Email coach
Juan Pablo Favero
Juan Pablo Favero will enter his seventh season at the helm of Oakland women’s soccer in the fall of 2023 after being named head coach March 6, 2017.
In the 2022 campaign, Favero led the Golden Grizzlies to a third-straight season of finishing .500 or better with an 8-4-7 mark, including a 5-2-3 record in conference play. The defense was one of the toughest in the country with the tenth-toughest goals against average (GAA) stat of .579 for a school record among some of the country's toughest teams. The 2022 squad hosted two power five opponents in Northwestern University and Wake Forest University at home, tying the aforementioned Wildcats after ninety minutes. Sophie Wilsey Garnered #HLWSOC Player of the Year honors with six total Horizon League honorees in the post-season awards list in Karabo Dhlamini, Kendra Zak, Noemi Stadelmann, Alexa Sabbagh, Sami Lopez, and Wilsey.
Favero also saw international success in the 2022 season with two of the Golden Grizzlies student-athletes selected to compete on their respective national teams with Dhlamini called to South Africa and Sharon Sampson to The Black Princess of Ghana on the U-20 team. Dhlamini will compete in the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup in New Zealand after defeating Morocca in the WAFCON final.
Oakland women’s soccer soared to new heights during the 2021 season, after a remarkable 9-1-1 mark in Horizon League play. Favero led the Golden Grizzlies to an eight-game win streak, beginning with a 6-0 win over Green Bay. Oakland's six goals against the Phoenix was the most goals scored in a game since 2013.
Oakland’s 9-1-1 finish in league play was good for a second place in the Horizon League, and marked the first time since 2012-13 Oakland posted back-to-back winning seasons. Oakland made its first appearance in the Horizon League final since winning the championship title against Wright State in 2015.
The Golden Grizzlies continued to rack up individual accolades under Favero, as Kendra Zak, Sami Lopez, Karabo Dhlamini, Alexa Sabbagh, and Sharon Sampson earned Horizon League Women's Soccer All-Conference honors. Lopez, Zak and Sophie Wilsey all earned Horizon League All-Tournament Team recognition.
In back-to-back seasons, Lopez and Zak earned United Soccer Coaches All-Region honors, earning second and third team respectively. Zak also went on earn the prestigious 2021 United Soccer Coaches NCAA Division I Women's Scholar All-Region second-team honors.
Favero’s leadership spans beyond the soccer field, as he has become involved in the department’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives, serving on the Athletics DEI Council. As a member of the DEI Council, Favero participates in department-wide summits, team workshops, monthly forums, community services initiatives, and campus and community partnerships, in an effort to activate and advance the education, awareness, engagement, and commitment of our student-athletes, coaches, staff, and OU community.
An initiative Favero and his team participated in this season was Red2Racism. The purpose is to educate, equip and empower student-athletes who want to move past superficial, non-performative actions to meaningful discussions and lessons everyone needs to experience to become performative-action change agents. The Red2Racism initiative came to fortition on October 2, as Oakland and IUPUI came together pregame to show support.
In a shortened 2020-21 season, due to COVID-19, the Golden Grizzlies tallied 16 goals on the year, tied for second-most among the Horizon League. Oakland’s 1.6 goals per game ties the Golden Grizzlies mark in 2013, and is the best since the 2010 season.
The Golden Grizzlies boasted an impressive eight goal scorers, tied for second-best among league foes, while also racking up 26 assists, a league-best, with 12 Golden Grizzlies tallying one or more.
Under Favero’s guidance, Kendra Zak earned 2020-21 United Soccer Coaches NCAA Division I Women's All-Region second team honors, while Sami Lopez and Ashley Postma earned third-team honors. Zak earned 2020-21 United Soccer Coaches Scholar All-America Third Team honors, becoming the first to accomplish this feat in program history. Zak was also named to the United Soccer Coaches NCAA Division I Scholar All-Region team in addition to All-North Region Second Team honoree.
In back-to-back seasons (2018 & 2019), Favero guided his team to the semifinals of the Horizon League Tournament. Under Favero's leadership, four student-athletes have landed on the all-tournament team in Lauren Bos and Kendra Zak in 2018, and Sami Lopez and Nikki May in 2019.
