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Drew Roff
Drew Roff is in his ninth year as head coach of the Purdue soccer program in 2023.
In his first eight seasons, Roff has elevated Purdue's play on the pitch, overseen tremendous success in the classroom and grown the program’s presence in the community. That culminated with historic success on and off the field in 2021, with the team's second-best record and Big Ten finish in team history to go along with record-setting fan support at Folk Field.
In 17 seasons as a collegiate head coach and eight at Purdue, Roff owns a 183-129-31 career record (.579 winning percentage).
The 2022 season saw Roff welcome a top-20 recruiting class, one of the highest-ranked freshman classes in school history. That included Kayla Budish, who was a unanimous selection to the Big Ten All-Freshman Team, the first Boilermaker to be bestowed with freshman accolades since 2017 and the third since 2009. Roff has coached at least one All-Big Ten honoree in three consecutive seasons, a program-first since 2001-10. The 2022 campaign began with a memorable opening-night win, as the Boilermakers bested 15th-ranked USC in front of 3,296 fans on the Big Ten Network, the largest crowd in team history. That helped the team set a new season average attendance record for the second year in a row.
Academically, five Boilermakers were named to the 2022 CSC Academic All-District Team. Four earned Big Ten Distinguished Scholar honors and 19 were recognized with Academic All-Big Ten accolades.
Roff led the Boilermakers to the NCAA Tournament and the team's second-best record in program history in 2021, as the team earned its fifth All-American and first two NWSL draft picks. Purdue went 15-4-3, its second-most wins ever, with an 8-2-0 Big Ten mark to place second, tied for both its best conference finish and most wins in school history. The season finished in the NCAA Tournament Second Round as the squad made the postseason for the seventh time ever and first since 2009. The Boilermakers hosted two postseason games, highlighted by just the second NCAA Tournament, and first since 2007. Roff guided Purdue to a national ranking in seven consecutive polls to finish the year and it's first ranking since 2009, as the team appeared in the final poll for the third time ever, at No. 24. The team also made the Big Ten Tournament for the third time in five years, with its second semifinal appearance in the last three seasons.
Along with unparalleled team success, Roff coached numerous Boilermakers to outstanding individual accolades and record-breaking statistical numbers in 2021. One of the nation's most dynamic scorers, senior forward Sarah Griffith was named the fifth All-American in program history and was recognized as Purdue's second ever Big Ten Forward of the Year. Griffith and sophomore midfielder Emily Mathews earned All-Region honors, the 14th and 15th honorees in team history and second and third since 2010, while the duo also headlined an impressive five players that earned All-Big Ten accolades. The second-most All-Big Ten awardees in Purdue history and more than the team's total in the previous nine years combined, Griffith and Mathews on the first team were joined by senior goalkeeper Marisa Bova and senior defender Skylurr Patrick on the second team and senior midfielder Grace Walsh on the third team. Griffith, in the third round, and Bova, in the fourth, became the first two NWSL draft picks in team history. They begin their professional careers after Purdue tenures that saw their names etched throughout the record book, including school records for goals (16) and saves (113) in 2021 and numerous other top-10 records.
All 21 eligible players were named to the Academic All-Big Ten Team in 2021, as the team's on-field success also was seen in the classroom. Additionally, as attendance numbers have risen throughout Roff's tenure, support for the Boilermakers reached an all-time high in 2021, highlighted by a then-record crowd of 2,125 to open the season and 1,082 for the NCAA Tournament, the 13th game to eclipse the 1,000-fan mark. An average of 737 fans came to Folk Field, a program record at the time.
Roff came to Purdue from Illinois State, where he led the Redbirds to unprecedented heights from 2007-14. In eight seasons, Roff’s squads won six Missouri Valley Conference regular-season titles and made five NCAA Tournament appearances. He also spent two seasons as the head coach at the University of Indianapolis, from 2005-06. An Ann Arbor, Michigan, native, Roff was a four-year starting forward at Michigan State and graduated in 1996.
The Boilermakers were 4-6-2 in a Big Ten-only 2020 season, contested in the spring of 2021. Griffith and Walsh, both juniors, were recognized on the All-Big Ten Team, Purdue's first honorees since 2017 and the third and fourth since 2010. Griffith was named to the second team and Walsh to the third team. Freshman forward Nicole Kevdzija earned a trio of Big Ten Athlete of the Week honors, while senior defender Maya Lambert was recognized once. Twenty-two Boilermakers were named to the Academic All-Big Ten Team.
Purdue went 8-9-3 in 2019, highlighted by a Big Ten Tournament upset victory at top-seeded and No. 7-ranked Wisconsin and another win over rival Indiana to keep the Golden Boot trophy for a fifth consecutive year. Roff guided a young squad that averaged 8.7 underclassmen starters per game, while 14 of their 18 goals were scored by underclassmen.
The Purdue defense posted nine shutouts, the most since 2007, while a balanced offensive attack saw nine goal scorers, the most since 2015. The Boilermakers notched two upset victories over top-25 squads, with the win at Wisconsin the first over a top-10 club since 2009.
Junior forward Hannah Melchiorre was recognized with several postseason awards. She was named one of 27 collegiate semifinalist for the 2020 Coach Wooden Citizenship Cup, which recognizes athletes for their character and leadership both on and off the field. Additionally, Melchiorre was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-America Third Team, the second player in program history to earn the honor, and to the Academic All-District 5 First Team to become the second Purdue soccer player to earn multiple all-district recognitions.
