Dan Ball

Dan Ball is in his first season as an assistant coach at Nebraska, coaching the goalkeepers.

Ball comes to Nebraska with a wide range of coaching experiences and an impressive background. Most recently, Ball was the Academy Director of Goalkeeping and Sport Performance at Oakwood Soccer Club where he developed and implemented training to affect the clubs’ goalkeepers. 

During the 2022 and 2023 seasons, Ball served as Angel City FC’s Head of Goalkeeping, leading the scouting of on-field delivery and the goalkeeper staff, and designed a goalkeeper training environment. Before his time in California, Ball was the Goalkeeper Coach at NJ/NY Gotham FC, designing and coaching goalkeeper sessions and leading reviews with goalkeepers to track progress. Ball served as an assistant women’s soccer coach at Iowa State during the 2020 season, where his primary responsibilities included goalkeeper coach, set-piece lead and recruitment.  

Coming to Iowa State with seven combined seasons of coaching men’s and women’s collegiate soccer, Ball ended all seven campaigns with all-conference honors being awarded to his goalkeeper - none of whom had been named all-conference prior to working under Ball. A native of Chatham, England, Ball joined Fannon’s staff at BGSU in June of 2018 and helped guide the Falcons to the best two-year run in program history. Over Ball’s two-year stretch of mentoring BGSU’s goalkeepers, the program went 28-11-6, including a 20-2 mark in MAC regular season play, en route to a pair of MAC titles.

BGSU had the most dominant two-year stretch in MAC history during Ball’s tenure, as the Falcons became the first program to record 10 league wins in back-to-back seasons in the conference’s history.

The impact of Ball’s coaching is best exemplified by his outstanding work with Falcon goalkeeper Kathleen Duwve, who put together one of the best seasons in BGSU history in 2018. The native of Sylvania, Ohio, tallied an incredible GAA of 0.49 in MAC play in her first season under Ball’s tutelage. She allowed only five goals in 927 minutes of conference regular-season action, and had a saves percentage of .878. She was the MAC’s overall leader in GAA and save percentage, en route to All-MAC First Team and United Soccer Coaches All-Midwest Region honors. Duwve ended the season with a GAA of just 0.79.

The 2018 Falcon campaign culminated with a 14-5-3 overall record and 10-1-0 mark in MAC regular-season play, tying the school record for overall wins and shattering the program mark for conference victories. BGSU captured the league regular-season crown for the second time in history, and won the league tournament title for the third time ever.

The 2019 Falcons had yet another stellar season, anchored by Duwve in goal. The senior helped lead BGSU through a treacherous non-conference slate and to yet another 10-1 mark in MAC play. Duwve had a GAA of 0.72 in conference play, and an overall GAA of 1.11. She was once again an All-MAC selection and ranked No. 18 on the Top Drawer Soccer postseason list of the MAC’s top players.

Ball joined the staff at BGSU after spending two seasons at Concordia University in Seward, Neb., where he was a graduate assistant goalkeeper coach for both the men's and women's soccer teams. Those two teams went a combined 57-18-8 over the last two seasons, as the men's team was 27-10-3 overall and 13-5 in Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) play under head coach Jason Weides, while Greg Henson's women's program went 30-8-5 overall and 16-3-1 in the league in that span.

Ball molded Concordia sophomore goalkeeper Lindsey Carley into the GPAC Defensive Player of the Year, along with first-team all-league and all-region honors as the Bulldogs won the league title with a 9-0-1 record. During Ball's two years at the school, a total of four different goalkeepers in the two programs earned all-conference honors.

The women's program captured the 2017 league regular-season title after winning the conference tournament the previous year. The '17 women's team set program records for fewest goals conceded and most clean sheets. The coaching staff was named United Soccer Plains Region College Staff of the Year last fall.

The men's team set a school single-season record for wins in '17, going 16-3-1. Goalkeeper Jack Bennett, one of those four 'keepers to earn All-GPAC honors during Ball's tenure, ranked in the top 20 among all NAIA goalkeepers in goals-against average a year ago.

A graduate of Milligan College in Johnson City, Tenn., Ball served as an assistant women's soccer coach at his alma mater from July of 2015 to May of 2016. He worked closely with the team's goalkeepers with the Buffaloes, and under his tutelage, junior goalkeeper Charlotte Stephens earned all-conference honors.

Off the pitch, Ball served as International Student Liaison at Milligan, a position he proposed and created which was focused on improving the international student experience. He oversaw 43 international students and was the principal point of contact in the assimilation of international students.

Ball was a four-year starter during his undergraduate career at Milligan, helping the Buffaloes to two Appalachian Athletic Conference titles while earning all-conference recognition in each of his last three seasons. Ball was a two-time team captain for the program.

Ball earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science with a minor in English at Milligan. He received a Master's in Business Administration from Concordia in May of 2018.