Soccer
- Title:
- Volunteer Assistant Coach
When looking for a volunteer assistant coach to help train the Mississippi State goalkeepers, Aaron Gordon only had to look an hour north of Starkville to find John Chisolm, a veteran coach of over 20 years.
Prior to joining the Bulldogs, Chisolm served three years as the Director of Coaching and Education with Tupelo FC and the Tupelo Youth Soccer Association. Under his guidance, Tupelo FC’s U16 girls won the 2011 State Cup, and he was instrumental in developing club-wide player development curriculum, coaching education and evaluation processes for players and coaches.
While serving in Tupelo, Chisolm was named Mississippi’s Olympic Development Program coach for the ’97 boys squad.
In addition to his Mississippi ODP coaching, he also coached in the Tennessee ODP program on both the boys and girls sides during a 10-year appointment in Nashville as the staff coach and academy director with TNFC and Stones River Soccer Club.
His club and ODP coaching experience extend outside Tennessee and Mississippi, with tenures in Texas, Alabama and Virginia.
He called Nashville home for 16 years, serving as assistant coach with Metro Pros Soccer A-League and Vanderbilt’s men’s and women’s soccer programs.
He worked with Metros Pro Soccer from 1998-2001, working daily with the goalkeepers while overseeing the youth club. As part of those duties he assisted with scouting and match analysis, conducting summer camps and pre-draft player evaluations.
Prior to joining the Metros, he served four years as the goalkeeper coach for the Commodores’ men’s and women’s programs. In his first season at Vanderbilt, he helped the 1994 squad win the SEC crown with an 18-5 overall record and 4-0 conference mark. That squad earned the program’s first NCAA Tournament appearance, something the team repeated each year he was on the staff.
On the men’s side, he was part of the staff that took Vanderbilt to a share of the Sun Belt Conference championship.
Chisolm made the move to Nashville after tutoring the goalkeepers for the men’s and women’s programs at William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va. While there, he helped both programs earn NCAA Tournament berths while the women’s squad claimed co-champion honors of the Colonial Athletic Association.
He also coached on the NAIA level at Huntingdon College in Montgomery, Ala.
Chisolm translated a successful playing career into his veteran coaching experience.
He played collegiately at Northeast Louisiana (now Louisiana-Monroe), with his success on the pitch earning him an invitation to preseason training camp with the Wichita Wings of the Major Indoor Soccer League.
Chisolm holds “B” and “National Youth” licenses from U.S. Soccer, and “Advance National” and “Goalkeeping” certifications from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.
