Coaches

Kevin East

The 2023 season is the 17th as the Head Men's Soccer Coach at Rutgers University-Newark for Kevin East, and the meteoric rise to national prominence for the Scarlet Raiders can be tied directly to the his arrival prior to the 2007 season. East picked up his 300th career win against in a 2-1 win over The College of New Jersey at Frederick Douglass Field. In 2022, East and the men's soccer team won the 2022 Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Championship when they toppled Penn State - Behrend, 3-1.


The last five seasons have been incredible for the Scarlet Raiders, reaching four NCAA Tournaments, including an appearance in the 'Elite Eight' in 2016 and the program's first-ever NCAA win in 2014. The Scarlet Raiders won their first-ever NJAC Championship in 2017, collected an ECAC Metro title in 2015, and claimed the NJAC regular-season crown in 2016 as East was named the conference Coach of the Year for a second time.


During the 2017-18 season, the Raiders capped another remarkable campaign with a 20-3-1 record that included the program's first ever NJAC Championship when they went to then sixth-ranked Rowan and defeating the regular season champions 1-0. That clinched an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament for R-N, its fourth in five years, that sent the squad to Brandeis University for the opening rounds. Individually, the Scarlet Raiders received one first-team All-American honor from d3soccer.com and one first-team All-American honor from the United Soccer Coaches (USC, formerly NSCAA), one offensive player of the year and one defensive player of the year, two first-team nods and one honorable mention from the ECAC, three first-team, one second-team, and one third-team All-South Atlantic Region honors from the USC, and one offensive player of the year, one goalkeeper of the year, one midfielder of the year, three first-team, three second-team, and one honorable mention awards from the NJAC.


The 2016 campaign was the best in the history of Rutgers-Newark soccer as the team went 21-4-0, received an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament and won three matches to appear in a National Quarterfinal. Seven Scarlet Raiders were named All-NJAC, four were named NSCAA All-Region and Fabio De Sousa became the first-ever first-team All-American in program history. The Scarlet Raiders compiled a winning streak of 12 games to end the regular season, rising as high as No. 4 in the national rankings.


In November 2014, the Raiders notched the first NCAA playoff victory in program history, stopping host Babson, 2-0, in the opening round. A narrow 2-1 loss to Cortland State in the second round ended the Rutgers-Newark season at 16-6-0 but the program took another step forward. A 7-2-0 regular-season ledger was the best in program history and earned the Raiders a first-round bye in the NJAC Championship Tournament.


In November of 2013, East led the Scarlet Raider program to two new plateaus. Rutgers-Newark reached the championship match of the New Jersey Athletic Conference for the first time and received the first NCAA Division III Championship Tournament bid in program history. The Raiders’ 6-2-1 finish in the NJAC regular season and 17-6-1 overall mark were program records.


In 2012, he became the first Scarlet Raider mentor to be named the New Jersey Athletic Conference Men's Soccer Coach of the Year by his peers. The men's soccer program set a record for victories in a season with a record of 14-8-1 and gained berths in the New Jersey Athletic Conference and the ECAC Metro Championship playoffs.


In 2011, the Scarlet Raiders earned the first post-season title in the program's history, knocking off William Paterson in a shoot out to take the ECAC Metro Championship trophy.


East lifted the Raiders into the NCAA stratosphere after coaching the program to five straight ECAC Metro Championship playoff berths (2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012) and to its first-ever appearances in the New Jersey Athletic Conference Men’s Soccer Championship Tournament (2009, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014).


A 2-0 loss to eventual NCAA D-III Championship finalist Rutgers-Camden kept Rutgers-Newark from annexing its first NJAC crown in 2013. The Raiders fell to Roger Williams, 3-1, in their NCAA debut, but East had the pieces in place to make another run at the “Big Show” in 2014.


After a 9-10-1 start to his reign in 2007, East has put together nine consecutive double-digit winning seasons with post-season appearances capping each campaign. It has been a stunning turnaround for a Raider program which had posted just three winning seasons with two post-season showings in the previous 18 years.


Player development and performance has also become a trademark with honors coming and records falling at a frenetic pace.


Senior forward Raphael Araujo became the first All-American in the program’s history in 2013 after torching the school’s scoring records with 27 goals, 60 points and eight game-winning goals. He earned second team D3Soccer.com second team All-American honors as well as NJAC Co-Offensive Player of the Year and ECAC Metro Offensive Player of the Year laurels.


In 2012, freshman goalkeeper Matt Broomall became the first Scarlet Raider to be named the NJAC Goalkeeper of the Year and repeated the honor in 2014. He was joined on the 2014 All-NJAC first team by seniors Araujo, Edger Abreu, Diego Moraes and Pat Holliday. Senior midfielder Gabriel Avans was on the league's first team all-star roster in 2013. In 2009 for the first time in program history, two Rutgers-Newark players – senior sweeper Luis Valle and junior midfielder Estiven Benitez – were named to the All-NJAC first time in the same year. The Raiders led the NJAC in points, goals and shots in 2009 for the first time in program history while junior goalkeeper Matt Zielyk led the 10-team league with nine shutouts. Twelve team shutouts were a program record as the Raiders yielded just .90 goals per game.


In his first season at the helm, he led his young squad to its best finish in a decade while beginning to expand the Scarlet Raiders’ recruiting reach. The 2007 squad finished 9-10-1 with five one-goal losses to narrowly miss the first winning season for the program since 1997.


As the director of soccer operations, East oversees both the men’s and women’s soccer programs and develops full usage of the soccer facilities at Rutgers-Newark.


The Skillman, NJ, native developed the NJCU program from cellar-dweller to perennial playoff contender during a nine-year stint. Taking over the Gothic Knights program as a part-time coach in 1998, East posted a 123-66-11 record which included posting 17 wins in three of the last four seasons. He coached NJCU to its first NCAA Championship Tournament berth in 2005. In 2006, the Gothic Knights reached the NJAC title match and had five players listed on the All-New Jersey Athletic Conference roster.


East has completed work for a National “A” Coaching License from the United States Soccer Federation, putting him on the highest level of coaches in the country. He also has a Director of Coaching certificate from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America and is an active member of the group’s National Rating Board. He also has coached and instructed in the Olympic Development Program and is the former president of the College Soccer Association of New Jersey.


As a goalkeeper at Kean, East was named the Defensive Most Valuable Player for the final four as the Cougars claimed the 1992 NCAA Division III Men’s Soccer Championship. The three-time first-team All-NJAC goalkeeper still holds the Cougar record with 29 career shutouts for his mentor and legendary coach Tony Ochrimenko. The Cougars went 61-16-2 during his three seasons as starting keeper, reaching the NCAA Tournament each year.


East was drafted by the Columbus Crew in the inaugural season of Major League Soccer in 1996, and he served as back-up goalkeeper for the Metro Stars in 1998 and 1999. He started in goal professionally in the United Soccer League for the Jersey Dragons (1994-95), the Central Jersey Riptide (1996-97), the New Jersey Stallions (1998), and the North Jersey Imperials (1999).


At Montgomery High School, East was an all-state, All-Somerset County and All-Skyland Conference keeper who helped his team to a Central Jersey state sectional title.


After earning a bachelor of arts in Political Science and Criminal Justice from Kean in 1993, East began his coaching career as an assistant for Ochrimenko for four seasons. The 1997 Cougar team went 20-2 and did not give up a goal in any of nine NJAC matches for the only time in conference history.