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SUNY Stony Brook University

Stony Brook Athletics
Indoor Sports Complex Stony Brook, NY 117943500
Division 1 New York Northeast
Public Large National competitor

Coaches

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Tobias Bischof

Tobias Bischof was named the head women's soccer coach on Jan. 24, 2019 by Stony Brook's Director of Athletics Shawn Heilbron.


In his first season, Bischof continued the winning tradition, both at his previous school of Hostra and what was built at Stony Brook, earning the program's second America East Tournament championship in three years. The squad also won its second regular season title in as many seasons.


The season culminated in a great effort at fourth-seeded Penn State, in which the team scored its first-ever NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Championship goal and led at halftime, 1-0. The result ended 3-1 in favor of the Nittany Lions.


The team's newly-implemented, high-pressing style of play helped wreak havoc on opponents throughout the league, as Stony Brook led the America East in nine of the NCAA's 18 statistical categories, including total assists, total goals and total points.


Under his direction was the emergence of two stars in the region, juniors Alyssa Francese and Sofia Manner. Francese was fifth in the nation in game-winning goals with seven and inside the top 50 nationally with 12 goals on the campaign. Manner also found herself inside the top 50 at the end of the year in clean sheets, with eight, and total saves, with 90.


Bischof, no stranger to Long Island, has spent the last eight seasons with the Pride, the last four as the Associate Head Coach. He helped guide Hofstra to the NCAA Tournament four times, including this past fall when they posted a 16-6-1 overall record and earned a first round victory over 22nd-ranked Boston College. The Pride also advanced to the NCAA Tournament in 2012, 2015 and 2017. During Bischof’s time in Hempstead, Hofstra compiled a 98-53-12 record and notched a winning season in every campaign.


"Tobi is a proven winner who will make an immediate impact on Stony Brook women's soccer,” Heilbron said. “Our program is on a rapidly ascending trajectory, and I have every confidence that will continue under Tobi's leadership. On behalf of our entire department, I am excited to welcome Tobi and his wife Jenna to the Seawolves family.”


“I want to thank Director of Athletics Shawn Heilbron, Associate Athletics Director Patrick Muffley and the rest of the search committee for granting me this opportunity,” Bischof said. “I am extremely appreciative, thankful and excited to join the Seawolves family. During my time spent on campus the positive energy and energetic vibe was something that captivated me greatly and is something I wanted to be part of. I would also like to thank Hofstra Director of Athletics Rick Cole Jr. and Coach Simon Riddiough for their mentorship and preparing me for the next step in my career.”


Off the field, Bischof has helped the Pride become one of the top academic programs in the CAA. In 2017-18, Hofstra Women's Soccer earned a CAA Team Academic Excellence Award as the women's soccer program with the best team GPA in the conference. The team also posted a department-best 3.68 GPA in Spring 2018. Under Bischof's guidance, Madeline Anderson was named a United Soccer Coaches Academic All-American.


In the summer of 2015, Bischof led the club team Massapequa Arsenal to the McGuire Cup as the national champion in the Boys Under-19 division at the U.S. Youth Soccer Nationals in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The McGuire Cup has been contested since 1935 and is billed as the oldest trophy in youth sports.


Bischof came to Hofstra in 2011 after a decade of prominent involvement in Long Island soccer, particularly at the youth level. A well-respected coach with a history of success, Bischof has coached in the Elite Clubs National League (ECNL) and in the U.S. Club Soccer National Premier Leagues (NPL), where he took a U16 boys team to the National Final in 2012. Bischof had tremendous success with his youth programs, leading two U-15 teams - the East Meadow Sparks U-15 Girls and the Massapequa Arsenal U-15 Boys - to state championships in the New York State Open Cup during the summer of 2011. Overall, he has coached winners of six state cups and led 11 teams to the state finals between 2006 and 2016. In 2018, he had a pair of teams reach the national playoffs, with his U16 team winning the ECNL Showcase Cup. He has also coached in the Region 1 Premier League and North East Regional Premier League.


In addition, Bischof has run a select coaching program to prepare athletes for collegiate soccer; helping to place dozens of his youth players into college programs. He served as the Select PDP program administrator for the Long Island Junior Soccer League (LIJSL), a program that included more than 500 players.


A native of Winterstein, Germany, Bischof played soccer in his native country after graduating from high school. In 1997, he enrolled at Friedrich-Schiller University in Jena, Germany, where he earned a master’s degree in sports science, finishing in the top 10 percent of his class. He also coached youth soccer in Germany, primarily with 16- and 17-year-olds, before coming to the United States.


Bischof first moved to Long Island in 2002. He worked with the Long Island Rough Riders of the Premier Development League (PDL) after Globall Soccer purchased the team.

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Shannon Grogan

An alum with a championship ring as a player, Grogan added another one as an assistant coach for the program in 2019. She played a vital part in the team leading the league in assists, goals and points during the campaign.


The team also scored its first NCAA Tournament goal during her first season as a full-time staff member and led fourth-seeded Penn State 1-0 at halftime.


She began her first season as an assistant coach after serving as a volunteer assistant on the 2018 squad that won 11 games and an America East Regular Season title. The team lost just one of its eight games en route to the title.


Before joining the Seawolves staff, she coached the U12 and U13 teams for NY Surf Soccer during the 2018-19 campaign, winning the NYCSL NPL Championship with the U13 team. Her other club experience includes currently coaching Farmingdale SC/East Meadow SC’s U15 and U18 Girls ERCL teams.


She also coached the FC Tampa Rangers U17 and U13 Girls teams between 2016-18.


In her playing career, the Easthampton, N.J. native helped Stony Brook to an America East Tournament title and NCAA Tournament berth in 2012 while leading the program to its first regular-season title in 2013. She served as a captain on the 2013 and 2014 teams. She also ran track during the 2014-15 season.


Her playing time also took her to the WPSL’s Jersey Blues FC in 2012 and 2013 and the Tampa Bay Hellenic in 2016. She graduated from Stony Brook in 2015 with a degree in coastal environmental studies and has spent the last three years earning her Master’s degree in biology at the University of South Florida.

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Jim O'Brien

In his first season with Stony Brook, O'Brien helped take the program to the next level, playing a key part in the team's second consecutive America East regular season title and its second tournament title in three years.


Mainly working with the goalkeepers, he had Sofia Manner under his direction, who finished the season inside the top 50 nationally in clean sheets (8) and total saves (90). On two separate instances this season, she recorded three consecutive clean sheets, helping Stony Brook record just one loss in league play.


He joined the Seawolves after one season with Mercy College, a school located just west of White Plains, N.Y. He led the Mavericks to a 12-3-2 record a season ago, advancing to the semifinals of the East Coast Conference Women’s Soccer Championship and earning a berth in the 2018 NCAA Division II Championship.


Before his step into a D-II head role, the Southern Connecticut State graduate spent 12 years at Fairfield, becoming the all-time winningest coach in program history. He led 43 student-athletes to All-MAAC selections, with 23 of them being First Team honorees.


The former MAAC and United Soccer Coaches Northeast Region Coach of the Year also founded the women’s soccer program at his alma mater, going 105-56-8 during his 10 years with the club. He earned a 2000 Northeast-10 Regular Season Title and Regional Coach of the Year honors for an undefeated regular season with the Owls.


In his 23 seasons at the Division I and II level, O’Brien has accumulated a 236-158-51 record, including 119 of those wins with the Stags at the Division I level.

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