Bowling Green State University women's soccer head coach Chris Fox has announced the addition of Steven Samuel to his staff. Samuel, who comes to BGSU after two seasons on the staff at Coastal Carolina University, officially began his duties on Friday (Jan. 10).

"I am thrilled to add Steven to our staff," said Fox. "He is a highly motivated individual with a wealth of experience at the Division I level. Steven is a tireless recruiter, has a growth mindset and firmly believes in positional play soccer. I have no doubt he will hit the ground running and be an integral part of what we are trying to build here in Bowling Green!"

In the 2024 season, Samuel helped the Chanticleers to an overall record of 8-7-6, a five-win improvement over the previous season and the program's highest win total since 2018. CCU posted a winning record for the first time since 2017.

The 2024 team, picked to finish 12th in the 14-team Sun Belt Conference in the preseason coaches poll, finished 3-3-4 in league action and earned the seventh seed for the Sun Belt Tournament.

In the tourney, the Chants pulled a quarterfinal-round upset over the number-two seed to advance to the semifinals for the first time since 2017.

"I am grateful to be a part of the Bowling Green State University family," said Samuel. "I would like to thank Coach Fox for this opportunity. From the conversations I had with Chris, Derek (van der Merwe) and Erik (Hildebrand), it is clear that this is a special community with great people.

"I look forward to contributing to the vision Chris has for the women's soccer program. I am excited to meet the team and get started this spring."

Samuel was one of just 30 coaches at all levels named to the 2023-24 class of the United Soccer Coaches 30 Under 30 Program, which is a year-long education and mentorship opportunity designed to support up-and-coming members of the coaching profession who are 30 years of age or younger.

Before joining head coach Jo Chubb's staff at CCU in February of 2023,  Samuel spent one season at Old Dominion, serving as a volunteer assistant coach for the Monarchs. ODU captured the 2022 Sun Belt Conference crown in their first season in the league.
 
In Samuel's lone year at ODU, he helped the program to records of 9-9-3 overall and 5-4-1 in league play. The Monarchs finished the season strong, winning each of the final two regular-season matches and then running the table in the 2022 Sun Belt Tournament with wins over the number three (Arkansas State), number two (South Alabama) and number four seed (James Madison) to capture the tourney title.
 
Samuel helped coach Carla Morich and Ece Turkoglu, who both earned All-Sun Belt first-team honors and were joined by Riley Kennett in picking up United Soccer Coaches Association All-Southeast Region team accolades.
 
Prior to his year at ODU, Samuel spent two seasons at Mount St Mary's University in Maryland. 

In his time with the Mountaineers, Samuel worked directly with the attacking unit and oversaw a consistent improvement in offensive production in 2020 and 2021. The 22 goals scored in the 2021 season were the most since 2012. Samuel helped develop five All-Northeast Conference Team honorees in the 2020 season, the highest single-season total in program history. 

Samuel also spent two seasons as an undergraduate assistant coach at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). Among his responsibilities were assisting the coaching staff in opposition scouting, and in both individual and team training sessions, as well as helping with video analysis and ID Camps.

In addition to his time at the Mount and UMBC, Samuel has served as a head coach for numerous youth teams, most notably at Ellicott City SC, FC Frederick, and Virginia Rush.
 
He holds a United States Soccer Federation (USSF) "C" Coaching license and a United Soccer Coaches Level 3 Goalkeeping Diploma. 
 
A native of Lagos, Nigeria, Samuel graduated from UMBC in 2019 with a degree in psychology. He also earned a master's degree in sports management in 2022 from Mount St Mary's.

BGSU finished the 2024 season with an overall record of 7-7-4, and the Falcons went 4-4-3 in MAC play to earn the sixth seed for the conference tournament. BG advanced to the MAC Tournament for the eighth consecutive season, the longest current streak among conference schools.