Coaches

Paul Leese

Paul Leese was hired as the fourth head men's soccer coach at Carthage College in February of 2022. He came to campus with nearly 20 years of collegiate coaching experience at the NCAA Division I and II level.


In his first season as the head coach, Leese lead the Firebirds to an overall record of 8-7-5 (.525), ending the season with a record of 4-1-3 (.688) in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin.


Leese took over the helm of the Carthage men’s soccer program after a year as an assistant coach with New Mexico United. Previously, he was the head coach of the men’s soccer team at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley from 2014 to 2020, where he helped establish a nationally-ranked program, won five consecutive NSCAA/USC Team Academic Awards, and was named the 2018 Western Athletic Conference Coach of the Year.


Prior to his time at the head of the UTRGV team, he was the head coach of Coker College for five seasons. His time with Coker included four conference championships, two conference coach of the year honors, a trip to the NCAA Tournament, and a national ranking as high as No. 5 in 2011. He entered the collegiate coaching ranks as an assistant coach, with stops at Coastal Carolina, Furman, and Elon.


Outside of coaching Leese was a five-year faculty member in the Coker Business Administration Department, and taught upper-level leadership awareness courses. Leese graduated from Furman University with a degree in business administration in 2001, where he led the men’s soccer team as a senior in 1999 to a program-best record of 21-2-1 and an elite eight NCAA tournament appearance. He went on to play professionally for the Greenville Lions and Greensboro Dynamo of the USL. He earned a Master of Business Administration from Elon University in 2003.


Leese came to Kenosha with his wife Janeane, and two sons Aiden and Keiran.