Kiefer announces Chappel as associate head coach

Newly appointed Grand Canyon men's soccer head coach George Kiefer announced a prominent addition to his staff in Leo Chappel, who brings nearly 30 years of experience at the collegiate and pro levels.

Chappel will serve as associate head coach on Kiefer's GCU staff.

An Ohio Wesleyan grad, Chappel most recently served as founder and director of LLC Recruiting and Consulting, identifying and managing top international and domestic soccer players for Division I programs across the country. He has placed more than 65 players to top Division I programs in the past two and a half years.

Prior to that, Chappel was an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Akron, where he served for five seasons. In his time there, the Zips won five Mid-American Conference regular-season and tournament championships and made the NCAA tournament five times, including three College Cup appearances and a 2018 national runner-up team.

With Chappel as assistant coach, Akron totaled a 76-26-13 record with a postseason mark of 12-2-3. After five seasons, the Zips held the best winning percentage in D-I soccer over that time period.

Chappel spent time at the professional level prior to Akron as Director of Scouting for Toronto FC in Major League Soccer from 2011-2013. Chappel also was an assistant coach at UC Santa Barbara from 2001 to 2006 and again in 2009 to 2011. There, he aided five Big West championships and a 2004 national runner-up finish before the ultimate prize of a 2006 national championship. In his seven seasons at UCSB, the Gauchos went 118-26-2 with a 11-4-2 postseason record.

Chappel's experience also includes a head coaching stint at Columbia, where he turned the program around to its first Ivy league win in five years with highlighted victories over No. 2 UC Santa Barbara and No. 6 Penn. His success on the field also extended into the classroom, as Columbia was given the National Soccer Coaches Association of America's Team Academic Achievement award three consecutive seasons.

Chappel began his career as an assistant coach at Wake Forest in 1995 and returned to his alma mater of Ohio Wesleyan as assistant coach for two seasons. His coaching accolades include 2004 NSCAA Assistant Coach of the Year with numerous Top 10 Assistant Coach accolades from the College Soccer News.

Grand Canyon University Athletics

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