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Brian Lee
Entering his fifth season at the helm of the Rice Soccer program, head coach Brian Lee has already guided it to unprecedented success.
Last season, Lee guided the Owls to another 10-win season with 11 wins total, his fourth-consecutive 10+ win season to open his coaching career at Rice. The Owls captured the C-USA regular season title after posting a 9-0-1 record during the conference play. Bella Killgore, Grace Collins and Delaney Schultz earned First Team All-C-USA honors while Mikala Furuto and Madi Allen earned Second Team honors. Carsyn Martz and Kallie McKinney earned All-Freshman honors.
In 2021, Lee led the Owls to 10 wins, becoming the first coach in Rice Soccer history to earn at least 10 victories in each of their first three seasons.
Under Lee’s leadership, three Owls were named All-Region. Delaney Schultz became Rice’s second conference Player of the Year while also earning Conference USA Midfielder of the Year honors.
In his second season, Lee led the Owls to their best season in the history of the program, amassing a 14-3-1 record while making their first appearance in the NCAA Sweet Sixteen.
In an unprecedented season both on and off the pitch, the season was pushed to the spring to due COVID-19. But that didn’t phase the Owls, as they opened the year with four straight victories, the most to open a season in school history. Following a pair of defeats, they went undefeated in their next 11 matches, including shutting out their opponents in a school record eight straight matches. Throughout that streak, Rice won its third Conference USA championship, outscoring its opponents 5-0 in the process and earning a berth to the NCAA Tournament.
That led the Owls on their run to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen. Rice earned its first-ever win in the Tournament with a 3-1 victory over Furman in the first round. It then faced fifth-ranked West Virginia, taking down the ACC power, 1-0, before falling in the Sweet Sixteen to No. 13 Virginia while finishing the year ranked 16th nationally.
Under Lee’s tutelage, Mijke Roelfsema became Rice’s second All-American while being named a semifinalist for the MAC Hermann Trophy. Five Owls earned All-Region honors while Roelfsema was named the Conference USA Defender of the Year and Bella Killgore was named C-USA’s Goalkeeper of the Year. Lee was named the league’s Coach of the Year, the sixth time he was named a league’s Coach of the Year.
Lee was named Rice Soccer third head coach on Mar. 29, 2019. With only a brief window to meet the team and organize some spring training Lee and his first year coaching staff quickly began to put their own imprint on the program. It did not take long to see results.
Under Lee the Owls won their opening day match for the first time in 12 years, which also happened to be the program’s first opening day victory on the road in 14 years. In the 2019 home opener three days later Lee then received a quick Rice indoctrination on the emotion involved when playing crosstown rival Houston. In his Rice-v-Houston coaching debut, the Owls thumped the Cougars 3-0. The new Brian Lee era of Rice soccer was off and running.
Rice also won its 2019 Conference USA league-opener (vs. Charlotte) and then built on that success. Under Lee the Owls were unbeaten in C-USA matches until the final week of October. When the Owls played in the annual C-USA postseason tournament, Lee directed the Blue & Gray to its first first-round win in that event in six years.
Lee’s approach to daily training for the world’s most popular game uniquely maximized the potential of the individual Owls on the roster. He then installed a system of playing smart (a natural fit for Rice student-athletes) and playing together. It seems simple enough but it was Lee who dared to compose a brand new Rice forward tandem of Haley Kostyshyn and Louise Stephens. For the three full years before 2019, the same two players had combined for a total of four goals on 20 career shots between them. In 2019 alone, Lee’s new Kostyshyn-Stephens attack combined for 14 goals on more than 70 shots with a bonus of six assists as the duo opened up additional offensive opportunities for their teammates.
Lee trusted his coaching instincts honed over the last 20-plus Division I seasons. At year’s end, which included double-digit wins for the first time in two years, he had trained three Owls to All-Region accolades.
Under his direction the program’s success was not limited to the soccer field. As a team no less than 25 Owls on the roster combined for an eye-opening 3.75 grade point average. The mark was the No. 8 highest GPA in the nation including both men’s and women’s programs. A total of two Owls were named to the CoSIDA and United Soccer Coaches Academic All-District Teams in 2019.
Prior to joining Rice led LSU to six NCAA Tournament appearances, four SEC West Division titles and 143 wins in 14 seasons with the Tigers. He was named the 2018 South Region Coach of the Year and was a finalist for National Coach of the Year by United Soccer Coaches after leading the Tigers to the SEC Tournament championship 2018. LSU advanced to the second round of the NCAA Championship for the third time under Lee, defeating Boston University. Lee has recruited and coached 46 players to All-SEC honors and ten to All-America accolades.
Prior to LSU, Lee started the women's soccer program from scratch at his alma mater (Furman) and coached there 11 seasons beginning in 1994. He amassed an eye-opening 144-80-10 overall record, including an impressive 76-16-3 mark in conference play. The Paladins advanced to the NCAA Tournament four times and were 36-2-0 in conference play during a four-stretch from 1999-2002. He was named the Southern Conference Coach of the Year five times and was a finalist for the NSCAA National Coach of the Year.
His teams' success on the field, however, is only part of the resume. In the classroom Lee-coached programs have earned 10 NSCAA Team Academic Awards for maintaining a 3.0 grade point average. A total of 137 of his players at LSU, and another 122 student-athletes at Furman, were named to the respective Academic Honor Rolls of the SEC and Southern Conference.
A successful student-athlete in his own right, Lee earned four varsity letters with the Furman men's soccer team from 1989-92. The native of Cheltenham, England, was an integral part of three Southern Conference titles. He was voted team captain and selected as the team's Most Valuable Player as a senior. He also led his team to its first ever NCAA Tournament appearance, as well as a berth in the NCAA Sweet 16 in 1991.
Lee graduated from Furman in 1993 with a bachelor's degree in political science. He and his wife, the former Nancy Repsher of Westboro, Massachusetts, have two children – Aidan (16) and Abby (15).
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