The 2014 year will mark the second for Luke Sanford as an assistant coach with the PLNU men's soccer team. In his first year he helped Point Loma put together a five-match turnaround as the Sea Lions go 7-8-3 (including finishing 5-4-3 and in sixth in the PacWest) after collecting just two wins the season prior to his arrival. Sanford helped coach Wolf with the recruiting of the 14-man class, including 2013 All-PacWest performers Nico Tagaloa and Tyler Allen.
Prior to joining the PLNU coaching staff in 2013, Sanford had a two-year stop as an assistant and graduate assistant coach with Nyack College, an NCAA Division II school, in New York. During his tenure with the team, the Nyack Warriors won the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Championship and earned their first NCAA postseason bid in program history (2011).
Sanford earned his master's degree in Organizational Leadership from Nyack last spring. Sanford played his college ball at Houghton College in New York where he played center-back and was a team captain. In addition to his coaching duties at PLNU, Sanford will serve as the team's recruiting coordinator.
“I have known Luke since he was in elementary school and has an incredible soccer background despite his reasonably young age," said coach Wolf. "First of all, Luke grew up in one of the best soccer environments in the country at High Point Wesleyan Christian Academy. He is the son of former NSCAA National Coach of the Year and legendary high school coach David Sanford, who served at Wesleyan for a number of years. Luke grew up in a household that placed a high value on playing the game the right way. Many of his ideas that he has about the game have come directly from his father, but he has added to it along the way.
“He is incredibly bright coach who brings his own ideas and convictions of how the game should be played, but at the same time, he is looking at his time at Point Loma as a great learning experience," added Wolf. "Luke will serve as our recruiting coordinator who will be in charge of the day to day recruiting process. This is an important part of his development as any coach knows that in order to build a championship program; one must start with excellent players.”
