Tim Hankinson
Encyclopedia
Tim Hankinson is a well-traveled American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 soccer coach who is currently head coach of NASL side San Antonio Scorpions in San Antonio
San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...

, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

.

Player

The child of pianist Richard “Dick” Hankinson and early television figure Nelle “Pokey” Hankinson (née Rahm) (d. 2010), Hankinson’s career as a player began at age 5 as a kindergarten student at St. David’s School. The school had a relationship with a German soccer coach who taught the students how to play the game on the grassy spaces at nearby Central Park
Central Park
Central Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park initially opened in 1857, on of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan...

. Seeing the coach perform a simple trick with a ball intrigued the young player and a life long love of the game began. Following his 8th grade graduation from St. David’s, Hankinson continued his education (and soccer playing) in Upstate New York
Upstate New York
Upstate New York is the region of the U.S. state of New York that is located north of the core of the New York metropolitan area.-Definition:There is no clear or official boundary between Upstate New York and Downstate New York...

 at The Storm King School, then The University of South Carolina
University of South Carolina
The University of South Carolina is a public, co-educational research university located in Columbia, South Carolina, United States, with 7 surrounding satellite campuses. Its historic campus covers over in downtown Columbia not far from the South Carolina State House...

 (USC). While a college student, he earned his USSF
United States Soccer Federation
The United States Soccer Federation is the official governing body of the sport of soccer in the United States. Its headquarters are located in Chicago, Illinois. It is a member of FIFA and is responsible for governing amateur and professional soccer, including the men's, women's, youth, futsal...

 C and B Licenses, already knowing his future would lead to a career in coaching.

Collegiate soccer

After graduating from USC in 1979, Hankinson's career as a head coach began at Oglethorpe University
Oglethorpe University
Oglethorpe University is a private liberal arts college in Brookhaven, Georgia, an inner suburb of Atlanta. It was chartered in 1835 and named after James Edward Oglethorpe, the state's founder.-History:...

. After one season that ended with his team making an appearance as NAIA
National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics
The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics is an athletic association that organizes college and university-level athletic programs. Membership in the NAIA consists of smaller colleges and universities across the United States. The NAIA allows colleges and universities outside the USA...

 District Finalists, he moved on to the men's head coach post at Alabama A&M. In his two seasons at the helm, Hankinson's sides compiled an impressive 37-5-4 (W-L-D) record and made a pair of appearances in the NCAA Men's Soccer Championship
NCAA Men's Soccer Championship
The NCAA began conducting a Men's Division I Soccer Championship tournament in 1959 with an eight-team tournament. Currently, the tournament field consists of 48 teams...

 finishing 3rd in 1980 and 2nd in 1981. Hankinson soon moved on to DePaul University
DePaul University
DePaul University is a private institution of higher education and research in Chicago, Illinois. Founded by the Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from the 17th century French priest Saint Vincent de Paul...

 for the 1982 and 1983 seasons where he helped transition the school's men's soccer program into the NCAA
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...

 Division I ranks. He then took a year off before joining Syracuse University
Syracuse University
Syracuse University is a private research university located in Syracuse, New York, United States. Its roots can be traced back to Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1832, which also later founded Genesee College...

 as their men's head coach in 1985. From 1985 to 1990, Hankinson's teams were 69-40-18 (W-L-D) including a Big East Conference
Big East Conference
The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletics conference consisting of sixteen universities in the eastern half of the United States. The conference's 17 members participate in 24 NCAA sports...

 championship in 1985. Their performance also yielded individual recognition for the coach as he was named Big East Conference Coach of the Year for 1986.

Professional soccer

After a fair amount of success in the collegiate game, Hankinson turned to coaching professional players and from 1990 to 1991 was in the head coach role at UMF Tindastóll in Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...

's Úrvalsdeild (First Division). He was the first US national to coach in Iceland and in 1991 was awarded the FIFA-VISA Knattspyrnusamband Íslands Fair Play Award (aka Háttvísisverðlaun KSÍ). Hankinson returned home to the US and in 1992 helped found the Charleston Battery
Charleston Battery
Charleston Battery is an American professional soccer team based in Charleston, South Carolina, United States. Founded in 1993, the team plays in the American Division of the new USL Professional Division, the third tier of the American Soccer Pyramid....

 club which competed in the USL
United Soccer Leagues
The United Soccer Leagues is the organizer of several soccer leagues with teams in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean. It includes men's and women's leagues, both professional and amateur. Leagues currently organized are the USL Pro, the USL Premier Development League, the W-League, and...

 (known then as the United States Interregional Soccer League (USISL)). While head coach and general manager, Hankinson's squads reached the league playoffs in 1993, then returned again in 1994 where they advanced to the semi-finals. As reward for the team's 1994 success, Hankinson was named USISL Coach of the Year.

He then spent the 1995 season as the general manager of the Raleigh Flyers
Raleigh Express
The Raleigh Express was a soccer club that competed in the United Soccer Leagues from 1993 to 2000. Based in Raleigh, North Carolina, the club started as the Raleigh Flyers in the USISL before moving to the A-League in 1997. In 1999, the club was renamed the Express, and in 2000, became the Raleigh...

 before joining the nascent MLS
Major League Soccer
Major League Soccer is a professional soccer league based in the United States and sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation . The league is composed of 19 teams — 16 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada...

 as their first Director of Player Development. From 1996 to 1998 Hankinson led scouting and player development as the league worked to establish itself as both a viable enterprise and the top level of soccer in the US. During this same period, Hankinson was the head coach for Nike Project-40
Generation adidas
Generation adidas is a joint venture between Major League Soccer and U.S. Soccer aimed at raising the level of young soccer talent in the United States. The program, sponsored by adidas, encourages early entry of American players into MLS...

  where he worked with future MLS stars such as Ben Olson
Ben Olson
Benjamen James Olson is an American football quarterback. He played for the UCLA Bruins football team. He excelled in football at Thousand Oaks High School, earning high school All-American honors in 2001....

 and soon-to-be US national team regulars like Tim Howard
Tim Howard
Timothy Matthew Howard is an American soccer player who plays as a goalkeeper for English club Everton and the United States national team....

