Bronx, N.Y. – (July 28, 2022) – Fordham men's soccer head coach
Carlo Acquista is proud to announce today that Phil Bannister has been promoted from assistant coach to associate head coach.
"Having a great staff is critical to being successful. Having someone like Phil, who has been with us from the beginning, continues to be a huge asset to our program," said Acquista. "He is someone that I trust dearly and want around our program daily. He is a leader in this industry and highly regarded as a top recruiter globally as well as a fantastic soccer coach."
Since coming to Rose Hill with Acquista three years ago, Bannister has coached the Rams to the Atlantic 10 Championship semifinals in each of those seasons and helped the Rams through the adversity of a pandemic to capture the program's fourth Atlantic 10 Championship in the spring of 2021. After an unbeaten spring regular season, Fordham knocked off Saint Louis and George Washington in the Atlantic 10 Championship to win the title and advance to the NCAA Tournament, where the team fell in overtime to eventual national champion Marshall.
For individual players, Fordham has had five United Soccer Coaches All-Region selections, seven All-Atlantic 10 performers, and eight Atlantic 10 All-Championship picks over the past three seasons.
Prior to Fordham, Bannister spent two seasons on Acquista's staff at Adelphi University which was named the 2017 East Region Coaching Staff of the Year after Adelphi won the Northeast-10 regular season championship and finished with a #14 national ranking. In 2018, the Panthers once again claimed the NE-10 regular season championship, while also winning the tournament championship.
Prior to Adelphi, Bannister spent three years at St. John's University. He served his first two years as a graduate assistant with the Red Storm before transitioning to the position of volunteer assistant and joined St. John's after one season as a graduate assistant with the women's soccer team at Bloomsburg.
Following a standout collegiate career at Loyola (Md.), the Wallsend, England native was drafted by the Colorado Rapids in the 2011 MLS Supplemental Draft. His collegiate career included four All-MAAC selections and the MAAC Rookie of the Year Award.
Bannister, who owns FA Level 1 and FA Level 2 coaching badges, graduated from Loyola in 2011 with a degree in marketing and earned an MBA in finance from St. John's.
