Chris King, who was an assistant under head coach Tracy Joyner for three seasons at UC Davis and helped build the Aggies into one of the top programs in the Big West Conference, is in his first season with the Oregon Soccer program.
“Chris has been an important part of our team’s success in previous years and I’m grateful and excited for him to join my staff here at Oregon,” said Joyner. “He will have an immediate impact on developing players, establishing a winning environment, and contributing to the professionalism and new standards of the soccer program.”
The Aggies’ record improved each of the three seasons he worked with Joyner at UC Davis, including a 13-5-2 record in 2024 as the Aggies led the Big West in scoring and set a school record for wins in a season as an NCAA Division I program.
Prior to the 2024 season, UC Davis went 9-6-4 in 2022 and 10-7-2 in 2023 for an overall 32-18-8 record during his tenure. The Aggies finished second in the league standings and advanced to the semifinals of the Big West Tournament three consecutive years (2022-24).
King played a key role in the development of goalkeeper Caeley Goldstein, who was named to the 2024 United Soccer Coaches all-West Region team and broke the school record with 101 saves on the season.
“I’m ecstatic to be joining Coach Joyner’s staff here at the University of Oregon,” said King. “Having worked with Tracy at two previous programs that saw great growth, both in our overall record and in the success of our student-athletes post collegiate careers, I see a huge opportunity to build a winning team here that competes for Big Ten titles and makes deep runs into the NCAA Tournament. With the elite support staff and amazing facilities, it feels like we can and will accomplish all of our goals.”
Before UC Davis, King was the head coach at Academy of Art University (Art U) for five years. After serving as the assistant in 2016, he was promoted to the head position before the start of the 2017 season.
One the highlights of his tenure with the Urban Knights came in 2019 when Anissa Wilson and Sydney Cooke earned the first two all-West Region awards in program history.
The 2020 season saw three Art U student-athletes named to the all-PacWest Northern California Team in Cooke, Brooklyn Morera and Katie Williams.
In his second year at Art U in 2018, King led the Urban Knights to the most wins in program history with an 8-8-2 record. During that season, the team won a school-record five straight matches and outscored the opposition 20-2 during that span.
Art U was one of the most successful programs in the classroom under King. The Urban Knights received 72 academic all-PacWest awards in his five seasons.
Prior to joining the Urban Knights' staff, he coached in many different capacities. For six years (2009-15), King led travel teams for the San Francisco Vikings Soccer Club and served as the technical director from 2013-14.
Early in his career, the San Francisco native held a number of concurrent assignments, including women’s varsity coach at Sacred Heart Cathedral (2010-21), assistant coach at City College of San Francisco (2011-14), assistant at San Francisco State (2015) - where he first worked with Joyner - and head coach at College of Marin (2014-15).
He also served as head coach of the 02 Girls California State team for the Olympic Development Program (ODP).
King graduated from Cal State East Bay in 2013 with a Master's degree in recreational leadership and sports psychology. He received his Bachelor’s degree in creative writing from UC San Diego in 2008.
