Peoria, Ill - Bradley soccer have announced former NCAA head coach and MLS assistant coach John Trask will join the team as the Special Assistant to Head Coach and Director of Scouting.

Bradley soccer has named a new addition to their coaching staff as they head into the summer prior to the 2024 season. John Trask, a former NCAA head coach and MLS assistant coach, will join the Braves as the Special Assistant to the Head Coach and the Director of Scouting. Trask brings three decades of developing collegiate and professional players to the Bradley staff through his time in the NCAA and MLS (Major League Soccer, the highest tier of professional soccer in the United States). Trask most recently worked as a part of the ID2 Olympic Development Program and Empire Soccer Club in 2022. 

In 2010-2021, during his time as the head coach for the University of Wisconsin-Madison, he recruited and trained four MLS Draft Picks in 2017 (Chris Mueller, Tom Barlow, Mark Segbers and Michael Catalano) while claiming a Big 10 Championship, a birth in the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16 in 2017 and a 2nd round appearance in 2013. Prior to coaching at Wisconsin, Trask was the head coach at UIC from 2005-09. While with the Flames Trask produced four All-Americans (Tonci Skroce, Pavle Dundjer, Jovan Bubonja, and Baggio Husidic) and won the Horizon league twice with a Round of 32, Sweet 16, and Elite 8 appearences in the NCAA tournament with the Flames. UIC is now a full member affiliate of the Missouri Valley Conference after leaving the Horizon league in 2022.

Trask began his coaching career at his Alma mater (University of Indiana-Bloomington) where he played for the Hoosiers as midfielder. With Trask on the field the Hoosiers made the NCAA tournament three times and placed as the 1984 national runner-up. Following his college playing career, Trask began coaching for the Hoosiers as an assistant from 1993-2000, during that span making four NCAA Final Fours and winning the NCAA National Championship twice in 1998 and 1999. Trask would then go on to coach in the MLS from 2000-2005 for various clubs as an assistant coach including Miami Fusion, D.C. United, and Dallas Burn before returning to the college ranks to begin his head coaching career. 

Read more about Bradley Soccer's John Trask here
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In 2023, the Braves featured the fifth youngest roster in all of NCAA Division-1 men's soccer with 23 newcomers. Despite that, the Braves earned their 3rd best start to a season in program history going undefeated through eight games. In 2024, they will return much of that same core including 2023 MVC All-Freshman team honoree DJ Koulai and standout Defender Charlie Dickerson.

Read more about the Braves here.