SAN ANTONIO – After leading UTSA soccer to its first Conference USA Championship, first NCAA appearance in 12 years and consecutive historical finishes, head coach Derek Pittman has agreed to extend his contract with the Roadrunners. The new deal is scheduled to keep Pittman in San Antonio through the 2025 season.
"Coach Pittman's leadership has set UTSA soccer on the right course for continued success in the future," UTSA Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Lisa Campos said. "The historic accomplishments over the past two seasons are the embodiment of his vision and the culture that he's embedding in our program. We're thrilled to be able to secure his leadership for the future and very excited to see what's over the next horizon for UTSA soccer."
As Pittman enters his sixth year at the helm, the past two campaigns have proven to be landmark performances for the Roadrunners. In addition to catching fire to march through the Conference USA Championships for the first conference title since 2010, UTSA has registered back-to-back finishes of 10-5-4 (2021) and 12-6-4 (2022) for the program's top two winning percentages. Earning the team's second program NCAA appearance, the 2022 Roadrunners gathered UTSA's second-most wins, while tying records for most conference victories (4), most points in Conference USA play (15) and highest Conference USA finish.
"My family and I are excited to continue building on the work we are doing here in San Antonio and within UTSA soccer," Pittman said. "I am grateful to Dr. Lisa Campos and President Eighmy for believing in my leadership and their continued support for my vision of what this program can achieve in the coming years. We still have a long way to go, and we have extremely ambitious goals as we move into the American Athletic Conference. Our program's success is because of the tremendous dedication and support of so many student-athletes, coaches, staff members, fans and administrators. We are excited to move into our new Park West Fieldhouse in the fall, and our coaches and players are dedicated to chasing growth every day as we continue building our Championship Culture within UTSA soccer."
In just five seasons, Pittman and his staff have turned a three-win program in 2017 to a 12-win program that earned its first two C-USA Tournament berths in back-to-back seasons over the last two years. A key component to the success was UTSA's dominance at Park West, holding a program-best 83.3 percent winning rate at home in 2022 to set a new school record, including the first program win over a Big 12 program. The team began making the turn at home in 2021, registering a 72.2 win percentage.
Last year's squad also made its first appearance in the rankings, reaching a program-record No. 5 in the United Soccer Coaches South Region rankings, while the 2021 team collected UTSA's first NCAA Top 100 RPI (No. 86) ranking. In back-to-back years, the squad placed a new entry for second-most wins in the program's 16-year history and added notches in the history book with further individual school records for season goals per game, career assists, assists per game, single-season shutouts and GK wins, and tied records for single-season assists and career shutouts.
Pittman and the Roadrunners are slated to open the 2023 campaign and their first year in the American Athletic Conference on August 17 with a 7 p.m. matchup against Central Arkansas at Park West Athletics Complex.
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