Rudy Meredith, the winningest coach in Yale history, begins his 24th season at the helm in 2018-19. During his tenure, Meredith has amassed 217 victories and firmly established the Bulldogs as one of the most successful and respected women's soccer programs in the Northeast.
He is a three-time Northeast Region Coach of the Year and has guided the Bulldogs to the NCAA College Cup in 2002, 2004 and 2005. In 2005, the Bulldogs won a school record 15 games, captured the first outright Ivy League title in Yale history and advanced to the third round of the NCAA College Cup for the first time in school history. In the second round, Yale upset third-seeded Duke 2-1, scoring the winning goal with one second left in the second half, one of the most dramatic finishes in the history of the tournament. The Bulldogs were ranked 13th in the final NSCAA/adidas national poll.
In 2017, Meredith was selected as the New England Coach of the Year by the New England Soccer Journal after guiding the Bulldogs to an 11-4-2 overall record, the most overall wins since 2007. In addition, Yale was unbeaten (6-0-2) at home for the first time since 2005 and finished third in the Ivy League with a 4-2-1 record.
In 2002, Yale made the first NCAA Tournament appearance in school history, upsetting Villanova in the first round before dropping a heartbreaking 1-0 decision to Nebraska in the second round. The Bulldogs returned to the NCAA Tournament in 2004 after winning 13 games and finishing second in the Ivy League.
Several individuals have earned accolades under Meredith's tutelage. Lorelei Wall '00 was named Yale's first Ivy League Rookie of the Year in 1996 and went on to receive first team All-Ivy honors the next three years. Crysti Howser was named Ivy League Rookie of the Year in 2005, and Christina Huang became only the second Yale player to earn All-America recognition when she was named to the second team in 2005. In 2010, Yale had both the league's player of the year (Becky Brown) and the co-rookie of the year (Kristen Forster). In 2011, Melissa Gavin became the fourth player in school history to be named the league's rookie of the year, and in 2017, Michelle Alozie was selected as the Ivy League Offensive Player of the Year. Meredith has coached 28 players to first team All-Ivy honors during his tenure.
Two of Meredith's former players are currently in the professional ranks. Meredith Speck '15 and Carlin Hudson '18 are both with the National Women's Soccer League's North Carolina Courage. Speck is one of only three three-time first team All-Ivy selections in Yale history. Hudson earned All-Ivy recognition three times during her career, including first team recognition as a senior.
In the summer of 2012, Meredith served as an assistant coach for the U.S. Under-23 Women's National Team. Meredith joined the team at its training camp at The Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif., and then accompanied the team on a tour of Norway. Notre Dame's Randy Waldrum was the team's head coach. The training camp featured 24 of the nation's top players, some who had college eligibility remaining and some who had experience with the Women's Professional Soccer League.
Meredith worked with Under-23 team again in the spring of 2013, serving as an assistant coach at the team's training camp
Meredith also had a stint with U.S. Soccer in 2007 when he served as an assistant coach for the Under-20 Women's National Team that played three matches against top English clubs in Manchester, England. He worked primarily with the goalkeepers - Chantel Jones of Virginia and Penn State's Alyssa Naeher.
Prior to being named head coach at Yale shortly before the start of the 1995 season, Meredith served three years as an assistant coach under Felice Duffy. In his first year as an assistant, the Bulldogs captured their first Ivy League title, sharing the crown with Brown.
Meredith, who has the United States Federation license, also has considerable experience coaching youth teams, including working with the Kenyan National Team for six months. He has guided six Connecticut state champions, two regional champions and two national champions, the under-16 Weston Wild Things in 1998 and the under-19 Yankee United Nova in 1997. Meredith is currently on the Region I Olympic Development coaching staff.
As a player, Meredith was a member of the 1990 Southern Connecticut State University Division II national champion men's soccer team. He was an All-American at Montgomery Junior College and a high school all-state player in Maryland. He was inducted into the Montgomery College Athletic Hall of Fame in 2006. In recent years, Meredith has continued his playing career in Stockholm, Sweden. While serving as an assistant coach at Yale, Meredith was a physical education teacher at Vincent Muro Elementary School in New Haven.
In addition to his undergraduate degree from Southern Connecticut, Meredith has a Master's degree from Ohio University in recreational sports science.
