Jim Conlon made his mark at Washington University in St. Louis in just his second season, leading the Bears to a runner-up finish at the 2009 NCAA Division III National Championship.
Conlon guided the Bears to the national championship game before falling to No. 1 ranked and defending national champion Messiah College, 1-0, on Dec. 5, in San Antonio, Texas. Washington University tied a school record with a 17-4-3 overall record, and won their fourth-straight University Athletic Association (UAA) championship.
The past two seasons Conlon has has tremendous success. He led Washington to a school-record 18-5 mark and an appearance in the NCAA Elite 8 in 2011, and then posted a school-record 19-2-1 mark in 2012 and a second-consecutive trip to the Elite 8.
In five seasons on the Danforth Campus, Conlon has guided Washington University to 80-23-8 (.757) overall record, three University Athletic Association (UAA) championships and five trips to the NCAA Tournament.
Conlon has also mentored two-time NSCAA All-American Libby Held, 2009 NSCAA First-Team All-American and UAA Most Valuable Player Caryn Rosoff and 2012 NSCAA First-Team All-American and UAA MVP Anna Zambricki.
Conlon arrived on the Danforth Campus on March 13, 2008, after serving for eight seasons as the head women’s and men’s soccer coach at Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa. He is the third women’s soccer coach in Washington University history and the second full-time coach.
Conlon replaced Wendy Dillinger, who spent six years as the head coach at Washington University, before resigning to take the same position at Iowa State University.
As the first full-time soccer coach in Wartburg history, Conlon posted a 108-48-10 overall record with the men’s team and a 96-57-5 mark with the women’s team. He led the men’s squad to five NCAA appearances, advancing to the Sectional semifinals in 2005 and 2006, and to the Sectional final in 2004. In 2007, the Wartburg women’s team won the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) title and advanced to the NCAA Sectional round, the squad’s first NCAA berth in school history.
Conlon was named the NCAA Division III West Region Coach of the Year in 2006, and garnered IIAC Coach of the Year honors in 2003 and 2004. He has had 64 student-athletes earn Academic All-IIAC honors, four ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District honorees and four National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) All-America selections.
A 1998 graduate of Loras College, Conlon played for four seasons on the Loras men’s soccer team and graduated with a bachelor of arts in business management and sports management.
Upon graduation, he served as the assistant women’s and men’s soccer coach at his alma mater for two years, while pursuing a Master of Arts in physical education with an emphasis in athletic administration.