THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – After more than a quarter of a century of coaching soccer at Cal Lutheran, Dan Kuntz is retiring as the men's soccer coach, but is remaining with the university in his role as the Athletics Director.
Kuntz has spent the past 25 years as head coach of the men's team and also coached the women's team for 12 years from 1993-2004. In addition to his coaching duties, Kuntz was named CLU's full time Director of Athletics in 2005 after serving one year as the interim director in 2004.
"Dan has a long and distinguished career as a soccer coach at Cal Lutheran, beginning with the women's program and then moving to the men's program," said Cal Lutheran President Chris Kimball. In that coaching career, his teams have had much success on the field. But Dan would be the first to point to the success his players have had in their lives after college. He will be missed on the sidelines. But we are glad that he can focus all of his attention to the AD job and bring Cal Lutheran into line with our conference peers in having a full-time Athletics Director."
Under Kuntz' leadership, Cal Lutheran hosted its first NCAA football championship contest, NCAA men's and women's West Region soccer championship contests and NCAA West Region women's volleyball championships. During his tenure, Cal Lutheran also earned its first NCAA team national championships, one in volleyball (2015) and another in baseball (2017). Kuntz served on a subcommittee with the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) working to review SCIAC and NCAA rules and regulations. During his time as Director of Athletics, the Cal Lutheran Athletics Department has been ranked nationally in the Learfield Director's Cup Standings.
Kuntz has served in leadership roles as a member of the NCAA men's and women's soccer regional advisory committees, the chair of the NCAA West Region Championship Committee, and the chair of the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) Far West Senior Women's Regional All-America Committee.
"Dan is CLU soccer," said Cal Lutheran football head coach Ben McEnroe. "His record in leading both the men's and women's programs, plus the SCIAC and NCAA appearances, speak for his work. I'm excited about our future as a department and appreciate the tremendous coaching legacy he leaves behind."
Kuntz earned his bachelor's degree in telecommunications and broadcast station management from Arizona State University in 1984 and holds teaching credentials in communication arts, television and radio, and English. He earned a master's degree in educational technology with an emphasis in curriculum and instruction and a doctorate in higher education leadership at Cal Lutheran.
Kuntz taught at the East Valley Institute of Technology for eight years and wrote their radio broadcast curriculum. He also served in the Mesa Unified School District Tech Prep Consortium and the Career Ladder program assessing teacher achievement. In 1993, Kuntz wrote the business plan for KCLU radio, served as its first general manager and launched the university's NPR affiliate radio station on the air in 1994.
Kuntz will fulfill all of his soccer duties throughout the rest of the 2017 season. The search for his successor will begin immediately.
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Release by Ryan Jorgenson, Interim Sports Information Director
