Dan Birkey

Head Coach - Men's Soccer (22nd Season)

503-280-8551

Head coach Dan Birkey is beginning his 22nd year with the Cavaliers, amassing a 274-146-17 record with a .644 winning percentage at Concordia. He has earned 13 championships during that time, including the last seven Cascade Collegiate Conference championships and nine out of the last 11 league crowns.

Last year while going 14-6-2, Birkey led the Cavs to their fourth NAIA National Championship Tournament appearance since 1999. After ending regulation nodded at 3-3, the Cavaliers proceeded to the 'Sweet 16' of the NAIA by advancing past Concordia-Irvine via a 9-8 penalty kick marathon. 

Under Birkey's guidance, the Cavaliers have been consistent powers after his rookie season at the helm in 1988, notching winning seasons in 19 of the last 20 years, including a current streak of 14 straight. During the span, the Cavs earned a top-20 national ranking in 14 seasons, climbing to a school-best ranking of fifth nationally in 1993 from a team that posted an 18-3-0 record.

He directed Concordia to regional championships and national tournament berths in 1999, 2005, 2006 and 2008. In 2000, Birkey was named to the Cascade Conference Coaches Hall of Fame after receiving numerous district, conference, and regional Coach of the Year awards. In 1992, he led the Cavaliers to a NAIA District Championship and into the finals of the NCCAA national tournament that same year.

With Birkey as head coach, 24 student-athletes have earned a total of 51 NAIA All-American honors and 19 have captured 31 NAIA Scholar Athlete awards. In addition, six players have been named Cascade Collegiate Conference Player of the Year.

He served as interim athletic director at Concordia in the mid 1990s and continues now as a professor in the Health & Physical Education Department. Birkey also directs the highly successful Concordia Soccer Camps each summer. He has served six years as the conference chairman for men's soccer and was the regional chair from 2001-04.

Birkey has continued to develop in his coaching education by numerous appointments and visitations in the professional ranks. The past three years, Birkey has been invited to join and work alongside the coaching staff as a visiting staff member with the Portsmouth Football Club in the English Premier League. He has also coached in Costa Rica, Trinidad and Antigua.

As a player, Birkey was both an all-star and team captain at Warner Pacific College in Portland from 1977 to 1979, where he was sixth in the nation in scoring as a senior. He played two seasons in South America before coming back to Oregon, where he began his coaching career at Columbia High School. Birkey began coaching at the collegiate level in 1985 at Portland Community College while working in sports medicine. He received his master's degree in kinesiology from Portland State University in 1986.