Nigel Dillard was named the head coach of the University of St. Francis men’s soccer team before the 2024 season. The 2025-26 season will mark Dillard’s second year as head coach.
As of the start of the 2025 season, Dillard has compiled an overall record of 5-8-2 (.400) and a conference mark of 1-7-2 (.200). Under his tutelage, he has seen one of his players receive CCAC Player of the Week award (one defensive). On the academic side, Dillard has totaled nine CCAC All-Academic honorees and eight NAIA Scholar Athletes.
Dillard got his start in coaching with the Legacy Soccer Club in New Lenox, Ill., a position which he currently still holds. From there, he expanded his wings in 2020 to become the director of coaching and recruitment coordinator for Steel City FC, which is based out of Joliet. He served in that capacity for three years before being named the head coach of the club in 2023.
In 2023, Dillard added the assignment of talent acquisition scout to his portfolio. He served in that capacity for Daryse Academy, based out of Lecce, Italy. In that role, he laid the organizational framework for the USA branch of Daryse, identified high-level soccer players to attend the Daryse Academy and planned international soccer-focused trips for players looking to advance their game.
A 2011 graduate of Olivet Nazarene University, Dillard came to St. Francis after he returned to his alma mater in 2022 as an assistant coach, a position he held through the 2023 season. During that time, he was part of back-to-back conference regular-season and tournament championships with the Tigers. As a student-athlete for ONU, he scored the only goal in the 2009 CCAC Tournament championship game to send the Tiger program to the NAIA National Tournament for the first time in school history. That same year, the junior was named to the all-conference second team as a defender, a position he started at for three seasons among his four total at ONU.
A native of Davenport, Iowa, Dillard holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Olivet Nazarene University. He has earned multiple endorsements and licenses throughout the years including a National D Coaching License from the United States Soccer Federation.
COACHING RECORD
| Year |
Record |
Conference |
Postseason |
| 2024 |
5-8-2 |
1-7-2 |
- - |
| - |
- |
- |
- |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Year |
Record |
Conference |
Postseason |
| 1 |
5-8-2 |
1-7-2 |
0-0 |
