Nick Webster
Nick Webster (born October 7, 1964) is the Vice President of Adult Soccer for Cal South and current volunteer assistant coach on the UCSB women's team, a former soccer personality, and acclaimed mental performance and leadership coach. He was formerly an announcer, senior producer, director, and chief writer for Fox Soccer Channel and foxsoccer.com.[1] He was also the color commentator for KDOC-TV and their Chivas USA broadcasts and the play-by-play announcer for the Orange County Blues. In May 2012 he became the Director of Content and Development for football.com and held that position for two years. Webster now runs his own consulting business advising coaches, players and talent in the TV and soccer industry. He currently has a video series featuring different aspects of soccer on the livestrong network, and in 2016 published his first book, 'Re-Booting Youth Soccer 2.0' which has become required reading for new coaches and parents. His Facebook group, the Soccer Coaches Mastermind currently boasts over 4,000 coaches and is one of the most popular soccer coaching pages on the Facebook network. Webster holds a Bachelor of Science from CSUDH and a Master's Degree in Organizational Leadership and Development from Concordia University Irvine.
Nick Webster | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | October 7, 1964 |
| Occupation | TV Personality, Coach, Advisor |
Coaching
Webster is a licensed coach with the United States Soccer Federation and the United Soccer Coaches holding his A, B, C & D licenses along with the highly respected Premier Diploma and the much sought Director of Coaching Diploma. In January 2017, Webster successfully completed his United Soccer Coaches Master Coach and Soccer Leader diploma, graduating with a distinguished pass. He also holds the Advanced National Goalkeeping Diploma.
Webster grew up in São Paulo, Brazil and North London, England, attending some of the biggest club soccer matches in the world. In 1987 Webster immigrated to the United States and shortly thereafter began his soccer-coaching career at Occidental College, Los Angeles as the men's assistant to Lowell Thomas. In his one season with the Tigers, Webster helped the team to 2nd place in The Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
In 1997 he moved to Windward High School, Los Angeles to become the Head Coach of Boys' Varsity team. In his first season, the Wildcats won the first of eight League Championships. In 2004 as an unseeded school, the Wildcats won their first ever boys' CIF Southern Section title defeating Carpentaria High School 2-1. Webster was named CIF Southern Section Division VI Coach of the Year.[2]
In May 2012, Webster was appointed 1st team coach for Cal FC under the management of Eric Wynalda. The team from Thousand Oaks embarked on an historic run in the US Open Cup, beating the Kitsap Pumas, the Wilmington Hammerheads and the Portland Timbers, the first time an amateur team had ever beaten an MLS team in the US Open Cup. The run was finally ended by the three-time defending champions, Seattle Sounders.
In the 2014 edition of the US Open Cup, Webster reprised his head coaching role and led the team against the LA Galaxy II (USL) in the 2nd round of the tournament. He also assisted Eric Wynalda and the Atlanta Silverbacks in their 5th round tie against the Colorado Rapids. A match that saw 5 red cards for the Silverbacks including that of Wynalda and his first assistant leaving Webster with 8 players. Incredibly the Silverbacks held on to win the game 2-1.
On March 1, 2015, Webster won the United States Youth Soccer Association National Championships with CalSouth Boys' U17 beating Iowa in the final.
In the fall of 2017 Webster was the volunteer men's assistant coach for Cal State Dominguez Hills as they won the CCAA Championship.
Webster has coached numerous club teams in the Southern California region winning multiple league and tournament titles.
In late 2018 Webster again teamed up with Eric Wynalda at the Las Vegas Lights FC in the United Soccer League working with the first team in how to win the mental game. He is continuing this work with Wynalda as they embark on their second season together. He is also teaming up once again with Cal FC as they look to qualify for the 2020 edition of the US Open Cup by reprising the Head Coaching role.
In the spring of 2021 Webster will begin coaching at UCSB and assisting on the women's Division 1 program under Head Coach, Paul Strumpf.
Broadcasting
Webster began his broadcast career with Fox Soccer Channel (then Fox Sports World) in May 2000. His first assignment of note was writing the copy for Lionel Bienvenu and the highly popular Premier League Review Show.[2] By 2004, Webster was the voice of the English Premier League as he provided the majority of the wraparounds for the world's most popular league.
In addition to calling matches from the Premier League, Webster also commentated on the Italian Serie A, Spain's La Liga, the German Bundesliga, France's Ligue 1, the Dutch Eredivisie, Chile's Primera Division, the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, and Argentina's Apertura. Additionally, he has called matches from the UEFA Cup including the finals in 2004, 2005 and 2006, the UEFA Super Cup, World Cup Qualifying, and the Toulon Tournament.
Webster has also covered in person the following tournaments: FIFA World Cup 2002, 2006 and 2010; where he has given video summaries of the matches from South Africa; UEFA European Championship 2004 and 2008; FIFA Confederations Cup 2003; ICC 2003 Cricket World Cup; and CONCACAF Gold Cup 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, providing daily articles and news stories for foxsoccer.com and foxsports.com.[3]
Webster was also the host of Fox Football Fone-In, a call-in show for soccer fans.[4]
Webster was the director and senior producer for the following shows at Fox Soccer. Uefa Champions League Pre & Post games, Super Sunday+, Match Day, Passport to Germany & South Africa, Fox Football Fone-In. He has also won multiple Telly Awards.
During the summer of 2007, Webster was the lead announcer for Bluff Poker as they held the online rights for the World Series of Poker. Webster produced twice-daily reports of the action as well as breaking down the big hands of the day. Webster is an accomplished Texas Hold 'Em player and has won the daily 'poker and ponnies' tournament at Hollywood Park Casino on multiple occasions.
In 2014 Webster was named the color commentator for Chivas USA broadcasts on KDOC-TV. Later that summer he became the host for the World Soccer Talk Premier League podcast. During the summer of 2016 he also performed as the play-by-play announcer for the Orange County Blues.
During World Cup 2018, Webster provided daily expert analysis for 5thstreetsports.com. In August of 2018 Webster partnered up with Nick Geber to provide daily analysis of the English Premier League on Sirius XM Satellite Radio, Sports Byline USA, American Forces Network, SB Nation Radio and IHeartRadio, making it the most widely distributed soccer radio show in the US.