Men's and Women's Camp Directors

Bret Simon (Men's Camp)

(Head Coach)

Bret has been coaching camps for kids of all age groups for 30 years. He has coached at the collegiate level for the past 27 years achieving much success.

Most notable of his accomplishments are his four trips to the NCAA Division I Final Four. Also, two of those Final Four appearances and one of the championship game appearances came consecutively over the 2000-2002 seasons.

Simon Played collegiately, professionally and internationally, and has worked as a national staff instructor for the USSF and NSCAA.

In addition to being a successful coach, Bret is also a proud husband and father of two young boys: Ben, age 10, and Jake, age 7.

 

 

Rob Becerra (Men's Camp)

(Assistant Coach)

Rob Becerra enters his third season as an assistant coach for the Stanford men's soccer program in 2008.

Becerra joined Stanford after a highly successful stint at the University of Redlands as Assistant Athletic Director, Head Men's Soccer Coach and Instructor in the Department of Physical Education. During that time his teams achieved a 126-28-7 record and made five NCAA post-season appearances including a trip to the Division III National Championship Game.

Further, Becerra is a member of the Region IV (west region) Olympic Development Program training and evaluating both field players and goalkeepers, as well as with the California South Olympic Development Program.

He is a graduate and former goalkeeper at the California State University San Bernardino and has a Masters degree in Management from the University of Redlands.

 

Gregg Olson (Men's Camp)

(Assistant Coach)

Gregg Olson will begin his first season at Stanford commencing with the 2008 spring season.

Olson most recently was the first assistant coach at the University of Vermont. While at Vermont, Olson helped the Catamounts to the America East Conference tournament four years in a row highlighted by a 2007 Conference Championship and a trip to the NCAA Tournament advancing to the second round for only the second time in the program's history.

A native of Roscoe, Ill., Olson graduated from the University of Vermont in 2000, where he was a four-year starter and team captain his senior year for the Catamounts squad. He also was a three-time winner of UVM's Donoson Fitzgerald Award for perseverance, integrity and sportsmanship. Upon graduating with a degree in geography, Olson pursued a professional soccer career with the Vermont Voltage of the PDL and the Milwaukee Rampage of the USISL's A-League.

Olson ventured back to Illinois in 2002 to begin his coaching career at Hononegah High School. After a one-year stint there, he returned to his alma mater in 2003 to start his collegiate coaching career as the second assistant. He spent five seasons on the Burlington campus, and was promoted to first assistant coach in May 2006 after three seasons.

Olson holds his NSCAA Advanced National and NSCAA National Youth coaching diplomas. Along with being a member of the Catamounts staff, he also was the Vermont Boys Under-17 Olympic Development Head Coach and was the assistant coaching director for the Nordic Soccer Club. Coach Olson and his wife, Sarah, reside in Menlo Park, Calif.

 

Paul Ratcliffe (Women's Camp)

(Head Coach)

Paul completed his fifth year as head coach of the Stanford Cardinal women this season. In 2007, Ratcliffe led the team to a 15-3-5 record and a trip to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA tournament.

He comes to Stanford after a successful five year campaign as the head women's soccer coach at Saint Mary's College of California. Ratcliffe was honored three times as West Coast Conference Coach of the Year (1999, 2000, 2001). In his five seasons at the head of the Saint Mary’s women’s soccer team, Ratcliffe, the 2001 WCC co-Coach of the Year and NSCAA West Region Coach of the Year, led the Gaels to a 55-34-7 overall record, 21-13-1 in WCC action, and the highest national ranking for the program (seventh).

Prior to Saint Mary’s, Ratcliffe was an assistant coach at UCLA from 1994-97. While with the Bruins, he was instrumental in their undefeated 1997 Pac-10 title season and NCAA Tournament Final Eight appearance. Ratcliffe also served as interim head coach for UCLA from January through August of 1996.

Ratcliffe earned his National “A” License in 1999 from the United States Soccer Federation.

 

Jay Cooney (Women's Camp)

(Assistant/Goalkeeper Coach)

Jay Cooney just completed his fifth season as the assistant/ goalkeeper coach for the Stanford women's soccer team. Prior to coming to The Farm, Cooney was the goalkeeper coach for the Women's Professional Soccer Association (WUSA) team San Jose CyberRays.

Cooney’s 2001 CyberRays defeated the Atlanta Beat to be crowned the inaugural WUSA Champions. Under Cooney’s guidance, San Jose goalkeeper LaKeysia Beene was honored as the 2001 WUSA Goalkeeper of the Year.

At Stanford, Cooney helped two-time All-American Nicole Barnhart to another impressive season in her senior campaign, as she allowed only 10 goals in 22 games and finished her collegiate career with a school record 0.451 goals-against average.

Cooney has prior collegiate assistant coaching experience at the College of William & Mary and Providence College. He was also the assistant director of Soccer Plus, a goalkeeper school owned by Tony DiCicco, the WUSA’s chief operations officer and coach of the 1999 U.S. Women’s World Cup team.

 

Theresa Wagner (Women's Camp)

(Assistant Coach)

Theresa Wagner begins her first season as an assistant coach with the Stanford women's soccer program after five seasons as an assistant coach with the University of San Diego.

Wagner, a former standout from the University of Washington, spent four seasons as an assistant coach at University of San Diego.

"I am happy to announce the hiring of Theresa Wagner," said Ratcliffe. "Theresa will bring a wealth of experience to Stanford. She has played and coached at a very high level and has a proven track record of success."

Prior to coming back to Stanford, Wagner was a volunteer assistant coach for the Cardinal during the 2002 season when the team went 21-1-1 and earned the No. 1 ranking. The team allowed just five goals the entire season and won the Pac-10 conference championship. In 2003 Wagner was named as an assistant coach for the University of San Diego. She has also been the head coach of the San Diego Surf Club soccer team, where she led the team to the No. 1 national ranking.

"I am very excited about joining the Stanford Women's Soccer program and having the opportunity to work for Paul," said Wagner. "Stanford is one of the elite athletic programs and I am looking forward to working with the student-athletes that are attracted to this type of academic institution. I really believe that the sky's the limit here and I'm excited to be a part of it."

Wagner had a standout career at the University of Washington. She earned All Pac-10 honors in all four years in a Washington uniform and also was a three-time All-Academic Pac-10 selection. As a senior at Washington, Wagner garnered NSCAA Scholar Athlete All-American accolades and was named to the second team All-West Region.

After her collegiate career, Wagner played for the San Jose CyberRays from 2001-2003. While playing for the Cyber Rays she was a part of the 2001 team that won the WUSA Championship.

Wagner graduated from Washington in 2001 earning a B.A. in Business with a 3.5 GPA.