University of North Carolina Athletics
Somoano Named Men's Soccer Assistant Coach
February 21, 2002 | Men's Soccer
Feb. 21, 2002
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - University of North Carolina men's soccer coach Elmar Bolowich announced on Thursday the hiring of Carlos Somoano as the head assistant coach for the Tar Heel program. Somoano comes to Carolina from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, where he was an assistant coach for six seasons. Prior to his stint in Richmond, he was an assistant coach at Eckerd College from 1992-95.
Somoano replaces Oliver Weiss, who served as Bolowich's top assistant for three seasons before being named the head coach at Virginia Tech last month. The Tar Heels went 21-4 in 2001 and won the NCAA championship with a 2-0 win over Indiana in the College Cup final in Columbus, Ohio.
"Of all the candidates, Carlos was the best choice to replace Oliver," Bolowich says. "He spent six years at VCU and did a great job there, and he's very knowledgeable about the game. He is a proven recruiter who has a good rapport with players, so I feel confident that he's the right person for the job."
Somoano was the top assistant to head coach Tim O'Sullivan for six seasons at VCU (1996-2001). During his tenure in Richmond, the Rams went to three consecutive NCAA Tournaments from 1997-99. He helped recruit and coach two All-Americas and three academic All-Americas in his six seasons and was named one of the top assistant coaches in NCAA soccer in 2000 by the website currently known as CollegeSoccer.com.
The 1998 Ram squad received the NCAA Academic Award as one of only 16 teams nationwide with a team grade point average of 3.0 or better. VCU was one of only two of those teams that reached the NCAA Tournament that season.
In addition, Somoano served as a U.S. Youth Soccer Region I assistant coach for the 2000 and 2001 seasons, selecting, coaching and training Olympic Development Regional team players in the under-14 age group. He also was a head coach with the Virginia state ODP team since 1997.
Somoano received a Bachelor of Science in biology (concentration in pre-medicine) from Eckerd College in 1992 . He then earned a Master of Sport Management degree from the University of Richmond in August of 2000. Somoano earned four letters in soccer at Eckerd College and was a two-year team captain.
