Coaching Staff

Executive Director of Coaching

Brian Ainscough

Head Coach: U16 Boys Development Academy

Biography

Brian Ainscough is currently the Head men’s soccer Coach at Northeastern University. With back-to-back appearances in the CAA Championship final under his belt, Ainscough has the Huskies knocking on the door of an NCAA Tournament berth.

Ainscough continued the Huskies’ upward trend in 2009 with a 10-8-1 overall record and a 8-2-1, CAA record, which represents the program’s best-ever conference mark. Northeastern was seeded No. 3 in the CAA Championship, and Ainscough guided the team to a semifinal win over William & Mary to advance to the championship game for the second straight season. Ainscough coached five All-CAA selections, including first-team All-CAA and CAA Rookie of the Year Don Anding. The team ended the regular season ranked No. 9 in the NSCAA South Atlantic region poll, its highest ranking of the season.
In 2008, Ainscough’s Huskies showed a marked improvement, putting together an overall record of 7-5-9 and making it to the CAA Championship final, where they lost to George Mason. Ainscough led a young squad to the best defensive season in program history as the team recorded 10 shutouts and gave up a scant 17 goals, both Husky records. The team battled through tough injuries to several key players throughout the season, but Ainscough was able to keep the team on track to finish the program’s best season in the CAA to date. Four Huskies were named All-CAA, including standout defenders Lars Okland and Petur Vidarsson, who were both selected to the first team.

In 2007, Ainscough led the Huskies to their second CAA playoff appearance with a 6-4-1 CAA mark and an 8-10-1 overall record in 2007. Ainscough’s club battled late to make postseason, as Northeastern went 6-2-1 in its final nine regular season games to earn a playoff berth. The late heroics proved to be nearly a mirror image of the previous season. In 2006, the Huskies ran off six straight victories in October to get into the playoffs, finishing with a 6-4-1 CAA mark and a 8-10-2 overall record. The team’s five-win improvement from 2005 to 2006 was its biggest single-season improvement since 1990.

Ainscough has had a lot of success at Northeastern developing the talent on his squad. Northeastern has had 14 players selected All-Conference during Ainscough’s tenure, including six to the first team. Okland, who now serves as Ainscough’s undergraduate assistant coach, was a two-time first-team All-CAA performer. In addition, seven of Ainscough’s first-year players have received CAA All-Rookie honors. Ainscough himself has been previously recognized as College Coach of the Year by the Eastern Massachusetts High School Soccer Coaches Association.

Before arriving on Huntington Avenue, Ainscough spent five years at Div. III powerhouse Bowdoin College and five at Providence College. At Bowdoin, Ainscough took the Polar Bears to the NESCAC Tournament each season and advanced to the semifinals each season. In 2002, Ainscough’s team ranked No. 1 in New England and captured the NESCAC regular season crown and a playoff bid in 2002. In 2003, he led the Polar Bears to a top-10 national ranking, a second-place finish in the NESCAC Tournament and a bid to the NCAA Div. III Tournament.

While coaching at Bowdoin, Ainscough also coached for the U.S. Soccer Olympic Development Program for teams in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Maine. He has held Brian Ainscough Soccer Academy camps in New England since 1993.

Prior to Bowdoin, Ainscough was head coach at Providence and turned a losing program into a .500 team (9-9-1) in four seasons. In 1998, Providence had a winning record (6-4-1) in conference play for the first time since 1984 and earned a Big East Tournament bid for the first time since 1987. Ainscough started his coaching career at Villanova as an assistant in 1991. In 1992, he joined his former coach, Ed Kelly, as an assistant at Boston College for three seasons.

A native of Dublin, Ireland, Ainscough played for the 1983 Irish Youth National team before coming to the U.S. to attend Fairleigh Dickinson University. He earned All-Mid Atlantic Conference honors all four years and graduated in 1987. After college, Ainscough was a first round pick in the Major Indoor Soccer League’s annual draft. He played five years in the American Professional Soccer League for the New Jersey Eagles, Penn-Jersey Spirits and Boston Bolts, earning APSL All-State honors in 1988-90.

Ainscough currently resides in Canton, Mass., with his wife, Victoria, and sons, Alexander and Nicholas.