Josh Rife - Soccer Coach - Mississippi State

Josh Rife

Title:
Assistant Soccer Coach
Email:
jrife@athletics.msstate.edu
Phone:
325-2722

Josh Rife joined the Mississippi State family in July 2018. With a decade of coaching experience to go along with his 11-year playing career, Rife brings a wealth of knowledge to the Bulldog staff. The Honolulu, Hawaii, native earned his Premier Diploma from the United Soccer Coaches Association in 2018.

In his first season in Starkville, Rife was a part of State's first NCAA Tournament appearance in program history. Working primarily with the Bulldogs' defenders, Rife helped MSU post some of the best defensive numbers in its history. While playing the nation's toughest schedule, the Bulldogs held opponents to just 11.6 shots per game, a program record, while allowing their lowest goal total (17) in a season.

Rife was previously at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., where he served as the Flames’ assistant coach for two seasons (2016-17), before being promoted to the associate head coach role in March 2018. During his time with LU, he helped lead the Flames to back-to-back Big South Tournament semifinals, including a league title in 2016. The 2016 Flames also reached the NCAA Tournament for the second time in three seasons.

Prior to his stop at LU, he served as an assistant coach for the Pittsburgh Riverhounds of the United Soccer League (USL). In 2015, the Riverhounds closed out the year tied for second in the league with 53 goals. Rife was also the head coach for the organization's U-23 developmental squad.

Prior to his time with the Riverhounds, Rife was the head coach for the Rochester Lancers (2013-14) of the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL), becoming the youngest head coach in league history. During his year-long stint, Rife handled the daily operations of the team and was in charge of overseeing the organization's camps and clinics.

In 2008, Rife was hired as an assistant men's soccer coach at NCAA Division II member Palm Beach Atlantic, where he helped guide the Sailfish to an NCCAA National Championship in 2010.

An accomplished soccer player on the professional indoor and outdoor circuit, Rife signed with the Philadelphia KiXX of the MISL on Nov. 4, 2005, and went on to be named to the 2006 All-MISL Rookie Team. On Oct. 19, 2006, the KiXX traded Rife to the Detroit Ignition of the Xtreme Soccer League (XSL). While with the Ignition, Rife was named the XSL Defensive Player of the Year. He led the XSL with 31 shot blocks as Detroit won the league championship.

After his time in the Motor City, Rife played professional indoor soccer with the Milwaukee Wave in the MISL. During the 2009-10 season, he was named second team All-MISL and MISL Defensive Player of Month in January and March. Rife led the MISL with 36 blocked shots and played all 20 games, scoring 11 goals and tallying 28 points.

Rife began his professional playing career in 2003 with the Charlotte Eagles of the USL Professional Division, where he also played alongside Gomez. Rife was instrumental in guiding the team to a USL2 Championship in 2005 and was voted USL2 Defender of the Year in 2006.

Following a 10-year run with the Eagles, Rife played 26 games with the USL's VSI Tampa Bay FC in 2013. After a year in which the team captain earned second team All-USL PRO honors, Rife retired from professional indoor and outdoor soccer.

In eight professional indoor seasons, he played in five finals.

Rife spent the first two years of his collegiate career at TCU (1998-99) before transferring to Indiana. Rife started 46 matches with the Hoosiers, becoming a two-time All-Big Ten Selection (2000-01) while earning first team NSCAA All-Region honors in 2001. Rife helped the team to two College Cups, a Big Ten Tournament championship in 2001 and the 2000 Big Ten regular-season championship.

Rife grew up in Denton, Texas, and attended Denton High School, where he was a four-year varsity starter. He played club soccer for the Texas Longhorns, a Dallas-based soccer club, from the age of nine until he was 18. At the age of 11, he toured Norway, Sweden and Denmark with a Venezuelan youth team and played in a series of tournaments where he garnered local and national attention.

Rife comes to Starkville with his wife, Christy, and two daughters, Maddison and Kilee. A former member of the Charlotte Lady Eagles and a 2008 UNC Wilmington Hall of Fame Inductee, Christy also served as an assistant at Gardner-Webb.