May 17, 2014
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IOWA CITY, Iowa — University of Iowa director of athletics Gary Barta has named Dave DiIanni (De-ANN-ee) as the fifth head coach in UI soccer history. DiIanni spent the past 11 seasons as head coach at Grand Valley State.
DiIanni, a native of Ontario, Canada, has amassed a 221-18-18 (.895) record and has guided the Lakers to three NCAA Division II national championships, nine-consecutive Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletics Conference (GLIAC) titles, seven Final Four appearances in the last eight seasons, 11-straight NCAA Tournament berths and coached 21 All-Americans.
DiIanni’s .895 winning percentage is the tops in NCAA Division II and the third-highest amongst all coaches in any division.
“I’m excited to welcome Dave to the Hawkeye family,” said Barta. “He has a plan and approach that has resulted in winning multiple national championships. He is passionate about the sport of soccer, cares deeply about his student-athletes, and shares our values. I’m confident he’ll be successful at Iowa.”
“I couldn’t be more thrilled for this opportunity to be the head soccer coach at the University of Iowa,” said DiIanni, who has posted seven-straight 20-win seasons and has never won fewer than 15 games per season as a college head coach. “I appreciate the opportunity given to me by Gary Barta and Jane Meyer in choosing me to lead this program.
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“I couldn’t be more thrilled for this opportunity to be the head soccer coach at the University of Iowa,” said DiIanni, who has posted seven-straight 20-win seasons and has never won fewer than 15 games per season as a college head coach. “I appreciate the opportunity given to me by Gary Barta and Jane Meyer in choosing me to lead this program. I am going to take full advantage of it, to not only springboard off the fantastic season the team had last year, but to sustain it and move it to higher levels.”
Dave DiIanni, UI head soccer coach
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“I am going to take full advantage of it, to not only springboard off the fantastic season the team had last year, but to sustain it and move it to higher levels.”
In 2013, DiIanni guided Grand Valley State to its third national title in five seasons and was named the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) Coach of the Year for a third time. The Lakers scored the second-most goals in program history (88), matched a program-high with 21 shutouts en route to winning the most games in school history. The team finished 24-0-1, claiming both the GLIAC regular season and tournament titles.
The Lakers opened the season with 13-straight shutouts, which matched the second-longest streak in Division II history, and five student-athletes garnered All-America recognition at season’s end.
DiIanni led the Lakers to a 22-0-4 record in 2009 en route to his first national championship before winning a second-straight title in 2010. He was honored as the CaptainU Division II Women’s Soccer Coach of the Year in 2009, and he coached the Division II National Player of the Year honoree in each season (Irie Dennis, 2009; Jenna Wenglinski, 2010).
DiIanni took over the Laker program in 2003 and swiftly guided Grand Valley State to a then-school best record of 17-2-2 to earn the program’s first-ever NCAA Tournament berth. In year three, DiIanni led the Lakers to their first conference and NCAA Great Lakes Regional Championship, finishing 19-3 overall, and his team finished eighth in the national poll.
By year four, DiIanni led Grand Valley State to the school’s first NCAA Division II National Championship game, finishing 19-2-1 overall. A year later, the Lakers made a second-straight NCAA Final Four appearance, posting a 17-0-0 mark in the regular season before finishing 21-1-1 overall.
DiIanni joined Grand Valley State after a seven-year run as head coach of the Jackson Lumen Christi High School women’s soccer team. He also spent three years as an assistant coach at Hillsdale College, where he helped begin the men’s and women’s soccer programs.
DiIanni has spent seven years working with the Olympic Development Program in Michigan, training and developing the highest level of soccer in the state. He coached the team to four Region 2 and four ODP national championships.
DiIanni, a USSF B-licensed coach, earned his associate’s degree from Seneca College in 1993 and his bachelor’s degree from Spring Arbor University in 1997. He and his wife, Kristy, have two daughters, Karissa (11) and Kelsey (7).