.

In 1998, Hankinson transitioned to become head coach of the now defunct Tampa Bay Mutiny
Tampa Bay Mutiny
The Tampa Bay Mutiny was a charter franchise of Major League Soccer active from 1996 - 2001. They initially played in Tampa Stadium and were immediately successful, winning the first MLS Supporters' Shield behind MLS MVP Carlos Valderrama and high-scoring forward Roy Lassiter, whose 27 goals in...

. The franchise won 39 games from 1998 to 2000 and made playoff appearances in 1999 and 2000 before the doors were closed following the 2001 season as part of the MLS contraction that downsized the league from 12 teams to 10. But by then, Hankinson had already departed for Denver
Denver, Colorado
The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...

 to take the top job at Colorado Rapids
Colorado Rapids
The Colorado Rapids are an American professional soccer club based in the Denver suburb of Commerce City, Colorado which competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having competed in the league...

 in late 2000. Hankinson's teams won 40 games during his time with the club and reached the playoffs three consecutive seasons between 2002 and 2004. This period also included a streak of 31 home games where the team lost just one game. In late 2004, the Rapids were sold by AEG to KSE and Hankinson was let go along with the bulk of the Rapids front office to make way for the new owner’s leadership team. Regardless of the ownership change, with an average MLS head coach tenure of only 2.3 years his four years in the position was far longer than most of his peers.

Seeking a change and looking to take his coaching to the next level, Hankinson decamped for Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

 and a stint with Serie A (First Division) Figueirense FC
Figueirense Futebol Clube
Figueirense Futebol Clube, also known as Figueirense, is a Brazilian football team in Florianópolis, Santa Catarina.-History:In 1921, the club was founded as Figueirense Foot-ball Club. The club is named Figueirense after the neighborhood where it is located, in Centro neighborhood). Figueirense...

 where he worked as a guest coach, learning Brazilian training methods and deepening his knowledge of the game.

Back to amateur soccer

Choosing to stay in Latin America, in 2006 he joined the Guatemala Football Federation
Federación Nacional de Fútbol de Guatemala
The Federación Nacional de Fútbol de Guatemala , also known by the former acronym FENAFUTG, is the governing body of Football in Guatemala. It organizes the football league, Liga Nacional de Guatemala, Primera División de Ascenso, Segunda División de Ascenso, the Copa Centenario and the Guatemala...

 as the U-17 men's head coach where he led the side through International "friendlies" and a competitive, but ultimately unsuccessful, 2007 World Cup
2007 FIFA U-17 World Cup
The FIFA U-17 World Cup 2007 was held in the Korea Republic between 18 August and 9 September 2007. For this event, the number of teams had been expanded from 16 to 24, with the top two of each group and the four best third-place teams advancing to the Round of 16...

 qualifying campaign. Hankinson once again looked to the US for his next opportunity and returned to his collegiate roots, and Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...

, in taking the reins at Fort Lewis College
Fort Lewis College
Fort Lewis College is a public liberal arts college in Durango, Colorado.-History:Military FortThe original site of Fort Lewis College began southwest of its present location back in 1880. Set up originally as a Military Fort for the 22nd Regimental Infantry which occupied the land from...

. In just two seasons (2007 and 2008), his teams went 32-8-4 (W-L-D), won the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference
Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference
The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference is a college athletic conference which operates in the western United States, mostly in Colorado with some members in Nebraska and New Mexico...

 (RMAC) twice, advanced to the NCAA Division II Tournament twice and, at times, were nationally ranked #1. For his team's 2008 run, Hankinson was named 2008 RMAC Co-Coach of the Year.

The call of the subcontinent

In mid-2009, Hankinson took yet another leap and went abroad for the third time to become the “chief coach” of Salgaocar SC in Vasco
Vasco da Gama, Goa
Vasco da Gama is the largest city in the state of Goa on the west coast of India. It is named after the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama. Vasco has Goa's largest population, estimated at over 100,000. It is also the headquarters of the Mormugao taluka...

, Goa
Goa
Goa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its...

, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. However, his time with the club was cut short after just six months. Unable to meet what many deemed unreasonable expectations to dramatically advance the club’s standing in the I-League
I-League
The I-League is an Indian football league for association football clubs. At the top of the Indian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contested by 14 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation of two teams each year with the I-League 2nd Division...

 during the first half of the season, he parted with the club early in 2010.

Youth soccer

After a period of reflection, Hankinson decided to try his hand in the one area of soccer where he’d previously not worked: the grassroots arena of American youth soccer. In late 2010, he joined the staff of Broomfield Soccer Club
Broomfield Soccer Club
Broomfield Junior Soccer Club , commonly known as Broomfield Soccer Club , is a youth association football club based in Broomfield, Colorado, USA.- Club structure :...

 as its Director of Coaching, citing the club’s location in the familiar surroundings of Colorado, close proximity to family and the opportunity to “give back to the game” at the most fundamental level as key criteria in his decision to take the post.

Return to the pro game

Following a productive year with Broomfield SC, Hankinson received an offer he could not refuse. On 14 Sep 2011, Hankinson was announced as the first head coach for San Antonio Scorpions FC of the North American Soccer League (NASL). His first task is to lead the assembly of their new professional side and take them into league play for the 2012 season.
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