Rob Russo completed his 21st season as the head men's soccer coach at Denison and at the conclusion of the 2019 season, Russo announced his retirement from coaching. He will remain on staff as a faculty member and will assist the athletic director with administrative duties through the 2020-21 academic year.
The move places a capstone on Russo's 42-year coaching career with 39 coming as a head coach at all three levels of the NCAA. He ranks 32nd in NCAA men's soccer history with a career record of 431-243-58 (.628).
Russo arrived at Denison in 1999 and went on to post a 204-140-36 (.613) record in 21 seasons in Granville. He took the Big Red to the NCAA Division III tournament three times and guided the program to a school-record 18 victories in 2003 while winning a share of the North Coast Athletic Conference Championship. In 2006, and again in 2009, Denison won the NCAC Tournament Championship, resulting in NCAA Tournament berths in each season. He has coached 22 all-region players and 28 first-team all-conference players at Denison. In 2006, David Folt was named the NCAC Defensive Player of the Year and in 2009, Peter Shorten was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-America first-team. Russo ranks second in career wins at Denison, trailing only Ted Barclay who logged 230 victories in 25 seasons from 1965-89.
Russo holds a bachelor's degree in physical education (1977) from Wilmington College, where he also played varsity soccer. Russo continued his education at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, earning a master's degree in health and physical education (1979). While at Miami, Russo served as both assistant and head coach of the Redhawks' men's soccer team.
Russo began his coaching career in 1978 at Miami University of Ohio as an assistant on the men's soccer staff. In 1980, he was named head coach of the program as well as serving as a physical education instructor during his time at Miami. Following his four-year stint in Oxford, Russo moved on to coach the men's soccer team at Gannon University in Erie, Pa. During his nine years at Gannon, Russo's teams appeared in the NCAA Division II tournament six times. He was named the Western Pennsylvania Intercollegiate Soccer Conference Coach of the Year three times (1983, '84 and '85), Mid-Atlantic Regional Coach of the Year and National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) National Coach of the Year. In January of 2010, Russo was inducted into the Gannon University Hall of Fame where he remains the program's all-time leader in coaching victories.
In the fall of 1991, Russo took the head coaching position at the University of South Carolina-Spartanburg. During his four seasons in Spartanburg, Russo's teams advanced to the NCAA Division II tournament each year. In 1992, he was named the NSCAA South Regional Coach of the Year. He earned Peach Belt Conference Coach of the Year recognition in both 1992 and 1994.
