WASHINGTON, D.C.
- Assistant coach Michael Lawrence has been
promoted to head coach of the Bison men’s soccer program, it was
announced today. Lawrence has been an assistant coach at Howard the
past four seasons.

“This is a wonderful opportunity,”
Lawrence said. “I intend to help develop a culture for the men’s
soccer program that embraces excellence in the classroom and on the
field.” 

This past year, the team earned its
first ranking in a Division I poll in nearly a decade after
entering the NSCAA/Adidas North Atlantic Regional poll midway
through the season. 

Under Lawrence’s tutelage, five
Bison booters earned all-conference honors last year as Lamar Hyde,
Emile Innocent, Joel Senior and Michael Okoh were named to the
all-conference first team. Guilherme Fonseca was named to the
second team as a junior.

A two-year letterwinner at Howard,
Lawrence was a prolific scorer and was named the Mid-Continental
Conference (MCC) Rookie of the Year in 1996. He helped the Bison to
a pair of regular season league championships and a tournament
championship and NCAA appearance in 1997. Lawrence has played
professionally in Belgium and Germany, and for FC Galaxy of the
Jamaican Premier League (1999). In 2000, Lawrence was a member of
the Hampton Roads Mariners (Virginia Beach US A-League).

Lawrence has gained a wealth of
experience working with various colleges and high schools. Prior to
HU, he spent three years as the assistant coach at Shepherd
College. From 1998-99, he was the assistant women’s coach at
Trinity College. He also had stints at Wakefield High School
(Arlington, Va.), T.C. Williams High School (Alexandria, Va.) and
Bishop Carroll High School (Washington, D.C.) While at Wakefield,
Lawrence helped the Warriors to its first National District
appearance and its first appearance in the Northern Virginia
Regional Playoffs. 

Off the field, Lawrence has served
as a consultant for the DC Scores and was also a coordinator for
the Olympic Development Program in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. He
is also the owner, CEO & Executive Director of Soccer
Operations for the Continental Soccer School.

The original story was published here: http://www.howard-bison.com/sports/msoc/2008/news/Michael_Lawrence_Tabbed_as_Head_Coach

Tags: black college soccer, hbcu soccer, howard university, howard university bison, meac