-Americans, 10 members of the Academic All-District teams and 18 players on the annual Philadelphia Inquirer Academic All-Area Mens Soccer Team. Three of them were named the Performer or Co-Performer of the Year on those Inquirer teams. His players have earned 47 NJAC All-Academic honors.   Rutgers-Camden made a dramatic jump into the elite level during the 2008 season when Oswalds team produced the finest season in program history up to that point. The Scarlet Raptors set the old club record for wins during a 16-5-2 season, achieved their highest NCAA ranking ever at that time (No. 10 on the Sept. 23 NSCAA/adidas national poll) and became the first mens program in school history in any sport to qualify for a NCAA Division III tournament. All five defeats came against four NCAA Division III tournament teams as Rutgers-Camden sported one of the highest strength of schedule ratings in the nation.   Over the summer of 2007, Oswald added another credential to his impressive resume, serving as an assistant coach for the Ocean City Barons Premier Development League team. He joined the staff of first-year Barons Head Coach Mike Pellegrino and helped Ocean City reach the Eastern Conference semifinals. As the Barons evolved into the Ocean City Noreasters, Oswald also made the transition. Prior to the start of the 2012 PDL season, Oswald was named as the head coach of the Noreasters.   Oswald brought plenty of credentials to his head coaching job at Rutgers-Camden. A standout soccer player at Father Judge High School in Philadelphia, he earned All-Catholic honors and added All-Area recognition from the Northeast Times in 1996. He was an integral part in helping the FJHS squad reach the Catholic playoffs after a hiatus through the 1990s, and was a 2014 inductee into the Father Judge High School Hall of Fame.   Oswald continued his soccer career as a midfielder/forward at Elizabethtown College, where the Blue Jays earned national rankings during all four of his years, including Top 5 rankings during his junior and senior seasons. He earned All-Middle Atlantic Conference First Team honors in 2000 and was nominated for the MAC All-Century Team.   Oswald served three seasons as an assistant coach at Arcadia University from 2003-05, helping the Scarlet Knights achieve Division III Top 25 national rankings each year. Arcadia reached the Pennsylvania Athletic Conference championship game all three years, winning the PAC title in 2004 and advancing to the second round of the NCAA tournament. His mentor, former AU coach Tom Carlin, is now the Head Coach at Villanova University after a brief stop at Northwestern University.   Prior to coaching at Arcadia University, Oswald spent the 2001 and 2002 seasons assisting at Widener University. During his second season at Widener, the Pioneers achieved the highest NSCAA regional ranking in the history of the program and earned their second-ever ECAC post-season berth.   Oswald owns his NSCAA National Diploma, which he passed with distinction. On the club level, Oswald has served as a club coach for the South Jersey Barons (New Jersey), FC Bucks (EPA), PSC Coppa (Pennsylvania), and the Montgomery United Soccer Club (Pennsylvania). He has won seven state championships (outdoor and indoor), a U.S. Club Regional Championship, and earned a Final Four appearance at the 2008 Super Y National Championship with his South Jersey Barons U-17 Black team in Tampa, Florida.   Oswald received his B.S. in Elementary Education, with a minor in Social Work, from Elizabethtown in 2001 and his M.Ed. in Counselor Education from Widener University in 2003.   Oswald lives in West Deptford with his wife Denise and his daughter Karley. He works as a guidance counselor at Ridley (Penn.) Middle School.         Tim Oswald's Rutgers-Camden record