Tim Lenahan

Who is Tim Lenahan?

Tim Lenahan is the head men's soccer coach at Northwestern University. He has been coaching there since the start of the 2001 season. He is widely regarded as one of the top coaches in the Big Ten, as he rebuilt the Northwestern program from a team that had been winless over 35 games in 2000 and 2001 to a national power. His teams have made seven NCAA tournament appearances in the past nine seasons Northwestern has earned 108 wins over the past nine seasons, including 15 in 2004, and 14 in 2006, 12 in 2007 and 15 in 2008, and 13 in 2012.

In 2004, the 'Cats burst on to the national scene ending Indiana's 50 game Big Ten unbeaten streak. Northwestern had been 4-67-4 in Big Ten play up until the Indiana win and had not won a Big Ten game in 27 tries. The 'Cats won 15 games and qualified for the NCAA for the first time in school history. In 2006, Northwestern advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament, defeating Cincinnati, St.Louis, and UNC Greensboro in the first three rounds. They lost in the fourth round to UC Santa Barbara, 3-2 after leading the game 2-1 . Northwestern finished 8th in the final rankings thanks to their impressive tournament run. In 2007, Northwestern climbed as high as #3 in the NSCAA polls and earned the first bye in their history when they were seeded #9 in the NCAA Tournament. Dave Roth was named the first All-American in Northwestern Soccer history. 2008 saw another run to the NCAA Elite Eight and a national ranking of as high as #2. They remained at the ranking of #2 for over a month and put together a 13 game unbeaten streak to start the season. After a tough final stretch, Northwestern rebounded in the NCAA Tournament to defeat Loyola, Notre Dame and Akron before falling to North Carolina in the Elite Eight in Chapel Hill. Their final ranking of #7 was an all-time best. In 2009, Northwestern responded with another strong season advancing to the Sweet Sixteen and a final RPI of 9th nationally. Mark Blades became the first two-time All-American in school history. Northwestern's RPI over the four seasons from 2006-2009 ranked as the 5th best nationally trailing only Wake Forest, Indiana, Virginia and Maryland and are one of only five teams to make it as far as the Elite Eight twice in the three years between 2006 and 2008.