Tom Stone (soccer)

Stone's first coaching job was as a part-time assistant at the University of Denver in 1996 and as a volunteer assistant at Duke in 1997. Then, from 1997–2000, Stone coached girls' soccer for the Colorado Rush youth soccer club. Under his leadership, the team won 35 state cups, twelve regional championships and eight national championships. He left the Rush to coach professionally in the Women's United Soccer Association, leading the Atlanta Beat to the league's inaugural championship game, losing in overtime on penalty kicks to the Bay Area CyberRays. He also provided soccer commentary for Fox Sports, ESPN and CBS College Sports Network.[6][8] Stone returned to college coaching when he was hired as an assistant for the Clemson Tigers. He spent one year there, helping the Tigers to an 11–8–4 record and an appearance in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Women's Soccer Championship.

On May 25, 2007, Stone was named the fourth head coach in Texas Tech soccer history.[9][10] Prior to his arrival at Texas Tech, the team had a record of 6–63–1 in Big 12 play and had gone 0–10–0 in conference four of the previous six seasons. In Stone's first year and half as coach, the team quickly matched that win total, going 6–5–1 in conference play.[11] In 2010 – Stone's fourth year with the team – the Red Raiders went 11–8–1, marking the program's third-ever winning record and first in 15 seasons. Two years later, the Red Raiders made the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history and beat North Texas, 2–0, in the program's debut in postseason play. They would lose to Florida State, 2–3, in double overtime in the second round.

In 2013, the Red Raiders made another appearance in the second round after recording a program-record 18 wins. In 2014, Stone's squad won 16 games and climbed as high as sixth in the national coaches' polls before advancing to the program's first-ever Sweet Sixteen. For the breakout campaign, he was named the NSCAA Central Region Coach of the Year.[12] In 2015, the Red Raiders won their first-ever Big 12 Championship, defeating Kansas, 1–0. The year also saw Stone pick up his 100th win at the helm of the Red Raider program when the team beat South Florida, 2–1.[13]

The Red Raiders went .500 the following two seasons – and missed the tournament altogether in 2017 – but came back to go 14–5–3 in 2018, beating a program-record four ranked opponents and leading the nation in shutouts with 14 in the process. As of 2018, Stone has led Texas Tech to the NCAA Tournament in six of the last seven seasons.

On October 3, 2019, Tom Stone got his 150th career win with a 1–0 overtime game at Iowa State.[14] The only goal was scored by Sierra Jones.