University of North Carolina Asheville Men's Soccer

Mick Giordano enters his fifth official season as UNC Asheville's Head Men's Soccer Coach in 2024. Giordano led the Bulldogs to one of the best seasons in program history in 2023. Asheville won 10 matches for the first time in its Division I era, posted a program record seven All-Conference selections and also appeared in the Big South Conference Championship match for the first time in program history. In addition to the weekly and conference accolades, Charlie Farrar was the first-ever Bulldog to be named Big South Conference Goalkeeper of the Year. Asheville notched four First Team All-Conference selections, which tied a program record. Girodano also coached Brendan Herb, who in 2023 became the program's third College Sports Communicators Academic All-America selection.  Giordano coached four players who earned postseason honors in 2022. Sam Pitts-Eckersall was named to the All-Big South Second Team and the All-Big South Freshman Team, while Sam Presser was named All-Big South Honorable Mention and also to the All-Big South Freshman Team. Brendan Herb earned All-Big South Honorable Mention, while Andrew Rossetti was named to the All-Academic Team.  Giordano, who officially became the leader of the Bulldogs on June 4, 2021, scored a thrilling season-opening win over Northern Kentucky to begin the 2021 campaign. For their performances in that match, Conor Behan and Jarron James both earned weekly awards from the Big South. Giordano helped coach Leon Musial to Big South All-Academic Team honors. On the pitch, Musial finished second in the conference in saves (62) and saves per game (4.13).  In his lone season as the Interim Head Coach, Giordano guided the Bulldogs to a 3-5-1 mark in a schedule made up entirely of Big South matches. Thanks to their 3-4-1 mark in the regular season, the Bulldogs appeared in the semifinals of the Big South Tournament for the first time since 2008 where they dropped a hard-fought 1-0 decision in overtime at High Point.  Individually, the Bulldogs had multiple players have standout spring seasons. Miles Peay led Asheville with seven assists and average 0.78 assists per game. His assist per game average ranked third in Division I men's soccer and his total assists ranked ninth. For his play, Peay was named to the United Soccer Coaches Men's Scholar All-Region Team. Furthermore, Taylor Durall earned CoSIDA Academic All-District honors along with being named the Big South's Scholar-Athlete of the Year in men's soccer. Rounding out the award winners was the duo of Conor Behan and Leon Musial who both landed spots on the All-Big South Freshman Team.    Prior to being elevated to interim head coach, Giordano spent the previous two seasons as an assistant coach for the Bulldogs, while also serving as the team's recruiting coordinator. He helped the Bulldogs double their win total from 2018 to 2019, while increasing their Big South Conference victories by three in 2019.   The previous two seasons served as Giordano's second stint as an assistant coach for Asheville. After playing overseas in Germany during 2014, Giordano returned to his alma mater for his first collegiate coaching stop. The 2015 Bulldogs won seven games and earned a spot in the Big South tournament.   Giordano served as an assistant coach at Wake Forest during the 2016 season in which the Demon Deacons won 19 games, including the ACC Tournament Championship. The Deacons advanced all the way to the national championship game that year.   He spent the 2017 season as the associate head coach at Wofford, aiding the Terriers as they earned a trip to the Southern Conference tournament.   In addition to his work as a collegiate assistant coach, Giordano has also served as the Asheville City SC men's head coach since 2018. In his first two seasons, he led Asheville City to two playoff berths, two playoff victories and an appearance in the conference championship match.   As the team transitioned to the USL League Two, Asheville City president Ryan Kelley signed Giordano to a two-year extension as head coach and also named him sporting director with responsibility for all on-field activities in October of 2019.   Giordano, a 2013 graduate of UNC Asheville, started two seasons in the midfield as a student-athlete for the Bulldogs. He started in seven of his 11 appearances as a junior and started 17 matches as a senior. He finished third in minutes and recorded two assists in his final campaign, in which the Bulldogs secured eight victories.   Giordano played with the South Carolina United Bantams of the PDL between his junior and senior seasons. He was also a key fixture and captain of the Triangle FC U20 teams in the summers of 2010 and 2011, helping them reach nationals in each of their respective seasons. In 2011, he propelled TFC to a fourth-place finish at nationals.