University of Arkansas Women's Soccer

Hale and the Razorbacks finished the 2014 season with a 9-7-6 overall mark, giving the program its first back-to-back winning season since the 2008 and 2009 seasons. Arkansas was also the No. 9 seed in the conference tournament and earned the programs second consecutive bid to the NCAA Tournament (second in school history). After picking up a 3-2 overtime victory at Oklahoma in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament, the Razorbacks fell at No. 3 Stanford, 1-0, in the Round of 32 to end the season. In just his second season at the helm, Hale posted the most successful season in Razorback soccer history at 15-8-1, leading his team to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in the programs 28 year history. In the teams tournament debut, Hale guided the Razorbacks past Oklahoma State and St. Johns to the final round of 16. Hale had a plan to take the program to the next level and set the bar high in his first season at Arkansas. In the 2012 preseason, he talked about the teams identity and blue collar mentality, and how the Razorbacks would be dependent on a team concept and not the play of two or three stars. Hale and the Razorbacks saw the results of that blue collar mentality and hard work pay off with a dramatic turnaround. The Razorbacks were 4-14-0 and 2-9-0 in the Southeastern Conference the year before Hale arrived on campus (2011). In 2012, with a senior class of just two Andrea Carlson and Allie Chandler Hale led the Razorbacks to a 9-10-1 overall record and 6-6-1 finish in the SEC. That step led to a 4.5 game improvement from 2011, including four more wins in conference play. Hale became just the third of eight Arkansas soccer head coaches to win his first game as coach, topping Austin Peay at home on Aug. 17, 2-1. The Razorbacks followed two days later with their first big win of the season, beating Texas for the first time in program history, 1-0, in Fayetteville. Prior to landing the top spot at Arkansas, Hale, one of the nations fastest rising assistant coaches, helped guide multiple programs to success on the field and in the classroom. He moved to Arkansas after spending the previous nine seasons at the University of Central Florida (UCF), helping the Knights to 130 wins (130-50-22) with six conference championships (four Conference USA, two Atlantic Sun), seven NCAA Tournament bids and eight wins in the postseason. In seven years in Conference USA, UCF was 56-11-9 with four league titles. In Hales nine seasons at UCF, including the last five as associate head coach, the Knights had 19 wins or ties against teams ranked in the top 25, ended the year ranked among the top 25 in the RPI ratings six times and ranked in the top 25 in scoring six times with 398 totals goals scored for an average of 44 per season. As the recruiting coordinator at UCF, he brought in six classes ranked among the nations best, including the No. 24 class in 2006 and the No. 39 class in 2008. The highlight of Hales time in Orlando was in 2011 when the Knights reached the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament with wins over Florida International, No. 20 Florida and No. 19 North Carolina before falling to No. 6 Wake Forest. UCF finished 13-5-6, and ranked No. 12 in the nation in the final National Soccer Coaches Association Continental Tire poll and No. 20 in the RPI rankings against the 11th-toughest schedule in the nation. While 2011 was a banner season, it wasnt the first big year for Hale and the Knights. In his nine years on the staff, UCF advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament in 2004, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 before the 2011 tournament run. Before going to UCF, Hale was an assistant for three years at Oral Roberts. He helped the Golden Eagles win two Mid-Continent Conference regular-season titles and set a school record for wins in 2000 (14). During his tenure at ORU, the team went 38-19-5, including the nations longest unbeaten streak of 11 games in 2001. Hale has also worked as the director of coaching at the Central Tulsa Thunder Soccer Club and as a boys soccer assistant at Union High School in Tulsa when Union won the 1997 Oklahoma Class 5A state title. A 1997 graduate of ORU (bachelors in theology), Hale played two years in England before lettering three times at Oral Roberts, where he was a two-time team captain. The husband of wife Brittany and father to son Callen and daughter Charlie, Hale has his USSF A license, NSCAA Premier License, NSCAA Distinguished License and NSCAA Advanced National License. 2016. All Rights Reserved.

My name is Hank Skolnick and I have had the great pleasure to be on Staff with Colby Hale here at Arkansas for the last two seasons. It has been a great experience of growth over the two years that has lead us to an SEC championship and a tough sweet 16 penalty shootout loss this past season. The daily ambition to grow and compete at the highest level and achieve something Arkansas Soccer has not done before is the what drives our program and I look to help push that drive everyday. That is exactly what I hope to bring the the X1 Showcase camp and what we look for in future Razorbacks.