Mark Cook was named head women's soccer coach at North Dakota State on Jan. 25, 2012. He is the fourth head coach in the 17-year history of the program.
Cook comes to NDSU after serving as the Director of Coaching at the
Minnesota Thunder Academy for 11 years, where he grew a four-team program into one of the premier club programs in the Twin Cities with 65 teams in 2012.
He was responsible for all aspects of the club's operation,
including the hiring and training of all coaches, coordinating college
recruitment programs, recruiting players for the elite girls program,
overseeing all competition and practice schedules, and managing the
budget.
Under his leadership, Minnesota Thunder Academy placed approximately 85 percent of all club
graduates in collegiate soccer programs.
In addition to his role at MTA, Cook was the assistant
varsity coach at Bloomington Jefferson High School. The team advanced
to the 2010 Minnesota Class 2A quarterfinals and in 2011, he was named
the Minnesota Class 2A assistant coach of the year.
Cook served as the head coach for the MTA 94 Elite Clubs National
League team from 2007-11. He guided the team to five straight Minnesota
State Cup titles, two berths in the ECNL quarterfinals, the 2007 USYSA
Region II title and the 2010 USYSA national finals.
He was the head coach of the club team Bangu Tsunami Stars for five
years prior and led the team to four Minnesota State Cup championships,
the 2005 U.S. Club Soccer national finals and the 2003 USYSA Region II
semifinals.
Cook served as the head coach at the Academy of Holy Angels in
Richfield, Minn., from 1998-2002 and led the Stars to the 2002 Class A
state title and the 2000 and 2001 state finals. He was named the 2002
National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) North Region
Coach of the Year.
He was an assistant at Holy Angels for five years
prior to taking the head coaching position and was named the 1997 and
1998 Minnesota Class A assistant coach of the year.
Cook holds the United States Soccer Federation 'A' coaching license,
the highest certification available in the U.S. He also has the NSCAA
Premier License and Director of Coaching Diploma.
He graduated from Alfred (N.Y.) University in 1993 with a bachelor's degree in communications. He was the starting goalkeeper at Alfred for two years.
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