Chris Taylor enters his seventh year as Plattsburgh State's head men's soccer coach in 2024. Taylor is very familiar with the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC), a 2011 graduate of SUNY Plattsburgh and an assistant coach for the Cardinals during the 2011 and 2012 seasons, took over as Plattsburgh State's head coach in 2018 after serving as the head men's soccer coach at Clarkson University for four years.
Taylor has guided Plattsburgh State to a 51-37-18 (24-20-10 SUNYAC) record in his time as head coach at Plattsburgh State. The Cardinals have made the SUNYAC Tournament on four occasions since Taylor became head coach. In addition, he has guided 11 student-athletes to 18 All-SUNYAC honors. He has also coached three United Soccer Coaches (USC) All-East Region honorees at Plattsburgh State.
In 2024, Taylor led his team to an 11-2-5 (6-2-1 SUNYAC) season, the best in his coaching career by record. The Cardinals picked up several strong wins throughout the season, with early-season wins against 2023 NCAA Tournament teams Manhattanville and Baruch, as well as Endicott, who went on to have a strong campaign. The strong start propelled the Cards to their first national ranking since 2016, debuting at No. 16 in the United Soccer Coaches (USC) poll on Sept. 10. The team then moved to No. 17 for two straight weeks before falling out of the rankings. They finished the regular season by jumping back into the rankings at No. 25. The team's season concluded in a heartbreaker, losing in penalties to New Paltz in the first round of the SUNYAC Tournament. The team picked up several All-SUNYAC honors, as Taylor's fantastic seniors picked up four separate honors. Brian Coughlan and John Hayes each were first-team honorees, the first since Alexis Archilla in 2016, and Teddy Healy was named to the second team, the first goalie to earn all-league honors since 2010. Graduate student Thomas O'Neill also added his first career all-conference honors on the Third Team under Taylor's tutelage. Hayes was also named to the United Soccer Coaches Scholar All-America Team.
In 2023, Taylor led his team to the best start to a season since 2004, as they did not lose until their 12th game of the year, beginning the season 7-0-4. The team finished the year 7-3-6 and 2-3-4 in league play, just falling short of SUNYAC Playoff contention in what was a stacked league in 2023. Taylor helped mentor Brian Coughlan and John Hayes to All-SUNYAC honors once again, with Hayes earning his third selection on the third team and Coughlan earning second-team honors for the second time. Coughlan also picked up the first USC All-Region honors since 2019, as he was named to the second team. The team also appeared in the NCAA Regional Rankings for two weeks, taking the seventh spot heading into their final week of play.
Taylor led his team to a SUNYAC semifinal appearance in 2022, as the team earned the final seed on the final day of the conference season to make the field. The team upset the third-seeded New Paltz Hawks on Oct. 29, scoring three first-half goals to win 3-2 and advance to the SUNYAC semifinals. There, they fell to eventual SUNYAC champion and NCAA Tournament team Oneonta 2-0 on the road in what was a close match throughout. The team had two All-SUNYAC selections, as Brian Coughlan earned second-team honors and John Hayes was named to the all-conference third team, with each student in their sophomore campaigns.
The Cardinals closed the 2021 campaign on a five-match winning streak, which included a road sweep at SUNY Brockport and SUNY Geneseo. In his second year as head coach in 2019, Taylor guided Plattsburgh State to an 11-8-0 overall record (7-2-0 SUNYAC) and a berth in the SUNYAC Tournament championship match. The Cardinals, who were the No. 2 seed in the SUNYAC Tournament, defeated third-seeded Buffalo State, 2-0, in a semifinal match on Nov. 6, at the Field House Complex. In a tightly contested match, the Cardinals were edged by No.10-ranked and top-seeded SUNY Oneonta, 1-0, in the SUNYAC Tournament championship match on Nov. 9, in Oneonta, N.Y.
In his first year at the helm in 2018, Taylor guided the Cardinals to a berth in the SUNYAC Tournament. The Cardinals' first victory under Taylor was a 1-0 win at the Sage Colleges on Sept. 4, 2018. He also led Plattsburgh State to a 2-0 victory over then-No. 24 ranked Clarkson University on Sept. 15. Taylor recorded his first home and SUNYAC win as the Cardinals' head coach with a 1-0 triumph over SUNY Geneseo on Sept. 22.
Taylor guided Clarkson to its first Liberty League Tournament berth since 1998 in 2017, as the Golden Knights went 4-3-2 in conference play. He took a program that went 7-10-1 his first year at the helm to a combined record of 15-15-4 during his final two seasons at Clarkson. Taylor's coaching staff was named the Liberty League Coaching Staff of the Year in 2014, and during his tenure at Clarkson, he had seven different student-athletes earn Liberty League All-Star honors and three different student-athletes earn All-East Region laurels.
Prior to Clarkson, Taylor served as an assistant coach at Vassar College, where he helped the Brewers achieve an 8-5-5 overall record and a berth into the Liberty League playoffs in 2013. Taylor helped bring in a highly-talented class of student-athletes to Vassar, yielding players from nine different states. He also brought in three student-athletes who competed in the highly-prestigious USSDA Development Academy.
He worked as an assistant coach at Plattsburgh State during the 2011 and 2012 seasons, helping the Cardinals go 30-8-3 overall and capture the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) regular-season title in 2012.
Taylor enjoyed a standout career competing for Plattsburgh State from 2007-10. He earned All-East Region recognition in 2009 and 2010 and All-SUNYAC accolades all four years on the team, including three First-Team honors from 2008-10. He is the program's all-time leader in assists with 38, and he also scored 21 goals during his career for 80 points total. In 2010, he finished the year ranked sixth in NCAA Division III in assists with 13 for the season, and he was seventh nationally in assists per game (0.68) in 2009. During his senior season in 2010, he helped lead the Cardinals to a SUNYAC championship.
He has received his NSCAA National Diploma and England Football Association Level One and Level Two Coaching Certificates and has been coaching in some capacity for more than 10 years.
Taylor earned his Bachelor of Arts in print journalism from SUNY Plattsburgh in 2011 and his Master of Science in recreation & sports science (soccer coaching) from Ohio University in 2016.
| Season |
School |
Record |
Pct. |
Conf./Place |
Postseason Finish |
| 2014 |
Clarkson |
7-10-1 |
.417 |
2-6-0/7th |
--- |
| 2015 |
Clarkson |
5-10-2 |
.353 |
1-6-1/8th |
--- |
| 2016 |
Clarkson |
7-7-2 |
.500 |
3-4-1/6th |
--- |
| 2017 |
Clarkson |
8-8-2 |
.500 |
4-3-2/5th |
Liberty League First Round |
| 2018 |
Plattsburgh State |
6-9-3 |
.417 |
3-5-1/6th |
SUNYAC First Round |
| 2019 |
Plattsburgh State |
11-8-0 |
.579 |
7-2-0/2nd |
SUNYAC Championship Game |
| 2020 |
Plattsburgh State |
--- |
--- |
--- |
season canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic |
| 2021 |
Plattsburgh State |
8-7-1 |
.531 |
4-4-1/7th |
--- |
| 2022 |
Plattsburgh State |
8-8-3 |
.500 |
2-4-3/6th |
SUNYAC Semifinal |
| 2023 |
Plattsburgh State |
7-3-6 |
.625 |
2-3-4/7th |
-- |
| 2024 |
Plattsburgh State |
11-2-5 |
.750 |
6-2-1/4th |
SUNYAC First Round |
| Overall |
Plattsburgh State Totals |
51-37-18 |
.566 |
24-20-10 (.537) |
Four SUNYAC Tournament appearances
Two SUNYAC semifinal appearances
One SUNYAC championship game appearance |
|
Career Totals |
78-72-25 |
.517 |
34-38-14 (.477) |
|