During his first season with the Golden Grizzlies, Favero earned his first regular season win for the Black and Gold against rival Detroit Mercy, 2-1.
Favero led his team to another big win in his first season when the Golden Grizzlies defeated IUPUI, 2-1 on senior day. IUPUI, who was in its inaugural season in the Horizon League, went on to win the league tournament.
With a coaching career that has spanned 25 years, Favero has made a stop at six different universities. The bulk of his experience has been as a head coach where he has accumulated an overall coaching record of 181-152-46 (.478) over 20 seasons.
Favero, who originally hails from Buenos Aires, Argentina, spent five seasons as the Associate Head Coach at San Diego State prior to coming to Oakland.
During his time at San Diego State, he helped the Aztecs to an unprecedented four straight outright Mountain West regular-season titles, something that had never been accomplished in the 17-year history of the league. Along the way, SDSU posted a 64-15-6 (.788) overall record, including a 35-4 (.897) record against Mountain West competition, won three MW Championships crowns and earned three NCAA tournament berths, including a Sweet 16 berth in 2012.
Prior to his successful stint at SDSU he served as the first assistant coach for the women's program at South Florida during the 2011 season. While at USF, he was responsible for overseeing the team's forwards as well as the Bulls' offensive and defensive tactics. He also coordinated the recruiting and video analysis for the program.
Before a one year living experience in Argentina in 2010, he held the head coaching position at Georgia College & State University, where he was at the helm for two of the best seasons in school history as his teams combined to finish with an overall record of 23-9-9. In 2008, his team cracked the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) Division II Top-25, reaching as high as No. 19. In that same season, the Bobcats also made their first appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
Favero coached 16 all-conference players in two years at GCSU, four all-region honorees and the first All-American in school history in 2009. The Bobcats gave up just 10 goals that year for a paltry 0.48 goals against average. The team added consecutive NSCAA Academic and Ethics/Sportsmanship awards for the first time in GCSU history.
Favero has a career-long pattern of taking programs from rags to riches. Prior to GCSU, Favero spent five seasons at Newberry College where he set school records for career wins (40) and winning percentage (.517). The 2007 squad recorded the program's best conference finish (second place) and best league mark in school history. The team also received votes in the NSCAA Division II Poll for the first time in school history.
In 2004, Favero led the Lady Indians to numerous school records, including best overall record at 13-5-1. He was named South Atlantic Conference Coach of the Year in only his second year at Newberry, which was his third career coach-of-the-year honor. In five seasons at the helm, the Indians garnered 15 all-conference awards, including one honorable mention All-American.
Prior to his success at the NCAA II level, he had a hand in rebuilding both the men's and women's soccer programs at Missouri Baptist University where he led his teams to NAIA prominence and earned American Midwest Conference Coach-of-the-Year honors in 2001 (men) and 2002 (women). He helped turn around both teams en route to each winning conference championships and earning national ranks.
Prior to his work at Newberry and Missouri Baptist, he also helped rebuild the soccer program at his alma mater, Palm Beach Atlantic University, where he served as the assistant for the men's program from 1994-1996 before taking the helm as the head coach for the 1997 and 1998 seasons. He has also also been involved in coaching and sports psychology with the Hawaii, Georgia and South Carolina Olympic Development Programs.
Favero made the trek from Buenos Aires, Argentina, to the United States 26 years ago as a student-athlete on a scholarship to Marist College in New York. After later transferring to Palm Beach Atlantic University in Florida, he won numerous awards and was a two-time Academic All-American. He received his undergraduate degree with honors in international business and marketing and later earned a Master's degree in counseling psychology.
He is a member of the United States Soccer Federation (USSF), from which he holds a National "A" coaching license, and of the NSCAA, from which he holds the Premier Diploma. He is also a member of the Association for Applied Sport Psychology (AASP), the Argentine Association of Sport Psychology (APDA) and has a Level 1 Psychology for Soccer Certificate from the English Football Association.
In addition, he has worked as a sport psychology consultant with the U.S. Soccer Federation Coaching Schools, the NSCAA Coaching Schools, the River Plate Club (Argentina), various collegiate teams and student-athletes, and several American and Argentine Universities amongst others. He has also published several articles on the topics of mental toughness, coaching and leadership.
show more