Jaro Zawislan served as the head coach of Cornell men's soccer for seven seasons, leading the team to four consecutive winning seasons from 2011 to 2014, including three seasons with 10 wins or more and an Ivy League Championship in 2012.
Originally a native of Poland, Zawislan led Cornell to a 6-6-5 record in his first year directing the squad in 2009. That season marked an impressive improvement from the 2008 campaign that saw the Big Red post a 1-15 mark. In 2009, Cornell also tied for sixth in the Ivy League standings at 1-3-3 in league play, an improvement over the 0-7 mark and eighth-place showing the season prior to his arrival. He is the fifth straight coach to open up his coaching tenure at Cornell at or above the .500 mark in his first season, joining Dan Wood (1971, 11-4), Jack Writer (1976, 9-4-2), Dave Sarachan (1989, 6-6-3) and Bryan Scales (1988, 8-8) in that group.
But Cornell's growth under Zawislan is seen in more than just the overall record. Cornell scored 20 goals in 2009, more than double the offensive output from 2008, and allowed 23 goals, well below the 43 goals conceded prior to his arrival.
In 2010, the Big Red recorded a 4-8-5 mark on the season, battling through a host of injuries to key players throughout the campaign. And while the Big Red scored 13 goals over the season, the defense continued to improve, allowing just 16 goals in 17 games, a drop of six goals from the year before.
In 2011, Zawislan's third year with the team, the Big Red finished over .500 (8-2-6) for the first time since 2001 and came within one goal of claiming a share of the Ivy League title for the first time since 1995. Zawislan improved his career record to 18-16-15 while leading an offense in 2011 that scored nearly twice as many goals as it did in 2010. In 2011, the program was ranked in the national top 25 for the first time since 2001 and had two players make the Ivy League First Team.
During the 2012 season, Cornell went 15-2, claiming the Ivy League championship outright for the first time since 1977 and earning an NCAA Tournament berth for the first time since 1996. Zawislan also oversaw Daniel Haber's Ivy League Player of the Year campaign as Haber led the country in goals per game and points per game in 2012 to become the first Ivy League Player of the Year in program history. Haber — part of Zawislan's first recruiting class — went on to become a First-Team All-American as well. The Big Red had four players on the All-Ivy First Team in Haber, goalie Rick Pflasterer, defender Patrick Slogic and forward Tyler Regan. Cornell hosted an NCAA Tournament game for the first time since the 1980s, playing nearby rival Syracuse. Zawislan’s team was ranked as high as No. 10 in the nation during the year. In addition, following the 2012 season, goaltender Rick Pflasterer joined the Syracuse Chiefs of the Major Indoor Soccer League.
Cornell compiled an 8-5-4 record under Zawislan in 2013. For the second consecutive year, a Cornellian was named Ivy League Player of the Year as senior defender and captain Patrick Slogic earned the honor. Slogic was the only player to start every game, compiling 5,123 consecutive minutes dating back to October of his freshman year. Slogic’s other accomplishments under Zawislan’s direction include NSCAA/Continental Tire All-Northeast Region First Team, First Team Scholar All-East Region, NSCAA Scholar All-America First Team, ECAC men's soccer second team, and an invitation to the 2014 adidas MLS Player Combine.
The Big Red was a defensive machine in 2014, allowing just 11 goals on the season, tying the program record, and earning a program-record 11 clean sheets. Under Zawislan, senior defender Peter Chodas was named to First-Team All-Ivy, while seniors midfielder Conor Goepel, defender Devin Morgan, and goalkeeper Zach Zagorski made Second Team. Goepel, who led the Ivy League with five game-winning goals, and Zagorski, who was ranked second all-time in program history in goals against average (0.70) and third all-time in wins (17), also earned spots on the National Soccer Coaches Association of America All-East Third Team. As a whole, the Class of 2015 posted the second-most wins (41) of any senior class in program history.
With the team's lone senior sidelined for the season with an injury, a young Cornell side battled to a 4-12-1 season in 2015, finishing sixth in the Ivy League at 2-5. Early in the season, the Big Red claimed the CU Inaria Cup for the fourth time in five years on a dramatic overtime win over Air Force. Though the young team struggled to find the back of the net, the squad's defense helped keep every game close, never conceding more than two goals in a game and allowing just one or fewer on nine occasions.
Before being named as the 11th head coach at Cornell on April 13, 2009, Zawislan served as an assistant coach at Syracuse, Stanford and Creighton. Zawislan’s tenure at Syracuse was marked by his work in bringing in one of the top 40 recruiting classes in the nation in 2003, according to collegesoccernews.com. As a former goalkeeper himself, he also helped coach the Orange goalkeepers, who have posted some of the program’s all-time best numbers.
Prior to coaching at Syracuse, Zawislan coached at Stanford, serving as an assistant coach and a goalkeeper coach for the Cardinal program. He helped the Stanford men’s team to the College Cup Final Four in 2001 along with its first Pacific-10 championship and best record in program history at 19-2-1.
His coaching career also includes a stop at Creighton for two seasons, helping the Bluejays to a national runner-up finish in 2000 and a Missouri Valley Conference championship, helping coach the Creighton keepers to a school-record 22 victories. In his first season on the Bluejay bench in 1999, he guided Creighton's goalkeepers to the nation's best goals-against average.
Zawislan attended Clemson University, starting every game over his four-year career before graduating in 1993. He was a three-time All-Atlantic Coast Conference and four-time All-South region selection, in addition to being named the most valuable player of the 1993 ACC tournament. He holds school records for career saves (446), single-season saves (134), career wins by a goalkeeper (58) and career starts (88). He was also a two-time national All-Academic honoree.
Following graduation, Zawislan played professional both in the United States and Poland. He began his collegiate coaching career in 1999 at Creighton, while also coaching the Nebraska Olympic Development Program’s Open U-23 team and the Nebraska state ODP goalkeepers. His career also includes a stop as a player-coach with the Columbia Heat of the USISL.
Zawislan received a bachelor of arts degree in computer science from Clemson and also earned a bachelor of education from the University of Toronto in 1999. He earned a masters’ degree in liberal studies from Creighton in 2001. Zawislan also holds a USSF “B” license, the NSCAA National Diploma and an NSCAA Goalkeeper Academy Diploma.
Updated: 1/27/16 | Zawislan at Cornell |
Year | Overall Record | Percent | Ivy Record | Ivy Finish |
2009 | 6-6-5 | .500 | 1-3-3 | t-5th |
2010 | 4-8-5 | .382 | 0-5-2 | 8th |
2011 | 8-2-6 | .6875 | 3-1-3 | t-4th |
2012 | 15-2-0 | .882 | 6-1-0 | 1st |
|
2013 | 8-5-4 | .588 | 2-4-1 | 6th |
2014
|
10-6-1 |
.618 |
3-4-0 |
4th |
