Head Coach
McPherson College
3 Seasons at JCCC • (23-27-0)

Jeff Cole enters will enter his 4th season as the head men’s soccer coach at Johnson County Community College in 2023. He is the sixth head coach in the program’s history. 

In his first campaign last year, head coach Jeff Cole was hired just prior to the 2020-21 school year was to begin, and was not able to recruit, which resulted in 2-10-0 record during a year clouded by the COVID-19 pandemic.  However, he did have five players earn All-Kansas Jayhawk Conference East Division honors, including the Defensive Player of the Year in defender Kyle Reese. Cole also had three student-athletes earn NJCAA All-Academic Distinction.

In his second season leading the Johnson County men’s soccer program, Cole guided the Cavaliers to a 7-10-0 mark with five of his players earning Kansas Jayhawk Conference honors. 

Picked to finish last in the KJCCC East Division race at the start of the his third season, Cole’s men’s soccer team exceeded everyone’s expectations by earning a share of the conference title while moving up the national rankings to a No. 13 spot in the final NJCAA Poll. Cole guided JCCC to a 14-7-0 mark and one victory away from qualifying for the NJCAA D-I National Tournament and was named the KJCCC East Division Coach of the Year. The 2022 season saw Cole coach his first All-America selection when forward Alan Lopez was named to the NJCAA D-I All-America first-team, just the fourth first-teamer in program history, and first NJCAA All-Ameican since 2005. He also had seven players earn all-conference honors, with Cole Stewert earning Goalkeeper of the Year recognition. 

In his three seasons, coach Cole has 17 total players selected for all-conference accolades, including one Defensive Player of the Year and Goalkeeper of the Year. He has also had six players selected as All-Region 6 performers.

Cole came to JCCC after a seven-year stint with the women’s soccer program at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. In December of 2019, Cole was appointed the interim head coach of the Roos women’s program, after head coach Chris Cissell departed the program. 

Prior to his appointment as interim coach, Cole served as associate head coach at UMKC from 2015-19, and assistant coach from 2013-15. During his time with UMKC, Cole was honored as the WAC Coaching Staff of the Year in 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2018 while helping the program to a winning mark in six of his seven seasons. In 2014, the Roos finished as co-champions of the Western Athletic Conference, the first title in team history. In 2017, UMKC captured the WAC championship, the program’s first outright title, and a year later repeated as conference champions while recording a program record 16 wins. Overall, UMKC finished 88-46-15 (.639) overall, and were 44-12-7 (.754) in WAC play. The program reached the semifinals of the WAC Tournament every season, with four runner-up finishes. 

Cole oversaw the goalkeepers at UMKC, and in his seven years the Roos netminders made a significant impact in the team’s history. Each of the seven year-end goals-against-averages of his goalkeepers rank among the top 10 all-time, including a record 0.75 in 2015, and six of the of the seven seasons their save percentage totals are in the top 10, including a record .873 also set in 2015. Overall, UMKC keepers recorded 63 shutouts, including a record 11 in 2017. 

Under Cole, goalkeeper Nina Tzianos enjoyed some of the best individual seasons in program history. In 2013, she set season records for wins (12), shutouts (8), minutes (1970), and had third-most saves with 98. The following season she set school records for goals against (17), goals against average (0.84) and tied her record her record of eight shutouts.  She also led the WAC in GAA that season and was a first-team all-conference and third-team NSCAA All-West Region selection. In 2015, Tzianos broke her record for goals against average (0.76) and recorded the second-best season save percentage (.873). She finished her career as the all-time leader in wins (33), shutouts (24) and minutes played (6,230). 

In 2018, Afton Fennewald set new season marks for wins (13) and shutouts (9). She also led the WAC with a goals against average of 0.43 On UMKC’s career charts, Cole mentored four of the top five keepers in saves, goals against average, wins and shutouts. 

Overall, Cole helped mentor one Top Drawer Freshman All-American, 10 Coaches Association All-Region selections, two WAC Offensive Players of the Year, two WAC Defensive Players of the Year, two WAC Freshmen of the Year, 28 WAC performers, and 19 WAC All-Tournament performers. Off the field, the program produced one Coaches Association Scholar All-American, three Coaches Association All-Region Scholars, one ESPN Academic All-District and 83 WAC Academic All-League student-athletes. 

Cole began his career as a men’s assistant coach at McPherson in 1997-98. After a 4-13-0 mark in 1997, the Bulldogs improved to 8-10-0 in 1998 and reached the quarterfinals in the KCAC Tournament. Their eight victories also tied the second-most in program history. 

In October of 1997, he joined the Wichita Wings, where he served as a developmental player, team manager and head of gameday operations until 2001. 

Cole spent 14 years as a staff coach with the River City Soccer Club, three years as a staff coach with U.S. Youth Soccer Region II and two years as the women’s assistant at Hutchinson Community College where he helped the team to back-to-back Kansas Jayhawk Conference championships with an undefeated conference mark of 12-0-0 and a 21-1-0 overall record in 2010. That team won the Region VI championships and made the NJCAA District Final. Hutchinson posted a record of 37-2-1 in his two years with the program, and produced 20 All-Kansas Jayhawk Conference performers, including the offensive and defensive players of the year in 2010, 17 All-Region VI performers and one NJCAA All-American. 

From 2011-17, Cole was the Boys Director of Coaching/Youth Academy Director for KC Select Soccer Club and a staff coach with the Kansas Olympic Development Program. 

Cole holds the following licenses: USSF National “A” Coaching License, USSF National Goalkeepers License, USSF National “B” Coaching License, NSCAA Advanced National License, NSCAA National License and a NSCAA State Diploma. 

Cole was a four-year starter for coach Jerry Malone at McPherson College, and earned second-team All-KCAC his senior year. 

Cole, and his wife Stacy, reside in Olathe, Kan.