Kathy Brawn enters her 18th season as head coach of the Raiders, one of the premier soccer programs in the east.
She has guided the Raiders to 11 Patriot League Championships, three ECAC Championships, four NCAA Tournament appearances and a 202-108-23 record. Brawn has coached five Patriot League Rookies of the Year, 11 Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year, over 80 all-league selections, 24 NSCAA all-region picks and one two-time All-American.
Her name can be found in the NCAA records book as one of the winningest coaches in NCAA Division I women’s soccer history. She ranks 34th by percentage (.641) and 31st by victories (202) all-time. She is also one of the winningest active coaches, ranked 37th by percentage and 26th by victories.
While Brawn’s teams’ accomplishments are enough to confirm her stature as a commander, her players classroom achievements prove her value reaches far beyond wins and losses. Brawn’s emphasis on the “student” end of student-athlete is evidenced by the 149 players she has coached who have been named to the Patriot League Academic Honor Roll. In recognition of her commitment to excellence both on and off the field, Colgate has bestowed the Howard Hartman Award, presented to the coach of the year, on Brawn on three occasions; in 1993, 1999, and 2004. Brawn has also been named Patriot League Coach of the Year twice, winning the award in 1993 and 1994. In 1994, she was also named the Northeast Region Coach of the Year by the NSCAA and received the same honor from socccerbuzz.com a decade later in 2004.
During her tenure, the Raiders have rolled to a 79-24-5 conference record. They were unbeaten and untied in the league in the 1996 and 1997 seasons. The 1996 team, possibly Colgate’s best ever, posted a 19-2 mark and won both the Patriot League and ECAC titles in dominant fashion. The only two losses that season came at the hands of nationally-ranked Connecticut and Virginia. From 1997-99, Colgate posted a 22-2 record in the league, winning the conference title each year, and advancing to the NCAA Tournament.
In the 1997 NCAA Tournament, the Raiders fell 4-1 to Hartford. In 1998, Colgate hosted the first NCAA Tournament game played on Van Doren Field in a 4-1 loss to Syracuse. The Raiders appeared in the tournament the following season, drawing Dartmouth in the first round. Despite the 3-0 loss to the Big Green, Colgate had become a familiar face in the national tournament picture.
In 2004, the Raiders were successful in regaining the Patriot League crown, the 10th title for Colgate. The win gave the team yet another invitation to the NCAA Tournament. The Raiders upset No. 13-seeded Arizona in the first round with a 1-0 shutout for the first NCAA Tournament win by a Colgate women’s team and first in Patriot League history.
Brawn’s scholastic coaching career began in 1984, when she coached the junior varsity team at Paramus (N.J.) Catholic High School. After three seasons at Paramus Catholic, she moved on to the collegiate coaching scene as an assistant at Yale. After one season at Yale, Brawn went back to the high school ranks for a year before heading to Princeton as an assistant in 1989. She followed Princeton with a year at Cornell. Both Cornell and Princeton were ranked in the top 20 nationally during her one-year stints.
Brawn earned a USSF “A” license in 1995 and has served as an Olympic Development coach in both New York and New Jersey. She has always been committed to giving back to the soccer community, organizing camps and clinics since 1978. In 1981, Brawn founded and directed the Franklin Lakes Soccer Camps in Franklin Lakes, N.J. At Colgate, she began the Colgate Soccer Fit Academy.
In the spring of 2000, Brawn represented Colgate as a speaker on the coaches panel as well as serving as a facilitator at the NCAA Foundation Leadership Conference in Orlando, Fla. Brawn is extremely active in shaping the academic and athletic landscape at Colgate as well. She served on the Academic Affairs Board and was the chair of the Admissions Liaison Committee. She is also one of the founders of P.L.A.Y. (Promoting Life-long Activity for Youth) in Hamilton.
Formerly a member of the NCAA Tournament Regional Selection Committee, Brawn has served as the vice president, representing all women’s programs on the Intercollegiate Soccer Association of America Executive Board. She also has been involved in the ISAA regional and national rankings as well as a member of the coaching staff at the NCAA’s YES Clinics in 1994, ’97, and ’98.
- updated Summer 2008
- note: Coaching records not yet updated by NCAA
