BATON ROUGE — Brian Lee, who has spent the last 11 seasons at Furman University, has been named the new head coach of the LSU women’s soccer program, director of athletics Skip Bertman announced Tuesday.
Lee replaces co-head coaches George and Danielle Fotopoulos who resigned last month.
“I am very excited about the opportunity to come to LSU,” said Lee. “It’s a place with a wonderful commitment to success from the administration. Everyone you talk to about LSU is so positive and feels so good about it. It’s a place that’s attractive to the very best potential student-athletes in the country and I feel we can come here and have great success.
“In the long-term we want to build a program that is competitive year in and year out. Our vision includes being competitive for SEC Championships and then being competitive for national championships. I feel from a support standpoint everything we need to do that is in place at LSU.”
Conference titles and a nationally prominent program are nothing new for the Cheltenham, England native, who after starting the Furman program from scratch in 1994 led the Lady Paladins to six Southern Conference Championships and four NCAA College Cup appearances during his tenure.
“Brian Lee is a proven and successful head coach who I believe will take our women’s soccer program to a level of excellence that will energize the soccer community and bring championships to LSU,” Bertman said. “I am impressed with his accomplishments as well as his enthusiasm and vision for the program.”
In 11 seasons, Lee’s teams accumulated a 144-80-10 overall record, including a 76-16-3 mark in conference action. Three times his team went undefeated in conference play (1999, 2000, 2002) and were just shy of perfection in 2003, going 10-0-1.
Individually, Lee has been responsible two NCAA All-Americans, one NSCAA All-American, two Freshman All-Americans, 22 All-Southeast Region players, four Southern Conference Players of the Year, five conference Freshmen of the Year and 54 all-league selections.
Lee’s athletes have proven to be just as successful in the classroom where he owns a 100% graduation rate, his teams have earned four NSCAA Team Academic Awards and 122 of his athletes have been selected to the Southern Conference Academic Honor Roll.
For his accomplishments, Lee has been selected as the Southern Conference Coach of the Year five times and was named the NSCAA and SoccerBuzz Southeast Region Coach of the Year in 1999, the same year he was selected as a finalist for NSCAA National Coach of the Year honors.
In addition to his collegiate experience, Lee has served on the Region III ODP staff since 1999 and headed the South Carolina ODP program from 1995-2000 and again in 2003-04.
A successful athlete in his own right, Lee played for the Paladin soccer team from 1989-92 where he was part of three Southern Conference titles and was selected as a team captain and the Most Valuable Player.
Lee received his B.A. in political science from Furman in 1993. He and his wife, Nancy, have one son, Aidan.
THE BRIAN LEE FILE
Full Name: Brain Gordon Lee
Birthdate: May 14, 1971 in Cheltenham, England
Wife: Nancy Repsher of Westboro, Mass.
Children: Aidan
Education: Furman University, B.A. Political Science, 1993
Coaching Experience
1994-2004 Furman University (Head Coach)
2004- LSU (Head Coach)
Playing Experience
1989-92 Furman University
* 1992 Team Captain
* 1992 Team MVP