Penn State to hire NCAA title-winning head coach to lead men’s soccer program: Sources
Penn State has found a new men’s soccer coach — and he recently won a national title.
Vermont head coach Rob Dow is set to be hired as the Nittany Lions’ head coach, according to multiple sources. Dow led the Catamounts to the national championship in 2024 and has made the NCAA Tournament five times in his nine seasons with the program. All five appearances have come in the last five years.
Michael Dugan and Jack Fitzsimmons of WCAX, a CBS affiliate in Burlington, Vermont, first reported Penn State was in deep negotiations with Dow.
His team was eliminated in the second round of this year’s NCAA tournament by Hofstra in overtime, 3-2, after being the No. 1 overall seed. That marks the fourth time his team made it to at least the second round of the tournament.
Dow finishes his tenure with Vermont with a 91-38-15 record as the head coach, which came after six seasons as an assistant from 2012-2017. He’s originally from Nova Scotia, Canada and played college soccer at Maine from 1999-2002, where he began his coaching career as an assistant in 2003.
The new head coach will replace Jeff Cook, who resigned in November after eight seasons as head coach to pursue other opportunities. He is expected to take a leadership role with a club in Major League Soccer.
