Coaches

Michael Benn

Michael Benn enters his 11th season with West Chester University's men's soccer team. Over the past decade, he has built the Golden Rams' men's soccer program into one of the top programs in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) while establishing the Purple & Gold as one of the top teams in the region as well.


In nine competitive seasons with the Golden Rams, Benn has posted a 105-44-21 (.684) overall record, reached the PSAC Tournament eight times -- while appearing in the semifinals five times and the championship game once. He has won, or shared, a piece of the regular-season conference crown three of the past five competitive seasons as well. Along the way, Benn has won the PSAC Coach of the Year award three times (2013, 2017, 2018), mentored five player of the year honorees (Craig Potts - Def. POY {2019, 2021]; Kyle Hoops - Def. POY [2018]; Alex Lean - Fresh. POY [2014]; Dan Venuto - Def. POY [2013]) and 42 of Benn's players have been named all-league (26 first team members and 14 second team).


Last fall, Benn put together an 10-5-3 (7-3-2 in PSAC East action) and finished third in the PSAC regular-season standings. The Golden Rams entered the PSAC Tournament as the third seed and gave second-seeded ESU all it could handle before falling on PKs in the Quarterfinals. West Chester landed five players on the All-PSAC East squad, including a trio of First Team selections in Dan Good, Andrew Markopoulos, and two-time Defensive Player of the Year Craig Potts. A 2-0 victory over Lock Haven on September 10th, which came as part of a seven-game winning streak (eight-game unbeaten streak) marked Benn's 100th career victory at West Chester.


In 2021, following the pandemic, Benn put together an 11-3-2 campaign and tied for first place in the PSAC regular-season standings. The Golden Rams were the second seed in the conference tournament, but fell to Millersville in overtime in the quarterfinals.Craig Potts repeated as Defensive Player of the Year and three of his teammates were first-team All-PSAC. It marked the fourth consecutive year in which West Chester landed four of Benn's players on the first team all-conference squad. A 1-0 win over East Stroudsburg on Oct. 18 marked Benn's 100th career victory as a collegiate head coach.


The 2019 campaign brought a 14-5-1 overall mark, a fourth straight trip to the conference semifinals and a fourth straight journey to the NCAA Division II Tournament. Six Golden Rams were named all-conference with Craig Potts taking home defensive player of the year accolades.West Chester made a run to the PSAC Semifinals, dropping that contest to Gannon in overtime.


In 2018, Benn led the Golden Rams to their second consecutive PSAC regular season title and first PSAC Championship Game appearance in team history. Despite suffering a disappointing setback in the PSAC Championship game, the Golden Rams were far from finished as they went on another run to win the NCAA Atlantic Region title and make the program's first national title game appearance at the Division II level. West Chester’s Kyle Hoops, earned a bevy of postseason awards as he was named a United Soccer Coaches All-American, and Academic All-American, in addition to earning PSAC East Defensive Player of the Year Honors. Hoops was also named Philly SIDA Academic All-Area Performer of the Year as a result of his stellar work in the classroom and on the field. West Chester ended the season with the most wins in a single-season as the team went 16-3-5 overall and 7-1-3 in PSAC play. Additionally, Benn and his staff were named United Soccer Coaches Atlantic Region Coaches of the Year in recognition of their stellar season guiding the Golden Rams.


In 2017, Benn, coached the team to its first PSAC regular season title as the Golden Rams went unbeaten and untied (11-0-0) through PSAC play becoming the first team to do so in a non-divisional year since Lock Haven in 1996. West Chester also won its first NCAA playoff game in 50 years in 2017, defeating ESU by a final score of 2-1 in a thrilling overtime contest. West Chester's Giovanni Mowrey, was selected CoSIDA Academic All-America. Benn was also named PSAC Coach of the Year in 2017, after guiding his charges to an overall record of 14-3-2.


In 2016, Benn and the Golden Rams finished second in the PSAC at 8-1-2 while authoring an overall mark of 11-5-3. West Chester made a return trip to the PSAC Tournament, following a one-year hiatus, and qualified for the NCAA Tournament for the first time. That began a four-year run of making the NCAA Tournament that Benn takes into the 2020 fall season.


Benn became just the fourth mentor in the 85-year history of West Chester University men’s soccer program, when he came on board in 2013, and immediately turned around a program that had suffered through four straight non-winning seasons and hadn't advanced in a postseason tournament since 2002. West Chester posted a 13-4-2 ledger overall. The four losses marked the fewest since the 1973 team went 7-4-3. He was named the PSAC Coach of the Year, reaching the semifinals of the conference tournament. The following year, West Chester again reached the conference semifinals with its second consecutive fourth-place finish in the league standings. West Chester suffered a heart-breaking 2-1 defeat in double overtime of the 2014 PSAC Tournament semifinals to No. 7-ranked Mercyhurst, finishing the campaign at 10-8 overall.


Additionally, Venuto and Conor Malarney were named Daktronics Honorable Mention All-America selections after the 2013 campaign while Benn was named both the PSAC Coach of the Year and the NSCAA Atlantic Region Coach of the Year.


Goalkeeper Ryan Shultz set a new school record with nine shutouts on the year and had a streak of over 730 minutes without giving up a conference goal. Along the way, West Chester recorded its first PSAC Tournament victory with a 1-0 overtime win over Shippensburg and finished the season with a semifinal loss to nationally ranked Mercyhurst on the road.


He came to West Chester from Lehigh University where he spent the previous seven seasons as an assistant under WCU alum Dean Koski.


Including two seasons at East Carolina, Benn carries an overall career head coaching record of 105-61-20 (.618). While at East Carolina, he coached a pair of Conference USA all-leaguers and a trio of Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) all-leaguers. His top pupil, Clyde Simms, played nine seasons in the Major League Soccer (MLS) with the DC United and New England Revolution. He is sixth all-time in DC United history in appearances. He also made one appearance with Team USA vs. England in May 2005.


A former National Soccer Coaches’ Association of America (NSCAA) regional assistant coach of the year, Benn has 25 years of coaching experience at the NCAA level, including six seasons at East Carolina - first as an assistant and then as head coach.


Benn became the first full-time assistant head coach at Lehigh University in July 2005, eventually working his way up to the title of associate head coach in January 2007. He has helped tutor three Patriot League defensive player of the year recipients (2009-2011) and one conference goalkeeper of the year (2011). Two former student-athletes were named to the Hermann Trophy Watch List, and Benn coached 20 All-Patriot League players and eight Mid-Atlantic Region players.


Additionally, 21 players were named to the Patriot League Academic Honor Roll under his watch while the Lehigh men’s soccer program received NSCAA team academic awards three times (2010-12).


Benn graduated from Lehigh University in 1996 with a bachelor's degree in History. He added a master's from Lehigh in Secondary Education in 1998.