| Dave Chesler |
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Year Record
1997 11-7-2
1998 11-6-5
1999 9-10-1
2000 9-7-2
2001 6-7-7
2002 5-11-4
Totals 51-48-21
Entering his seventh season as head coach at Fresno State, Dave Chesler has compiled an overall record of 51-48-21.
In his inaugural season in 1997, Chesler led the team to an 11-7-2 record despite minimal time to prepare. The following year, Chesler guided the Bulldogs to the Western Athletic Conference championship, the program’s fifth title in the 1990s. The Bulldogs tallied an 11-6-5 overall record (5-1-2 WAC) and earned an NCAA Tournament bid but were tripped up in the first round by eventual national champion UCLA.
In 1999, he lost a large part of the WAC championship team to graduation but still managed to take a young team to a third place finish in the conference and an overall record of 9-10-1.
In 2000, Chesler returned to his own winning tradition by leading the team to a 9-7-2 record including a season high seven-match winning streak. In 2001, the team finished with more ties than wins as it finished with an overall record of 6-7-7 including a 2-3-2 mark in MPSF play. The year was culminated with an appearance in the finals of the conference championship. The 'Dogs had rallied from a difficult season to defeat two of the conference's top teams in Air Force and San Jose State to open the tournament, only to fall to New Mexico in overtime of the championship match. Fresno State made its seventh conference move when it joined the Pac-10 in 2002. The Bulldogs placed sixth in the conference with a 2-7-1 record and sported an overall record of 5-11-4.
Under Chesler, the Bulldogs have been a leader in attendance. Last year, the men’s soccer team was ranked No. 1 in the Pac-10 and No. 6 in the NCAA in home crowd attendance. Chesler and his team had a 10-match total of 16,627 with an average of 1,663. A season high crowd of 4,313 watched the Bulldogs season finale against UCLA. The crowd was the 15th largest in school history.
Chesler’s excellence has not been limited to coaching at Fresno State. He has worked to spread his passion of soccer throughout the Valley’s high school, elementary and club teams. On top of the highly regarded Fresno State soccer camps held each summer, Chesler has hosted many camps throughout the Valley for coaches and players. He has also implemented the Central Soccer Symposium – a two-day coach's clinic that covers all areas of soccer.
Chesler knows that there is life beyond the cement walls that surround the soccer field. He has stressed academics and community involvement to his student-athletes. In the five years he has been at Fresno State, the team GPA has risen from 2.75 to 3.06 while six Bulldogs have been named Academic All-Pac-10, two have garnered All-WAC honors and seven received All-MPSF accolades. Over the past ten semesters, 33 Bulldogs have been named to the Dean’s List with a 3.5 GPA or better and eight players were honored last spring at the Torch of Excellence banquet.
Chesler and his players have also been involved with numerous community service projects. This past year the team was involved with the Ripperdan Elementary Reader's Day, T.O.P Soccer outreach program and have participated in a number of speaking events at local elementary schools.
Chesler is the fourth head coach in the 33-year existence in Fresno State men’s soccer history. He accepted the head coaching position with Fresno State just days before the Bulldogs started fall practice and less than a month before the team opened its 1997 season. He left the University of Washington, his alma mater, where he served five years as an assistant coach under Dean Wurzberger. In 1996, the Huskies (seeded No. 1 in the NCAA Tournament) had one of their best seasons ever, finishing with a 15-3-1 record and a No. 8 national ranking.
In addition to his assistant duties at UW, Chesler had been serving as the Region IV head coach for the Western Region United States Youth Soccer Olympic Development Program. The program serves to identify and train the elite soccer player of the region (14 Western States) in preparation for youth national team selection and competition.
From 1987 to 1990 Chesler served as head coach of the Washington Olympic Development Program. He was also included on the U.S. Soccer Federation national coaching staff, where he continues to serve as an instructor in the national licensing program.
Chesler was an honors chemistry and physics teacher and coached at Redmond High School for nine years prior to going to Washington, He was named KINGCO coach of the year five times in that span, leading Redmond to two conference championships and three state tournaments. He was also a two-time NWAACC Coach of the Year in his two seasons at Bellevue Community College (1985 and ’86).
As a collegiate player, Chesler lettered twice at the University of Maryland (1973 and ’74) before transferring to Washington. He lettered in 1975 and 1976 and garnered all-league accolades twice with the Huskies as a midfielder.
Chesler earned his secondary education teaching certificate from Washington in 1979 and received his bachelor of science in forest resource management from Washington in 1977. Chesler resides in Clovis, Calif., with his wife Becky and son Ryan.
