Men's Soccer

Josh Scott was named associate head men's soccer coach in February 2016 following two seasons as assistant coach with the Pioneer program.
 
Scott, a native of London, England, has coaching experience at all three NCAA levels as well as on the semi-pro circuit with the United Soccer Leagues and the National Premier Soccer League where both organizations compete on the national stage. Scott also has close to a decade of fulfilling influential coaching and scouting roles within the youth soccer scene on a state, regional and national level, where his current role is with Tennessee's premier soccer club, FC Alliance. At FC Alliance, Scott is the club's head technical director/trainer for all female ECNL players and male ENPL league players who compete at the very top of the playing pyramid for youth soccer in the country.

Over four seasons at Tusculum, Scott has complied an overall record of 34-26-11 and a South Atlantic Conference record of 22-12-7 with a pair of runner-up finishes in the league, one SAC Tournament title, a NCAA Division II Tournament berth and regional and national rankings along the way while beating nationally ranked opponents each season with the program.

For 2017 the Pioneers were picked 2nd in the SAC in the pre-season polls behind 2016 national champions, Wingate University. They began the 2017 campaign picked #23 in the national ranking poll by United Soccer Coaches and we’re entering the 2017 season with a lot of new faces after coming off a special 2016 that saw them graduate 10 seniors. 2017 proved to be a rebuilding year and a learning campaign for the Pioneers after they had achieved the largest recruitment class (29) in program history for the 2017-2018 year which included 22 freshman. This still didn’t stop the Pioneers from being close to breaking records, they ended the 2017 season 2-8-6 overall and 2-4-4 in the SAC where they was one tie away from the NCAA record. The Pioneers experienced 7 overtime games, 6 ties and 6 one goal losses, all while facing a tough game schedule that saw the young Pioneers early on in the season come up against three nationally ranked opponents and the 2016 peach belt conference champions, Lander University who eventually was a 2017 NCAA participant who finished their season #13 nationally ranked, all four games came in a 10 day period. The challenging schedule also produced 7 opponents who were nationally ranked at some point during the season where 5 of them punched their ticket to the 2017 NCAA championships. Memorable results were against nationally ranked #11 Young Harris College (NCAA sweet 16) and #13 Lincoln Memorial University (NCAA first round) where both games ended in ties. Academically the Pioneers had 24 squad members make the Tusculum Athletic Directors Honor Roll list and produced an overall team GPA of 3.036.

In 2016, the Tusculum men's soccer program achieved a runner-up finish in the league and a NCAA postseason appearance with a 16-4 record and a conferece worksheet of 8-3. The 2016 season was one to remember as the Pioneers made history by winning 12 straight matches to start the season and being one of only two undefeated NCAA II programs at that point, along with fellow SAC member and eventual national champion Wingate. The 12-0 start was the best opening to a campaign since Tusculum became a NCAA II member. The Pioneers were ranked as high as seventh in the country and were the top-ranked team in the region with victories over 2015 national champion Pfeiffer and in-state rival Lincoln Memorial to capture the program its league-leading sixth SAC Tournament crown.
The 2016 campaign saw many individual, regional and national accolades including a SAC Tournament MVP, a SAC Elite 18 Award winner, two CoSIDA Academic All-Americans and All-Conference and All-Region selections. The Pioneers finished the season ranked 24th in the country and third in the region.

In 2015, the program finished in the top half of the conference with a 9-6-2 overall record and 6-4-1 mark in the SAC, with memorable wins against 19th-ranked Wingate while leading the league with the most shutouts. On two occasions, Tusculum was ranked in the top-10 in the region and collected multiple individual conference, regional and national accolades along the way, with the most impressive being German striker Jonathan Spicher earning Academic All-American honors.

Scott returned to Tusculum in February, 2015 after serving the 2014 season at NCAA Division I Big South Conference member Longwood University. While at the Farmville, Virginia school, he served as the Lancers’ top assistant coach. He assisted in all aspects of the program, including coordinating all overseas and domestic recruitment efforts, team travel, player development, on-field coaching assignments, scouting reports, film analysis, academic monitoring and mentoring and all the day-to-day operations of a NCAA DI soccer program. Scott gained valuable coaching experiences coming up against the likes of Virginia Tech, Navy and Coastal Carolina, this put Scott in good stead on his drop back down to NCAA DII and his return to the Pioneer nation.

Prior to Longwood, he served as co-founder and director of coaching of the boys and girls U9-U20 teams at the Knoxville Soccer Academy for close to 4 years. Scott was given the responsibility of being the main scouting contact in Tennessee for the United Soccer Leagues Super Y program, he was also a USL national staff coach and national scout for identifying talent for the national USL Olympic Development program held at IMG Academy in Bradenton, FL which is the former home of the USA U17 national team residency program.

