John Ciano Named Head Coach of Union Men’s Soccer

SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – Bringing over 15 years of teaching expertise in any respect ranges of NCAA soccer, John Ciano has been named the following head coach of the Union School males’s soccer workforce, Director of Athletics Jim McLaughlin ’93 introduced on Thursday.

“We’re thrilled to welcome John Ciano to Union as the following head coach of our males’s soccer program,” McLaughlin mentioned. “John stood out amongst a extremely certified candidate pool along with his optimistic angle, his connections to the Capital Area, and his monitor file of success in any respect ranges of school soccer. His enthusiasm for the function and dedication to the success of his student-athletes each on and off the sector will assist to advance our males’s soccer program. I sit up for welcoming John to campus and seeing the influence he can have starting subsequent season.”

“I need to thank Director of Athletics Jim McLaughlin, Affiliate Director of Athletics Beth Tiffany and the remainder of the search committee for permitting me the chance to steer the boys’s soccer program at Union,” mentioned Ciano. “As quickly as I stepped on campus, I may inform immediately that Union is a particular place. I really feel really blessed and grateful to be related to such a prestigious establishment and hope to construct a program that our workforce, college, and alumni might be pleased with.”

Ciano brings a variety of collegiate teaching expertise to Union, having coached in any respect three ranges of the NCAA in each head and assistant teaching roles over the past 16 years.

He involves Schenectady from St. John’s College, the place he has served as an assistant coach for the final two seasons. In 2024, the Pink Storm earned a share of their first BIG EAST East Division regular-season title and reached the convention semifinals, the workforce’s second straight postseason look. He beforehand spent one yr at Stony Brook College, serving as assistant coach whereas additionally participating within the United Soccer Coaches Coach Credentialing Program.

Ciano is not any stranger to the Capital Area, having spent six years as the top coach at Division II School of Saint Rose from 2016-21. The Golden Knights posted a 45-38-11 (.537) file in his time in Albany, together with a stretch of 4 straight successful seasons for a program that had only one season over .500 all through its first 36 years. He coached the workforce to the one two 10-win seasons on the college, concluding with a 10-6-2 marketing campaign in 2021 that noticed the workforce earn its highest end within the Northeast-10 Convention regular-season standings and obtain votes within the United Soccer Coaches nationwide ballot for the primary time ever. His 2019 workforce additionally reached the 10-win plateau, earned the primary postseason win in program annals, and reached the NE-10 Championship recreation for the primary time ever. Ciano left the varsity with the best successful proportion in program historical past by greater than 200 proportion factors.

“The Capital Area has at all times held a particular place in my coronary heart. I fell in love with the neighborhood and the sense of satisfaction that was repeatedly on show once I spent 9 years within the space,” Ciano added. “I’m actually excited to reconnect with previous mates, set up new relationships, and construct a excessive reaching program on the sector, within the classroom, and in the neighborhood.”

Previous to his time at Saint Rose, Ciano noticed success over a mixed 5 seasons as an assistant coach on the Division I degree with Siena School and New Jersey Institute of Expertise. In three seasons at Siena from 2013-15, Ciano served as recruiting coordinator for the Saints and helped the squad to 25 wins and a pair of MAAC Event appearances, together with a 10-8-2 file in 2014 that continues to be the second-highest win whole in a season in program historical past. Within the second season of his two-year stint with NJIT (2011-12), the Highlanders produced probably the most wins of their Division I historical past.

Ciano started his collegiate teaching tenure at Division III Manhattanville School (2009-10), the place he helped information the Valiants to a mixed 24-11-2 file and a MAC Freedom regular-season title in 2009.

As an undergraduate, Ciano was a four-year starter in aim between his time at Central Connecticut State College and Manhattan School, beginning 54-of-55 video games in a single yr with the Blue Devils and three years with the Jaspers. He graduated from Manhattan in 2009 with a bachelor’s diploma in bodily schooling.

Ciano takes over a Union facet that posted a 6-8-5 file throughout the 2024 season underneath interim head coach Anthony Scaravillo, averaging underneath one aim conceded per recreation and permitting one aim or fewer in 15-of-19 outings. 5 of the workforce’s losses got here by one aim, together with a pair to nationally ranked opponents.

“I wish to thank Anthony for his stewardship of this system this season,” McLaughlin added. “The Union males’s soccer program is in a very good place for future success and I sit up for seeing the workforce again on the sector within the fall.”