Christopher McBride
Jonathan Rhodes/The Lion's Roar
Christopher McBride has been hired as the new Head Coach of the Lady Lions soccer team. The search for a new coach started in the middle of the season while Interim Head Coach Matt Muia coached the team for the other half of the season.
“I’m thrilled,” said McBride. “It’s a great opportunity here. I’m very thankful that they gave me this opportunity to be the coach here. It’s a great university. The program here has been established for years as a really strong and great soccer program.”
McBride applied for the job of head coach and was officially named by Director of Athletics Jay Artigues on Nov. 28.
“I went through a p phone interview process, and then I was one of the few that was selected to come on campus,” said McBride. “Given my interpretation of what I would bring and what I would do for the program. I really enjoyed talking to the committee and Mr. Artigues. I felt it was a great place to work and I jumped at the chance.”
McBride is a native of Prestwick, Scotland and came to the U.S. to attend Martin Methodist College where he was captain twice. He earned his master’s degree in health and human performance at North Alabama.
“I played back home until I was 18,” said McBride. “Then I came over here and played college for four years. I even played in Canada over the summer and then retired from old age.”
McBride was the assistant coach for the South Alabama soccer team last season and helped lead them to their fourth straight Sun Belt Conference Tournament championship. Before South Alabama, he coached at his alma mater North Alabama for four years and worked with the UNA goalkeepers to record eight shutouts and average 0.75 goals in 2015.
“It was a great experience,” said McBride. “We played some big teams this year. We won the conference and we won the conference tournament. The SEC is something as a player and as a coach I think we all want to do and hopefully we bring it here. We gonna aim to play the best schools in the area.”
This will be the first head coaching job for McBride as he takes over a team that finished 7-11-2 overall and made their 19th appearance in Southland Conference Tournament.
“I’ve been an assistant coach at three different levels,” said McBride. “I’ve won conferences and conference tournaments.”
The off-season is the time for the Lady Lions to recruit new players and McBride has already gotten started with the process.
“We graduated seven very good seniors last year,” said McBride. “That’s going to be some big shoes to fill for upcoming freshmen. We are getting on the recruit process quick and early.”
McBride will have all offseason to build the team that he wants to coach and build a relationship with the players on the team.
“The girls are the main part of the program,” said McBride. “What we are gonna build here is on them. They got a good foundation. They’re working hard right now in their off-season program. They wanna work harder than me. They want the conference championship more than any other school that I have been a part of.”