Othoniel "Junior" Gonzalez (born September 26, 1977) is an American professional soccer coach. He was previously an assistant coach for Chicago Fire FC, and had coaching positions with LA Galaxy II, Seattle Sounders FC, Chivas USA and was head coach with Rio Grande Valley FC Toros. Junior attended UCLA where he played on the Men's NCAA soccer team and won the NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship in 1997.
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Othoniel "Junior" Gonzalez | ||
| Date of birth | September 26, 1977 | ||
| College career | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1995–1998 | UCLA Bruins | ||
| Managerial career | |||
| 2001–2003 | UC Riverside Highlanders (assistant) | ||
| 2004–2013 | UC Riverside Highlanders | ||
| 2013–2014 | Chivas USA (assistant) | ||
| 2015 | United States U15 (assistant) | ||
| 2016 | Seattle Sounders FC 2 (assistant) | ||
| 2017 | Rio Grande Valley FC Toros | ||
| 2018–2019 | LA Galaxy (assistant) | ||
| 2019 | LA Galaxy II (interim) | ||
| 2019–2021 | LA Galaxy II | ||
| 2022–2023 | Chicago Fire (assistant) | ||
| 2024– | Los Angeles FC 2 | ||
Gonzalez's coaching career began in 2001 as an assistant coach for the University of California, Riverside men's program. Three years later he became the head coach and under his tenure 30 players were named All-Big West Conference – including two Big West Conference Players of the Year – and six players went on to MLS and USL careers. In 2011, Gonzalez was named the Big West Coach of the Year.
As a player, Gonzalez won the 1997 NCAA National Championship with UCLA. His collegiate career included four trips to the NCAA tournament and three Mountain Pacific Conference Championships. Gonzalez continued his playing career with the USL's San Diego Flash and his career continued throughout California before his final stop with the Utah Blitz.
During 2019, Gonzalez was the interim manager for LA Galaxy II.[1]
References
edit- ^ "LA Galaxy II's Junior Gonzalez to fill in as head coach at U.S. U-17 camp". www.socceramerica.com. 5 November 2019.
  | This biographical article related to soccer in the United States is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |