DURHAM, N.H.- Nov. 26, 2023 marked the end of an era for the University of New Hampshire (UNH) men’s soccer coach, Marc Hubbard, as he and his team fell short to a tough and rugged Clemson University.
Clemson defeated UNH in the Sweet Sixteen of the 2023 Division I Men’s Soccer Tournament at Wildcat Stadium in a well fought battle between the two.
Despite UNH’s aggressive play all season and in previous years, they’ve ended their season in a 3rd Sweet Sixteen appearance in the last six years. The Wildcats’ “New Era, Shared Purpose” mentality has been the motive leading them to the impressive seasons they’ve had overall. Along with it, came a coach whose era has just come to a close, only opening the door for a new leader to enter into the soccer program here at UNH.
Marc Hubbard entered into the soccer program during the 2015 season and has added many accolades and achievements to his resume over his career with the Wildcats. Before joining the Wildcats, Hubbard had a seven year head coaching stint at Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU), where he had great success. This eventually led to his hiring at UNH as the head coach.
New Hampshire is a place he had once been an assistant coach at from 2003-2007 before joining SNHU’s staff. Hubbard had helped improve UNH’s record in 2014 from 6-10-1 overall to 10-5-3 the next season, helping them improve from #164 in the final RPI rank to #52 which is quite a difference.
Two years later, Hubbard would coach UNH to an undefeated home record, 10-0-3, helping the ‘Cats eventually host their first home NCAA Tournament game, which they would end up winning.
In 2021, the Wildcats checked in at number four in the United Soccer Coaches Poll finishing with an overall record of 17-2-2. This overall rank would be the highest national ranking ever in program history which really showed how driven and compassionate the team and Hubbard were throughout the 2021 season. They would eventually fall short in the Sweet 16 to Oregon State who was ranked as the number one seed in the tournament.
As previously mentioned, UNH fell short in yet another Sweet 16 putting up a “catfight” between soon to be national champions, Clemson University. Hubbard finished his Wildcat career as head coach with a 13-3-4 overall record, his fifth straight America East season championship, with a loss in the process. He also secured the number eight national seed in the NCAA Tournament which would be the highest seed in program history.
Hubbard left his mark on the UNH campus both on and off the field taking in many accolades and achievements over his time here. His overall record with UNH is 115-32-21, (.747) win percentage, having won four America East Tournament Championships with 7 straight NCAA Tournament appearances. Hubbard’s coaching awards included America East Staff of the Year (2017, 2019-2022), Northeast Region Staff of the Year (2019, 2021), Eastern Region Staff of the Year (2017) and earned ECAC Coach of the Year (2019, 2021, 2022).
Dec. 9, marked his departure from New Hampshire and his new arrival at North Carolina (NC) State University. Hubbard comes in as the 10th head coach in NC State men’s soccer program, where he looks to rebuild the Wolfpack.
They previously ranked in at #89 in the national poll with a 6-9-3 record with no road wins at all last season. Funny enough, the Wildcats didn’t lose any road games this season, 5-0-2 record, making it more of a reason to hire Hubbard from the Wolfpack’s point-of-view.
Hubbard expresses his gratitude to UNH and SNHU for all the unwavering support extended through his journey. He shows love to his incredible chain of alumni, coaches and supporters in New Hampshire. The NC State role is one he’s happy to have since he’s been working for it since he started coaching 20 years ago.
One month later, UNH started a new era of their own with the hiring of Rich Weinrebe as their 12th head coach in program history. Rich was a graduate at New Hampshire in 2008, but has also been a part of staff in previous years for the Wildcat’s as an associate head coach and recruiting coordinator. Weinrebe had previously been the head coach at Northeastern University for two seasons before returning to Durham.
When it comes to returning to Durham, Weinrebe had noted in his opening conference that he is honored and grateful for the opportunity to lead his alma mater as the next head coach.
Knowing Hubbard’s history, Weinrebe looks to push boundaries of what the program can achieve and continue the era of excellence. He also knows the responsibility at hand is not one to take lightly.
The Director of Athletics at UNH, Allison Rich, had some strong remarks to make towards Weinrebe first by mentioning his return is noted as “instrumental to the future success” for New Hampshire men’s soccer.
She also mentions that bringing him back to Durham was due to his knowledge, energy and passion to elevate the soccer program and compete for national championships.
Weinrebe’s career as a Wildcat started with his exceptional four year career including two seasons as a captain, eventually graduating in 2008.
While playing, he had helped the Wildcats achieve a number one rank in New England for the second time in program history and number 23 spot in the national polls.
Weinrebe had graduated with a degree in sports studies with a business administration minor only wondering what the next path in his career was after finishing his playing career.
Before working at SNHU, he actually had worked at Seacoast United for a few years. He also had some prior experiences coaching youth while in college.
Weinrebe had worked part-time coaching with Seacoast for a few months before getting a full-time position. He received an indoor facility management position, helping mentor young talent. One of them was former UNH player, Jacob Gould.
As time passed, Weinrebe had eventually joined a part of the Southern New Hampshire University coaching staff as an assistant coach. He would help the Penmen win the 2013 NCAA Division II National Championship. The team had a 22-1-1 overall record and a 13-0-0 Northeast-10 conference record.
On the staff with Weinrebe was actually Coach Hubbard, who was an assistant coach at the University of New Hampshire when Weinrebe was a star defenseman.
The established relationship with Coach Hubbard wasn’t the only factor for why Weinrebe ended up at SNHU, but as Weinrebe said it was the “driving force”.
Weinrebe was ready for a change of scenery from the Seacoast position he had before. The National Championship run that the Penmen had, gave Weinrebe a better perspective of division levels in the NCAA. This helped him learn his roots overtime of coaching at such a high level.
With these high moments, Weinrebe would get the chance in 2014 to start his career as a part of the coaching staff at the University of New Hampshire, where he’d soon have a critical role in recruiting and developing some of the best Wildcats of all-time.
When first arriving in Durham as a coach, Weinrebe was all for trying to learn more about coaching in the highest level of college soccer.
Plus, the position was a lot more ideal for him transportation wise which made it even easier on himself.
In 2015, Hubbard would return to Durham, but this time as a head coach. Having already known Weinrebe, Hubbard was more comfortable in his decision to come back to UNH several years later.
As mentioned earlier, Weinrebe spent eight seasons on the Wildcats staff as an associate head coach, five year tenure, and a recruiting coordinator. His recruiting led to nine All-America selections, and four MAC Hermann Trophy, top male players in NCAA Division I, semifinalists.
His time with Coach Hubbard not only helped him realize how much appreciation he had for him, but also how much of a friend and mentor he was. Weinrebe credits the conversations and experiences had with Hubbard as a way that helped him develop as a person and coach.
These experiences came from non-stop work from the coaching staff to make sure their team was ready for any team or program coming their way.
Through this, Weinrebe was able to be a part of five straight NCAA Tournament appearances and three America East conference tournament championships over his time in the program at UNH.
Since Weinrebe was a part of the staff at UNH during their time of success, Weinrebe was able to take in accolades such as the Northeast Region Staff of the Year (2019, 2021), Eastern Region Staff of the Year (2017) and America East Staff of the Year (2017, 2019-2021).
These achievements weren’t given, but earned since he had helped coach UNH during their 17-2-2 season in 2021, and during the 2017 season where they had a 10-0-3 home record leading to the first home NCAA Tournament game at Wildcat Stadium.
Not only his recruiting, but his coaching as well, has led Weinrebe to such extraordinary heights since joining the Wildcats staff back in 2014. Through his excellent, consistent and persistent work as a coach, Weinrebe was able to spend two seasons, starting in 2022, as the next head coach of the Northeastern University men’s soccer program.
While coaching the Huskies, he had helped lead them to a CAA tournament berth in 2022 with five players earning All-CAA recognition. Weinrebe shows his appreciation and gratitude to Northeastern for allowing him his first head coaching position which has helped him grow and eventually, led to the head coaching position at the University of New Hampshire.
Coach Weinrebe has officially come back to Durham with great excitement to take on his most challenging role since becoming a Wildcat at heart. He truly loves Durham, considering he’s been here for half of his life, and it’s almost become so familiar to him at this point.
Weinrebe also mentions that the culture he has helped build is always nice to return upon. From a coach’s point-of-view, his goal is to chase national championships and win conference championships.
This will only happen from playing a certain style that comes from not only the players and staff, but the enthusiastic culture made up of UNH fans. The community here at Durham is only going to help push the team to these heights, keeping them very motivated along the way.
Coach Weinrebe says taking on the role of leading the previous 13th ranked team in the nation isn’t necessarily creating “nerves”, but more “motivation”. Weinrebe has been involved in big moments, so he takes those pieces of his career and uses them as lessons to improve on his overall craft.
With recent departures from midfielder Yannick Bright and forward Eli Goldman, Weinrebe says, “you can’t replace guys such as Yannick or Eli” so they need to be particular with the types of players brought in and obviously the team won’t look exactly the same in the next season.
The beauty behind it all is the men’s soccer program does an exceptional job at developing players within the team and on the roster, so there are many guys who are willing to take on larger roles.
Obviously overtime, recruiting is a huge plus by getting either players to sign to UNH before college or getting experienced talent from players who have hit the transfer portal after the previous season.
Through his experiences at Northeastern, Coach Weinrebe has been able to learn so much about himself, growing immensely as a person and coach. He needed to first figure out his own way of coaching, and how he wanted things to look based on having a culture in Husky territory. The opportunity allowed him to see how he wanted things to play out and be laid out from his point-of-view.
Coach Weinrebe’s love for the game is shown through passion, drive and ambition. This is something programs want to see when someone is taking over the leadership role of such a dominant team of the last several years.
What the University of New Hampshire men’s soccer program truly means to Weinrebe can be wrapped up in one phrase, “it’s everything to me.”
Weinrebe believes UNH has shaped his life and mentions that the decision on where he wanted to go to college changed everything for him.
Weinrebe never ended up knowing right away if he wanted to coach, especially in college, and was just focused on playing soccer as a student during his first years of his UNH career.
He has built so many relationships over his time in Durham and has loved every minute of it. Being an alumni and now a coach gives him so much motivation to want to keep pushing and striving for excellence at UNH not only for the program, but the soccer culture as a whole in New Hampshire.
Coach Weinrebe wants to keep the culture here for a long time, and highlights on wanting to do some special things for others, not even himself, since he feels the University of New Hampshire has already given him so much to be thankful for during his career.
Coach Weinrebe gives a special shoutout to his wife, Elise, his son, Asher, and his dog, Wego.
#New Era, Shared Purpose
