Seminar will take place March 16-17 on the Notre Dame campus.
BJ Craig is entering his fourth season as an assistant coach on the Fighting Irish staff in 2011. Craig joined the Irish after being an assistant coach at the University of Louisville during the 2007 campaign. Prior to that, he had a four-year stint (2003-06) as head coach at Saint Francis University (Pa.).
The Fighting Irish have enjoyed three successful seasons with Craig on the sidelines. Notre Dame has posted a 33-21-10 record, including a 21-7-3 mark in the BIG EAST, along with qualifying for the NCAA Championship all three seasons. Notre Dame captured the 2008 BIG EAST Blue Division crown during Craig's first year with the Irish.
The Irish have produced 14 all-league selections and nine Major League Soccer (MLS) draft picks since Craig has been on campus.
In 2010, Notre Dame garnered the No. 9 seed and a first-round bye for the NCAA Championship. The Irish fell to Dartmouth, 2-1 in overtime, during the second round to finish the season with a 10-6-4 record and a No. 21 national ranking in the final National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) poll.
The Irish went 6-2-1 in BIG EAST play in 2010 and advanced to the semifinals of the league tournament for the third straight season.
Five Notre Dame student-athletes received all-BIG EAST accolades for the 2010 season. Headlining the Fighting Irish honorees were first-team selections Jeb Brovsky and Steven Perry. Perry led all BIG EAST players in goals with 12 and was tied for the points lead with 28. The senior duo also was named to the NSCAA Scholar All-America team.
Aaron Maund and Dillon Powers were named to the all-BIG EAST second team in 2010 and Harrison Shipp was selected to the BIG EAST All-Rookie Team.
Brovsky, Perry and Bilal Duckett were picked in the 2011 MLS SuperDraft, while Philip Tuttle was taken in the supplemental draft. The Vancouver Whitecaps FC chose both Brovsky and Duckett, while the New England Revolution selected Perry. Brovsky was the first pick in the second round (19th overall selection) and Duckett was the first pick in the third round (37th overall). Perry went two picks after Duckett in the third round. The San Jose Earthquakes took Tuttle in the second round with the 33rd overall pick.
Craig copped accolades of his own in 2010 as he was named one of the top 20 assistant coaches in NCAA Division I men's soccer according to College Soccer News.
Craig also has seen some of his Fighting Irish players experience success on the international level. Maund and Powers both were members of the United States Under-20 National Team that competed at the 2009 U-20 World Cup in Egypt. In August of 2010, Powers was named the MVP of the Milk Cup Tournament as he helped lead the U.S. Under-20 National Team to the title with a 3-0 record.
During Craig's second season on the Irish sidelines, Notre Dame posted an 11-8-4 record and finished second in the BIG EAST Blue Division with an 8-3-0 mark. Notre Dame missed out on winning the BIG EAST Championship as the Irish were taken down in penalty kicks by St. John's, 5-3, following a scoreless draw in the title game.
The Irish opened the 2009 NCAA Championship with a 2-1 first-round win over Green Bay. Notre Dame suffered a 3-1 setback at Northwestern in the second round.
Six Notre Dame players garnered all-BIG EAST honors in 2009. Bright Dike, who led the league in points (26) and goals (11), was named the BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Year. Michael Thomas joined Dike on the all-BIG EAST first team, while fellow senior Justin Morrow was a second-team pick. Brovsky and Maund were selected to the third team and Powers was named to the BIG EAST All-Rookie Team.
Dike, Thomas and Morrow all were selected during the 2010 MLS SuperDraft. Dike went in the first round to the Columbus Crew, while the San Jose Earthquakes picked Thomas and Morrow in the second round. Thomas also was named a third-team Academic All-American for the 2009 campaign.
In 2008, Notre Dame compiled a 12-7-2 record, including a 7-2-2 mark in the BIG EAST to win the conference's Blue Division. The Fighting Irish were seeded 12th for the NCAA Championship and fell to Northwestern, 2-1, in the second round. Notre Dame concluded the season ranked 16th in the final NSCAA poll.
Accolades were in store for the Irish during the 2008 season. Senior Matt Besler became the first player in program history to be named a first-team All-American and first-team Academic All-American. In addition, Besler was the first Irish player to ever be named the NSCAA Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Besler and Dike were both first-team all-BIG EAST selections and headlined a group of five Notre Dame players to cop all-league honors.
Besler also heard his named called during the 2009 MLS SuperDraft. He was taken with the eighth pick overall in the first round by the Kansas City Wizards. That marked the highest a Fighting Irish player had ever been nabbed in the MLS draft. Jack Traynor went to the New York Red Bulls in the second round of the 2009 draft.
In his lone season at Louisville, Craig helped guide the Cardinals to an 11-7-4 record and a berth into the 2007 NCAA Championship. The Cardinals won a first-round match against Duke, 1-0, before dropping a 1-0 decision at Ohio State.
The Cardinals finished second in the BIG EAST's Red Division with a 6-3-2 league mark and advanced to the semifinals of the conference tournament before falling to Connecticut, the eventual champion. Louisville sophomores Phil Edington and Othaniel Yanez both copped all-league honors for the Cardinals.
In four seasons with Saint Francis, Craig posted a 31-31-13 record, which is second on the school's all-time coaching wins list. He led the Red Flash to their first two Northeast Conference (NEC) Tournament appearances and also produced the program's first winning season during the 2004 campaign en route to being named the NEC Coach of the Year. Craig led Saint Francis to a 27-19-11 record, including an 18-11-7 mark in the NEC, over his final three seasons. The Red Flash produced a winning record in each of those three seasons and he developed two NSCAA Regional All-Americans and seven all-conference selections.
Craig led his 2006 Saint Francis team to the school's first-ever appearance in the NEC championship match. He guided the Red Flash to a 10-7-3 mark, which tied a school record that was previously set in Craig's second season with the program in 2004.
Craig joined the Red Flash staff after serving as an assistant coach at Dartmouth College from 1998-2003. In the fall of 2002, he helped lead the perennial Ivy League power to a conference championship and a 9-7-1 record. The Big Green posted a 5-1-1 league mark and finished the 2002 season ranked third in the Northeast Region. Craig also helped direct the Big Green to an NCAA Tournament berth in 2000.
Prior to joining the Dartmouth staff, Craig served as an assistant coach at his alma mater Gordon College in Wenham, Mass., from 1995-96. During his tenure at Gordon, the Fighting Scots posted a 30-8-4 record and qualified for the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) Tournament both seasons.
Craig, a native of Westford Mass., is a 1993 graduate of Gordon College with a bachelor's degree in mathematics. He earned one varsity letter at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell before transferring to Gordon College, where he lettered twice. Craig helped Gordon College to the Commonwealth Coast Conference championship in 1992. He earned a master's degree in education from the University of Massachusetts-Lowell in 1997. He is a member of the NSCAA and holds a USSF B License.
Craig and his wife, Erin, are the parents of four children, Noah (14), Micah (12), Jonah (9) and Mattea (7).