The Boilermakers went 6-8-4 in 2018, with a double-overtime victory against Indiana, an upset win over No. 24 Louisville and three draws against top-25 foes.
The 2017 campaign was the Boilermakers' finest of the decade. Senior Maddy Williams returned from a knee injury and put together an All-American campaign. She led the Big Ten with 14 goals and 36 points, earning the league's Forward of the Year award. She eclipsed Purdue's single-season and all-time records for goals and points and also established a new career benchmark with 26 assists. She scored 22 of her 38 career goals in her two seasons under Roff.
The Boilermakers (10-7-2, 5-4-2 B1G) reached the 10-win benchmark for the first time since 2009 as Roff and his staff successfully blended a talented group of seniors with a large freshman class. Headlined by goalkeeper Katie Luce and fellow Big Ten All-Freshman Team selection Sarah Clark, first-year Boilermakers made a combined 109 starts in 2017.
Purdue scored 36 goals in Roff's third season to rank second in the Big Ten through the end of the regular season. The Boilermakers scored in their first 13 games and 17 of 19 overall, including all 10 at home. But they also excelled defensively, winning seven times in shutout fashion. Purdue posted a pair of 300-minute shutout streaks and compiled a program-record shutout streak at home of 470 consecutive minutes from Aug. 21 through Oct. 12.
In Roff's first season at Purdue, the team won five of its first six games and was competitive throughout its 9-8-1 campaign. It was the program's first winning season since 2009. The Boilermakers suffered only two losses by more than one goal; of the 1,671 minutes of regular-season action Purdue played in 2015, it trailed by multiple goals for only 110 minutes. The 2015 Boilermakers scored 28 goals in 2015, nine more than the year prior despite playing one fewer regular-season game.
Three overtime losses coupled with a 1-7 record away from Folk Field were big parts of a snakebitten 2016 campaign, during which the Boilermakers were much more competitive than their 4-12-1 record would suggest. All three overtime losses as well as a 2-2 draw with Indiana were games in which Purdue held the lead in the second half. The Boilermakers did rally to defeat Cincinnati in overtime, but they were otherwise 0-8-1 when the opposition scored first. The five overtime games were Purdue's most since 2012 (six).
Ultimately, Roff's 2016 team could not overcome the loss of Williams to an April knee injury and fellow senior forward Hannah Leinert missing the final five and half games due to injury as well. The draw with IU did allow the Boilermakers to retain possession of the Golden Boot traveling trophy. A year earlier, the team's first win in Bloomington since 2009 brought the trophy back to West Lafayette on a full-time basis. Previously, the Hoosiers had it in their trophy case from 2012 to 2014. Purdue brought the trophy back from B-Town again in 2017.
Despite a less-than-favorable October schedule in 2015, Purdue avoided the late-season skid that had plagued the team in the five years before Roff's arrival. After hosting Penn State and Rutgers -- both NCAA College Cup qualifiers -- the week of Oct. 11 to 16 for the final home games at Folk Field, Purdue had to play its final three matches on the road. The team still managed to earn seven standings points from that five-game stretch, narrowly missing out on a Big Ten Tournament berth in the process. Over the final week and a half of the season, Purdue rallied for an overtime win at Maryland and closed the season with a satisfying shutout victory in Bloomington.
Roff was the leader of the Missouri Valley's Coaching Staff of the Year five times, including three of his last four seasons at Illinois State. The Redbirds qualified for the NCAA Tournament each of his last four years and advanced to the second round in both 2013 and 2014. He compiled a 98-50-11 mark at ISU. Illinois State won both the Missouri Valley regular-season and tournament titles in 2009, 2011, 2013 and 2014.
His tenure in Bloomington-Normal began with a three-peat as regular-season conference champs. The 2010 season marked the only year of his eight at ISU in which the Redbirds didn't win either the MVC's regular-season or tournament crowns. However, his 2010 team did set an Illinois State athletic department record with a 3.70 grade-point average.
Roff has also served as the head coach of the Dynamo FC of Indianapolis club team (2003-07) as well as a player-coach of the Indiana Invaders FC (2000-02), a Professional Development League team based in South Bend. He led Dynamo FC's '89 girls to the 2004 Indiana State Cup and 2006 Midwest Premier League titles.
Led by four-time Missouri Valley Player of the Year Rachel Tejada, Illinois State ran the table against the rest of the MVC in 2013 and 2014, compiling a combined 16-0 record. The 2014 Redbirds won a school-record 16 games while challenging themselves with a stacked non-conference slate that featured the likes of Texas A&M, Boston College, Baylor and a DePaul team that was unbeaten during the regular season.
Roff's teams took down Louisville and South Florida in true road games in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament in 2013 and 2014, respectively. Tejada scored 20 goals as a senior en route to earning NSCAA Second Team All-America honors and finishing her career with an MVC-record 74 goals and 42 assists.
But Roff also coached three MVC Defensive Player of the Year honorees and one MVC Goalkeeper of the Year during his time at Illinois State.
Roff spearheaded a quick turnaround in his two seasons at the University of Indianapolis, transforming a team that finished under .500 in 2004 to a side that went 17-5-1 just two years later. The school-record total for wins featured an NCAA Division II Tournament win in the program's first postseason appearance. He has also served as the head coach of the girl's team at Roncalli High School in Indianapolis.
Roff and his wife Stephanie reside in West Lafayette. They're the parents of two children, son Brady and daughter Carmen.
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