After eight years and a 2-12-2 season this year, the men’s soccer head coach Danny Ortiz has been released from his position.
Josh Pittman has been announced as the new soccer coach as of Dec. 8. Pittman has 20 years of soccer experience. Prior to Dixie State, he coached at Colorado Mesa University for seven years, building up the program.
“I felt that the program needed to go in a different direction with new leadership,” athletic director Jason Boothe said. “Danny is an incredible person and leader within the athletic department. However, I felt that the team’s performance never significantly improved over the years.”
Boothe said while the department doesn’t weigh wins and losses as the most important factor when evaluating coaches, it does come into play.
“After each season I evaluate each coach, and we sit down to talk about the season, etc,” Boothe said. “So this was not decided until after the season was completed.”
Boothe said now he is excited to see what Pittman can bring to the program.
“Josh will bring a lot of energy and passion with him to this position,” Boothe said. “I also believe he’ll bring a new look [with his] approach with the team that may produce different results on the field.”
Boothe said he has a lot of head coaching and recruiting experience at the Division II level — something very important for the future success of the team.
“He has built a spectacular program over in Grand Junction,” media relations assistant John Potter said. “That Mavericks team went to the final four this year with the players he recruited over the years.”
Pittman spent the last year in the youth development program for the Colorado Rapids from Major League Soccer.
Potter said Pittman came from a great program with great student athletes who excel in the classroom.
“I think he will be a spectacular fit for what we like to do and grow the Dixie State soccer program like it should,” Potter said.
Pittman has played professional soccer for two seasons with the Detroit Neon and the Detroit Wheels in the Continental Indoor Soccer League and the United States Interregional Soccer League. Prior to that he played collegiate soccer at the University of Massachusetts.
