Meet Coach Seyfarth

Hugh Seyfarth just completed his fourth year as Florida Southern’s head men’s soccer coach. Seyfarth is only the fourth head coach in the program’s 50-year history, following Jim Bush (1957-80), Sam Snow (1981-92) and Kris Pahl (1993-2004). His eight wins in 2005 were the most for any Moccasin soccer coach in his first season, and included two wins over nationally ranked teams. In addition to successes on the field, the Mocs, under Coach Seyfarth, have excelled in the classroom. In both 2007 and 2008 the Men’s Soccer Program was honored with the NSCAA Team Academic Award (only 18 NCAA Div. II Programs were honored with this award).

Hired in late June of 2005, Seyfarth had barely a month to prepare for his first collegiate head coaching job. He officially debuted with a 4-0 win over Palm Beach Atlantic on August 27, and followed that by taking the Mocs on the road for 2-1 upset of Montevallo (AL), their first win over a nationally ranked opponent in five years.

Before coming to Florida Southern, Seyfarth had put together an 11-year coaching résumé that included seven seasons at the Division I level with Miami University in Ohio. While there, he served as an assistant with both the men’s and women’s teams during the 1998 and ‘99 seasons before joining the women’s program full-time in 2000. He also served as the Associate Director of the Miami University Youth Soccer Tournament from 1998-2005, assisting in the planning, marketing and operations of the 224-team event.

While at Miami, Seyfarth made his first connection with the Moccasins by serving under Bobby Kramig, a former Florida Southern goalkeeper from 1978-81 and a two-time MVP. A former college goalkeeper himself, Seyfarth worked primarily with the RedHawks’ defense, which saw its goals against average drop by more than a goal per game in five years under his direction and record 32 shutouts. That included a school record 10 in 2002.

In his seven seasons with the Miami women’s team, the RedHawks compiled an 84-47-1 record, won three conference tournament titles and one regular season title in the Mid-America Conference. The RedHawks made three trips to the NCAA Tournament, advancing to the second round in both 2001 and 2002.

Seyfarth’s first college coaching job came at Earlham College in Indiana from 1996-98 where he spent two years as assistant coach for the Quaker men’s program. That included a term as interim head coach during the second half of the ‘96 season.

From 1994-95, Seyfarth was an assistant coach and goalkeeper coach for the boy’s varsity team at Centerville High School, a nationally recognized program in central Ohio. While there his starting keeper during the 1995 season was named the Ohio Player-of-the-Year and a high school All-American.

Seyfarth’s résumé also includes the title of staff coach for the Indiana OPD Under-14 girls state team in 1997 and assistant coach for the Under-16 boys team in 1996. He has coached a number of club teams in both Ohio and Indiana as well as assisting in numerous camps. Seyfarth holds a USSF "A" coaching license. In addition to his soccer camp experience, Hugh served as a counselor, head counselor and senior administrator for Camp Lincoln & Camp Lake Hubert, located in Brainerd, MN from 1992-1996.

In college, Seyfarth was a four-year letterman and all-conference goalkeeper at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, where he played for Page Cotton, whose 367 career wins entering the 2006 season rank 15th in Division III history. Seyfarth was a Dean’s List student and team captain as a senior before graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history in 1994. He helped the Tigers to a four-year overall record of 52-14-5, a mark of 24-0 in the Indiana Collegiate Athletic Conference and a berth in the 1993 NCAA Division III Tournament. During his senior year, the Tigers had one of their best seasons in school history with a 15-2-2 record.

After receiving his bachelor’s degree (history) from DePauw, Seyfarth earned a MBA in Marketing from the Richard T. Farmer School of Business Administration at Miami University in May of 2000. He also completed an intensive hands-on training program focused on the sales, marketing, promotion and communication process of sports and entertainment organizations that June before becoming an instructor at the Farmer School of Business later that year. He held that position through the spring of 2005 and now serves as an instructor in the Florida Southern College physical education department in addition to his coaching duties.

In June of 2007, Hugh married Stacey Russo and they live with their two dogs, Moose and Tiger, in Lakeland.