Richie Moller

Richie Moller (Ludwigshafen, Germany) is an American soccer forward who currently coaches the NCAA Division III Vassar College soccer team. He played one season each in the USISL and the National Professional Soccer League.

Youth

Prior to coming to the USA, Richie Moller played for 1.F.C. Kaiserslautern and earning his Abitur from Albert-Einstein Gymnasium. Richie Moller attended Towson University, playing on the men's soccer team from 1995 to 1998. He holds the school's and the America East's single season records for goals. Richie was a 1998 All American (first in the program to earn those honors) and Scholar-Athlete All American (first in the program to earn those honors). He was also named the Conference Rookie of the Year (his freshman year) Player of the Year his senior year (first in the program to earn those honors). Riche Moller is the first for the program and conference to earn America-East Scholar Athlete of the Year awards back to back. Richie Moller is also the first from the state of Maryland to win the prestigious ECAC Scholar-Athlete of the Year award. He won close to 50 athletic and academic awards during his time at Towson.^[1] He graduated with Latin honors in 1999 with a bachelor's degree in modern languages .^[2] Following his graduation in 1998, he entered the University of Maryland, College Park where he started a PhD program in German literature, but decided to change his career path attending a Top 20 liberal arts college in the nation, Smith College, to earn is graduate degree in Exercise Science (top ranked program in the nation).

Professional

In 1999, the Maryland Mania of the USL A-League, associated with D.C. United, selected Moller in the Territorial Round of the USL Draft.^[3] In October 2000, he signed with the Baltimore Blast of the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) after being drafted second overall. Richie Moller decided to retire from professional soccer after two years to continue his education at Smith College and to pursue a collegiate coaching career shortly after graduation.^[4]

Coach

In 1999, Moller became the assistant coach at NCAA Division III Villa Julie College. He assisted the women's soccer program's and the athletics department's first trip to the NCAA Tournament, advancing to the Sweet Sixteen National Championship. In 2002, he attended Smith College as a graduate assistant (assisting the program to its first double-digit winning season in over a decade). After Smith, he became the head coach at the NCAA Division I Western Illinois. He led the team to a top-4 seed after being picked last in the preseason poll. Both his recruiting classes were ranked first within the conference and ranked top 20 nationally. In 2005, he became the top assistant coach at Dartmouth College. His recruiting class was nationally ranked and assisted the program to the NCAA Tournament. In March 2006, Moller became the head coach at Vassar College. At Vassar, Moller became the first coach to lead the program to four consecutive winning seasons. Prior to his arrival, Vassar's winning percentage in the Liberty League was under 15% and after completing one recruiting cycle, the program's winning percentage within the conference was over 80%. He is the first coach to lead the program to postseason play, tying the Number 1 team in the nation in the conference finals. The program received its first regional and national ranking under Moller. The program remained regionally ranked for three consecutive years (another program first).^[5]

Moller also taught at the John Carroll School in Bel Air, Maryland.^[6]

References