John Trask

In just four seasons as the University of Wisconsin men's soccer head, John Trask has revived the enthusiasm and excitement that once made the program a perennial Big Ten and NCAA title contender.

A fixture at the highest levels of national and international soccer for nearly two decades, Trask came to Wisconsin with the goal of returning the program to the ranks of the college soccer elite, delivering on his promise in just his fourth year with the team.

In 2013, Trask guided Wisconsin to its first NCAA tournament berth in 18 years and coached the team to its first postseason win since earning the national title in 1995.

In the process, Trask also extended the nation's longest active home unbeaten streak (14), as the Badgers knocked off Milwaukee in the first NCAA tournament men's soccer game played at the McClimon Complex in nearly two decades.

The Milwaukee, Wis., native also achieved double-digit wins for the second time in four seasons, tallying 14 victories in 2013, the most at UW since the team won 20 in 1995.

With a reputation for developing talented young men into elite soccer players, Trask also helped a pair of upperclassmen make history in 2013. Tomislav Zadro (Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year) and AJ Cochran (Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year) became the first duo from the same team to sweep the coveted conference awards.

After earning NSCAA All-American honors and becoming the first MACC Hermann Trophy semifinalist in UW history, Cochran went on to become the first Wisconsin player selected in the 2014 MLS SuperDraft since 2005, and the first player selected in the first round since Mike Gentile (1995).

Trask led Wisconsin to a 10-win season and a semifinal finish at the Big Ten tournament in 2011. The 10-win season marks the most wins for the Badgers since 2003 when they finished 11-10-1. In Trask's second season, UW also captured its first true victory at the conference tournament with a 2-0 shutout of Michigan in the first round. One of the highlights of the 2011 campaign came on Oct. 2 when Wisconsin handed then-No.6 Indiana its first loss of the season, marking the first Wisconsin victory over the Hoosiers in 16 years.

The Badgers wrapped up their first season under Trask with a semifinal finish at the 2010 Big Ten Tournament. After advancing past defending Big Ten champion Ohio State on penalty kicks in the opening round, Wisconsin fell to eventual Big Ten champion and NCAA College Cup semifinalist Michigan, 1-0, in the semifinal round. UW posted a 4-13-3 overall record for 2010 but went 3-2-1 over its last six games in Trask's first season.

Off of the field, Trask has taken priority in seeing his players do well in the classroom. Under his watch, over 30 men's soccer student-athletes have been earned Academic All-Big Ten honors, while his teams have received the award for the top grade point average among all men's sports at UW in two of the last three semesters.

Widely regarded as one of the top coaches in the game, Trask spent five seasons as head coach at the University of Illinois at Chicago before joining the Badgers. He brought 14 years of collegiate coaching experience - along with five seasons spent in Major League Soccer ranks - to Madison. Trask developed the UIC program into a powerhouse that claimed three Horizon League championships and qualified for NCAA tournament play each season from 2006 to 2008.

Over that span, Trask's teams posted a record of 38-13-17 (.648) -- including an amazing 8-2-1 mark in road games against ranked opponents. Also in those three seasons, Trask mentored four All-Americans and six players that earned All-Great Lakes Region honors from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.

He earned Horizon League Coach of the Year honors after leading the Flames to a regular-season conference title and berth in the second round of the NCAA tournament in 2006, a season in which UIC went 13-3-5 and finished with a stellar 0.36 goals-against average that ranks as the fourth-best single-season mark in NCAA history.

Trask followed that with another NCAA berth in 2007, as the Flames won the Horizon League tournament title and advanced to the school's first-ever Elite Eight by winning three-consecutive road games on the way to a No. 10 national ranking at season's end.

The Flames won another regular-season Horizon League title and returned to the NCAA Sweet 16 in 2008, a season in which UIC put together a 12-match unbeaten streak and ascended to a No. 4 national ranking.

Under Trask's tutelage, goalkeeper Jovan Bubonja, who finished his career as a three-time first-team All-Horizon League selection, earned first-team All-America honors and was a Hermann Trophy semifinalist that season. Midfielder Baggio Husidic also earned first-team All-America honors in 2008 and was selected by the Chicago Fire in the 2009 MLS SuperDraft.

That marked the third-consecutive season in which one of Trask's players became an MLS draft pick, as Cesar Zambrano was selected by the Colorado Rapids in 2008 and Tonci Skroce was taken by the Columbus Crew in 2007.

Known for his defensive mentality, Trask's UIC teams recorded 38 shutouts between 2006 and 2008.

Prior to his return to the college game, Trask spent five seasons as an assistant coach with three Major League Soccer clubs. He spent two seasons with the now-defunct Miami Fusion, which advanced to the final of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup in his first season before playing its way into the semifinals of the MLS Playoffs in 2001.

Trask then spent two seasons with D.C. United before coaching with FC Dallas in 2004.

No stranger to the Big Ten Conference, Trask's time in professional soccer came after nine years on the coaching staff at his alma mater, Indiana University. In that time, the Hoosiers won eight Big Ten titles, advanced to the NCAA College Cup five times and won back-to-back national titles in 1998 and 1999.

Trask spent two seasons as a graduate assistant at IU before joining the staff of legendary head coach Jerry Yeagley full-time in 1993.

In his seven seasons as an assistant to Yeagley, Trask helped guide the Hoosiers to a combined 136-20-6 record. That includes a mark of 67-6-0 over his final three seasons on the IU bench, each of which resulted in a College Cup berth.

He also helped IU players rake in five Big Ten Player of the Year awards, 18 All-America honors, 27 first-team All-Region accolades and 64 All-Big Ten citations. In 1994, he guided Brian Maisonneuve and Todd Yeagley to dual national player of the year honors, with Maisonneuve winning the Hermann Trophy and Yeagley claiming the Missouri Athletic Club Player of the Year award.

When he joined UW, Trask replaced Todd Yeagley, who left UW in Dec. 2010 to become the head coach at Indiana.

Beyond the college game, Trask served as the men's senior coach for the Indiana State Soccer Association from 1992-95 and then spent five years as the group's coaching director.

He also has worked extensively with U.S. Soccer, serving as an assistant coach for the U.S. Under-18 Men's National Team at the prestigious Northern Ireland Milk Cup in July 2008. Alongside head coach Mike Matkovich, Trask served as an assistant coach at U18 national team development camps in Carson, Calif., in April 2010 and Nov. 2010. As an assistant coach, Trask worked with Mix Diskerud, Terrance Boyd and Juan Agudelo, among others, in preparation for the 2012 London Olympic Games.

A four-year letterwinner for the Hoosiers from 1984-1987, Trask earned a bachelor's degree in management and a master's degree in kinesiology from Indiana.

A native of Milwaukee, Trask was married to his wife, Jela, in February 2008. The couple has a 4-year-old son, Jack.

Trask's Coaching Record