Tom Harman is approaching his fourth season as an assistant coach for the Florida Atlantic University men’s soccer team. Harman was hired in July of 2019 and has served as Worthen’s righthand man on the staff.

In Harman’s third year with the Owls, the team achieved its second consecutive winning season for the first time since 2003-04. The squad achieved a 9-7-3 mark and began the year with a 3-0 record, marking the program’s best start since 1996. Harman’s leadership helped the Owls go on to have a tremendous performance in the 2021 Conference USA Tournament as the No. 6 seed. The Owls defeated tournament-host Charlotte with a 5-3 advantage in penalty kicks to move on to the semifinals where the team upset reigning College Cup Champions, Marshall, 3-1.

Harman helped produce five All-C-USA recipients for the second straight year. Alonso Coello Camarero, who became the Owls’ second ever MLS signee and first since 2006, was highlighted on the Second Team with Filip Jauk. Tom Abrahamsson and Ivan Mykhailenko were recognized to the Third Team and Jauk and Davide Romeo to the All-Freshman Team.

In the 2020 season, which was pushed back to the spring due to the COVID-19 pandemic, FAU finished the season with a 6-4-2 record, marking the first winning season since 2007. The Owls held opponents to 11 goals and a 0.92 goals against average, which both became single-season school records. With a No. 52 RPI ranking, FAU finished with its best positioning in program history. On the Owls schedule, the team played four ranked opponents, four teams who competed in the NCAA Tournament and the eventual 2020 NCAA Champion in Marshall.

Harman was instrumental in the success on and off the pitch that led to several players being awarded with postseason accolades. Five players were recognized as All-C-USA selections, which included Mykhailenko (First Team), Coello Camarero (Second Team), Graeme Pratt (Second Team), Daniel Skistad (Third Team) and Vasilis Spinos (Freshman Team). Mykhailenko tied for the most goals in the conference to earn the Co-Golden Boot Award, becoming the first Owl to win that honor.

With his first season on staff, Harman helped FAU achieve a memorable 2019 campaign, which ended in a trip to the Owls’ first C-USA Tournament and first postseason appearance since 2008. The Owls finished the year with a 7-8-1 record (3-4 C-USA) and knocked off two ranked opponents in No. 17 James Madison (1-0) and No. 15 Marshall (1-0 OT). FAU’s victory over the Thundering Herd marked the highest ranked opponent FAU has beaten since 2011.

Four Owls earned spots on the C-USA All-Conference Team. Coello Camarero became the first Owl to earn a nod on the C-USA First Team, while Mykhailenko and Alex Alexis earned spots on the C-USA Second Team. Abrahamsson was named to the All-Conference Third Team and All-Freshman Team.

Harman has helped mold student-athletes into successful performers athletically and academically. Since being in Boca Raton, the program has produced five C-USA All-Academic Team selections, four CoSIDA Academic All-District choices and a United Soccer Coaches Scholar Academic All-Region choice. In Harman’s first season at FAU, Hagay Jalon became the program’s first academic All-American as a CoSIDA Third Team choice.

Before coming to FAU, Harman was the head coach at The King’s College in New York City for four years while also serving as an assistant athletic director for three years. As head coach, Harman guided the Lions to its first winning season since the school moved to NYC and its first appearance in the HVIAC conference playoffs. Harman was named USCAA Division II National Coach of the Year in 2018.

Harman’s teams at King’s College outperformed the student body in both retention and percentage of students in good academic standing.

Under Harman’s Assistant AD title, he served sports information, facilities, operations and Student Life duties. He brought in student-athletes from all over the world, including the UK, Germany, Sweden, Mexico, Pakistan and Poland.

Harman graduated from the University of Birmingham in 2008 with a bachelor’s degree in public policy, government and management.

Quotes

Men’s soccer head coach Joey Worthen on Harman:

“We are happy to add Tom to our staff. He has an extensive background in the game including playing, coaching, training and statistical and video analysis. Most importantly, Tom shares our vision of developing our players and preparing them for life after college. We look forward to him being an integral part of helping move our program forward.”

Harman on joining FAU:

“I am very excited and grateful for this opportunity. I am looking forward to learning from the experienced staff already in place and working to help the excellent student-athletes here at FAU anyway I can.”