University of AL - Birmingham

UAB Blazers Athletics
Bartow Arena - 1720 2nd Ave. S Birmingham, AL 35294

Division 1 Alabama Southeast

Public Large National competitor

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Coaches

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David Lilly

David Lilly enters his first season as the head coach at UAB in 2024.

Lilly has spent the last two seasons as the head coach at East Tennessee State, accruing a record of 17-11-6 over that time while leading the Buccaneers to a second-place finish in the SoCon in 2022 and a first-place finish in the league in 2023. During those two seasons, the Buccaneers went 7-1-2 in SoCon play, the best record of any team in the league during that time.

This past season, the Buccaneers ranked atop the league in goals per game (1.47) and goals against average (0.755). Their 0.755 GAA ranked 10th nationally.

Prior to becoming the head coach at ETSU, Lilly led his alma mater Milligan College to back-to-back NAIA Tournament appearances in 2020 and 2021. During his four seasons with the Buffs, he had an overall record of 42-26-3 and a conference record of 28-14-3. In his final two seasons at Milligan, he held a record of 27-6-1 and helped Milligan reach its highest-ever ranking at No. 9 during the 2021 season. He was named Appalachian Athletic Conference Coach of the Year in 2020.

Before his time at Milligan, Lilly served as an assistant coach at East Tennessee State from 2010-2017. The Buccaneers held an 81-49-27 record during that stint while reaching the NCAA Tournament three times. ETSU won two ASUN titles while also earning the program’s first at-large bid in 2016.

Lilly earned honorable mention NAIA All-America honors in 2005 and 2006 as a player at Milligan while also earning Region XII Player of the Year honors during his senior season. He led the Buffs to a Sweet 16 appearance in their first ever NAIA tournament during his senior season.

Following his collegiate playing career, Lilly signed professionally with the Carolina Railhawks of the USL-1 during the 2008-09 season. He has also played PDL for the Mississippi Brilla and West Virginia Chaos.

Lilly, a native of Coatbridge, Scotland, graduated from Milligan in 2007 with a bachelor’s degree in Business Management before earning his master’s in Business Administration from ETSU in December of 2012 and an additional Master’s in Kinesiology & Sport Management in December of 2014.

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Kris Hazard

Kris Hazard enters his fourth season with the men's soccer program.

Hazard came to Birmingham after having spent the previous 10 seasons at American University in Washington D.C.

In his tenure at American, Hazard helped the Eagles to some of the best seasons in program history, including spending the majority of the 2014 season in the top-20 in the nation with a win over then No. 1 UCLA. The success continued into the 2015 campaign as American defeated the defending national champions in Virginia and had a 14-5-3 record, breaking the school’s shutout streak en route to being named the 2015 Northeast Regions Assistant Coach of the Year.

Hazard played an instrumental role in the Eagles’ three Patriot League Regular Season Championships in 2008, 2011 and 2016 and in their three consecutive trips to the Patriot League Tournament Championship Game.

Prior to his time at American, Hazard coached at Tri-State for two seasons in 2006 and 2007. Additionally, he spent four seasons at Wittenberg University, beginning as an assistant coach in 2002 before transitioning into the Associate Head Coach role for the 2005 season.

Hazard earned his undergraduate degree from Wittenberg in Speech/English where he was an All NCAC All-Conference Selection for the Tigers in 1991 while also serving as the team captain.

Hazard is also a published author, writing a book entitled Hazard of the Game: The Dangers of Over-Parenting in Sport and Life.