Scott helped start the Knoxville Soccer Academy in August, 2011, the Knoxville-based soccer club competed through the state leagues of Tennessee and the Super Y and Super-20 Leagues of the United Soccer Leagues where he focused on individual player development in a team setting. During the summer months as the head coach he led the clubs U20 squad which was built up of regional college soccer players to winning the 2012 USL Super U20 Men's South Atlantic Championship and a berth to the Super U20 North American Finals at IMG Academy playing the likes of Major League soccer outfit Chicago Fire U20. That same season, his U20 squad received the USL First 11 "Super U20 Men" national award for total commitment to club and player development and had striker "Emmanuel Wilson" from ETSU be presented with the national top performer of the week award on June 13th 2012.

The following year also as head coach, Scott guided the KSA U17/18 girls squad to the USL Super Y U17/18 South Atlantic Championship and a runner-up finish at the Super Y North American Finals. That group was ranked second in North America and first in the United States for their age group within USL, with a number of his players moving onto nationally recognized collegiate soccer programs along the way. Scott was also the director of coaching for both the U13 and U16 girls teams that reached the Tennessee Soccer State Championship where the U13 squad won a state title.

For the 2011 summer season and as well as his responsibilities for his KSA U20 squad for the 2012 season, Scott was also an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for the Knoxville Force, a semi-professional soccer team that competed on the national stage within the National Premier Soccer League during the summer months. He joined the Force for their inaugural season and was given responsibility of pulling in talent from the collegiate, semi-professional and professional ranks around the country and overseas, with schools like UNC Chapel Hill, Kentucky, ETSU, Memphis, Tusculum, Carson Newman and Young Harris all being represented. Also heavily involved in the team's development and management of players, Scott helped the Force to one of its best seasons to date.

During his previous stint at Tusculum in 2011, he assisted Vital with the rebuilding stages of the program, which resulted in a second-place finish in the South Atlantic Conference with a 6-1-2 league mark and a 7-8-3 overall record, a massive improvement from the previous year under different leadership of 2-12-3 overall and a bottom finish in the conference.

Scott got his full-time collegiate professional coaching start at Emory & Henry College in 2009 after he fulfilled multiple part time coaching positions prior to 2009. He spent two seasons with the NCAA III program as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator and also stepped in as interim head coach for the spring and summer of 2011. Scott achieved one of the biggest recruiting classes in 2011 (22) for E&H and laid strong foundations for the program to move forward with strong core values and a talented incoming 2011 recruitment class.

Other coaching experiences for Scott include working multiple camps for schools like Indiana University and East Tennessee State University. Scott has also directed dozens of elite training camps overseas and domestically and implemented all year round college camp programs, with the most recent being the very popular Pioneer Soccer School for Tusculum Men's Soccer which offers annual residential camps, ID clinics, youth tournaments and community engagement programs for East Tennessee.

Scott played his first two seasons of college soccer at Hiwassee College, an NJCAA affiliate. He was team captain from 2006-2008 and helped lead the program to consecutive conference championships and back-to-back appearances in the regional final.

Following his time at Hiwassee, he transferred to Milligan College, where he stepped in as team captain in 2009 and earned All-Appalachian Athletic Conference honors while leading the program to the 2009 AAC Championship. He was also the recipient of the Brian Letendre Award for motivational leadership which was voted on by his peers.

Scott enjoyed a two-year stint in 2009 and 2010 playing semi-professional soccer with the Chattanooga Football Club during the summer months in front of crowds as large as ten thousand people. He helped the team win the 2010 South East Conference championship and also led them to the 2010 NPSL National Championship game after placing second in the division in 2009. Scott also played for the Fort Wayne Fever of the professional development league in 2008 where he teamed up with a number of current Major League Soccer players.

Scott holds his Premier License, Advanced National License and Director of Coaching License from the United Soccer Coaches, formerly known as the National Soccer Coaches Association of America. He is also working towards his UEFA B License with the Irish Football Association and is also NSC First Aid, CPR and AED certified.

After graduating from Milligan College in May, 2010, Scott received his Bachelor of Science degree in human performance and exercise science with an emphasis on physical education. Scott also holds his BTEC Level 2 Diploma in Football Coaching and his BTEC Level 3 Diploma in Sports Performance & Excellence which he completed with a distinction pass over a period of four years from higher education institutions in the East Midlands of England. Scott is currently working towards completing his masters degree in talent development from Tusculum.

Scott played for a number of professional academies and then semi-professional clubs as an inspiring professional soccer player where he eventually held professional status as a player in 2005 when he was a member of the nationwide conference club, Hucknall Town. As a player in England, Scott had experiences with Derby County, Mansfield Town, Hucknall Town, Ilkeston Town and also had a short stint in the 2nd division of Finland before heading to the states to pursue further higher education opportunities and a new chapter of soccer.