Linfield Names Ian Lefebvre New Men's Soccer Head Coach

Lefebvre (pronounced La-FAY-vor) brings nine years of college coaching experience to Linfield, most of it spent at Clark College in Vancouver, Wash.

Ian Lefebvre Photo: Linfield Athletics

McMINNVILLE - Linfield College has hired Ian Lefebvre as men’s soccer coach, director of athletics Scott Carnahan announced Monday.

Lefebvre, 30, becomes the 16th coach in program history. He replaces Eric Watson, who resigned in December to take a coaching position on the East Coast.

Watson compiled a 62-24-10 record in five seasons as Wildcats coach.

Lefebvre (pronounced La-FAY-vor) brings nine years of college coaching experience to Linfield, most of it spent at Clark College in Vancouver, Wash.

He coached the Clark men’s soccer team for seven years, compiling an 84-27-3 overall record.

He guided the Penguins to seven Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges playoff appearances and three NWAACC Southern Division championships. In 2004, he was selected as Southern Division Coach of the Year.

Since 2005, Lefebvre has coached boys soccer at Vancouver’s Skyview High School (soccer is a spring sport in Washington), reaching the district playoffs each of his two seasons. He also taught English and social studies at Skyview.

Lefebvre previously spent two years as an assistant men’s coach at Williams Woods University in Fulton, Mo.

A graduate of Vancouver’s Columbia River High School, he began his collegiate career at Clark, playing two seasons there before transferring to Central Washington for one year. He played his final season at Williams Woods while completing a bachelor’s degree in communications in 1999.

A midfielder and forward, Lefebvre spent one season as a member of the Yakima Reds, a semi-professional team in Yakima, Wash.

He earned his Class C coaching license from the United States Soccer Federation in 2003 and went on to complete a master’s degree in teaching at Concordia University in Portland in 2004.

“We believe Ian can continue the strong soccer tradition we have at Linfield, and perhaps take the program to the next level,” said Carnahan in announcing the search committee’s selection. “Ian has had very good success in recruiting and coaching at Clark. And given the substantial number of players we are expecting to return in the fall, he should be able to field a very competitive team.”

Since 1999, the Linfield soccer program has been an annual contender in the Northwest Conference, finishing either first or second in five of those seven seasons.

Linfield won the NWC championship in 2000 and 2003 and has competed in the Division III playoffs three times in that span.

In 2000, the Wildcats reached the national semifinals before falling to eventual champion Messiah (Pa.).

“I’m excited to improve on the foundation that’s been built at Linfield by the previous coaches,” Lefebvre said. “I’m hopeful our guys want to come out and work hard. We’ve got a good group coming back. We’ve just got to keep it going in the right direction. I think we can do some good things this fall.”

Lefebvre takes over the program at a very important juncture, just prior to the start of the non-traditional practice season.

NCAA Division III soccer programs are permitted 12 days of practice outside of their customary fall workout schedule.

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