With head coaching experience at all three NCAA divisions, Pete Curtis enters his eighth year as head coach at California (PA) in 2025.
Goalkeeper Emily Ouimet closed her career last fall ranked among the top five all-time in school history in saves, goals-against average and goalie minutes. She ranked second in the PSAC in 2023 in total saves after reaching the century mark for the second time in her career. As a sophomore, Ouimet helped Cal record five shutouts for its highest total in seven years.
In 2022, Curtis led the Vulcans to their winningest season in seven years as they also doubled their win total from the previous fall. Cal finished fifth in the PSAC West standings despite tying for the third-most conference wins in the division. The Vulcans featured their first All-PSAC West selection in seven years, as they boasted multiple players on the All-PSAC West Teams.
Cal has received the United Soccer Coaches Team Academic Award every season under Curtis. Over the last three years, a total of 17 players have earned CSC Academic All-District honors in the new structure for the Academic All-America program that placed a maximum number of six women’s soccer nominees per institution.
Curtis spent 11 seasons as the head women's soccer coach at nearby Washington & Jefferson, a NCAA Division III program. Prior to his tenure at W&J, he served 16 years as a head men's soccer coach at three NCAA schools with stints at all three NCAA divisions. In 30-plus years of coaching collegiate soccer, Curtis has compiled 275 career victories.
Curtis guided the Presidents to a 132-69-17 mark (.644) during his tenure to become the winningest coach in program history. He led W&J to at least 12 victories seven times, as the program captured three-straight Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) Championships from 2008-10. W&J also made three-consecutive appearances in the NCAA Tournament during that span, recording the first NCAA post-season win for any W&J women's team sport in 2008.
During his time with W&J, Curtis was named PAC Coach of the Year three times, featured the PAC Player of the Year four times and mentored nearly 60 All-PAC selections. He played a pivotal role in the development of two-time PAC Player of the Year Holly Shipley, who ranks second in program history with 61 goals, 33 assists and 155 points.
The Presidents also featured one of the top goal scorers in PAC history in Jordan Toohey. She paced the league in goals in each of her three years at W&J, including a single-season school record 27 goals in 2015, after starting her college career at St. Francis (Pa.). Toohey, the 2015 PAC Player of the Year and a three-time All-PAC First-Team selection, broke the all-time school record with 66 goals in 2017 and finished third in school history with 146 points.
Prior to W&J, Curtis served as the head men's soccer coach at Cleveland State for six years. He was named Horizon League Coach of the Year in 2002 after helping the Vikings record their winningest season in over a decade. The following season, Curtis helped Stephen Ademolu become the first player from Cleveland State to be named Horizon League Player of the Year.
Curtis played a pivotal role in developing Charleston (W.Va.) into a national power in men's soccer, spending five seasons as the head coach from 1995-99. He posted a 68-30-8 record with the Golden Eagles, as they posted at least 11 victories in each year of his tenure. In 1999, Curtis helped lead Charleston to a 21-2 overall record and an appearance in the semifinals of the NCAA Tournament while out-scoring opponents by a 112-10 margin. He was named both the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WVIAC) and Great Lakes Region Coach of the Year that season, as the Golden Eagles finished No. 3 in the country.
Before his arrival at Charleston, Curtis was the head men's soccer at Marietta (Ohio), a NCAA Division III program, from 1990-95. He also spent time as the head women's tennis coach and the assistant softball coach during his time with the Pioneers.
Curtis, who played for three English professional teams, was a four-year starter at then NAIA-powerhouse Alderson Broaddus from 1983-87. While a team captain, the Battlers achieved the No. 1 ranking in the nation. He earned his bachelor's degree in secondary education/physical education in 1987.
While completing his master's degree in Sports Administration at Iowa State in 1989, Curtis coached the school's club program to the semifinals of the 1988 National Collegiate Club Soccer Championships.
Curtis was inducted into the Alderson Broaddus Athletic Hall of Fame in 1998 and later was honored as a member of the Charleston Athletic Hall of Fame in 2013.
He and his wife, Patty, reside in Washington and have two children, Shannon and Sean.
