Trinity Western women’s soccer coach Graham Roxburgh officially announced the hiring of Rob Giesbrecht as the Manager of Soccer Operations, with the Spartan alum and former assistant coach with the women’s soccer program returning to the Langley-based campus in a newly-formed role.
Giesbrecht, who was the head coach of the University of the Fraser Valley’s women’s soccer team for the last 10 years, joins Roxburgh with the program as the lead assistant coach while also focusing on player identification and development and also helping lead the Spartans girls soccer academy and junior varsity program.
“Rob and I share a similar vision for desiring to make programs better and players better,” Roxburgh said. “He has a skillset that complements mine and with his experience as both a head coach and previously working as an assistant, he is an incredibly valuable addition to our program. Rob has obviously done really well developing a program over the last 10 years that has become one of our main competitors. He has a vision for expanding our program in different areas and I’m excited to see how we can continue to build our women’s soccer program at Trinity Western.
“He has Spartan in him, as he helped establish our program and was part of our first national championship. I’m thrilled to work with someone who is passionate about continuing to grow our program.”
Giesbrecht attended Trinity Western from 1991 to 1996, playing on the Spartans men’s soccer team for four years (1991-1995) before helping coach the men’s team in his final semester in the fall of 1996. In 1999, he returned to TWU as an assistant coach with the women’s soccer program, helping coach the Spartans until 2005, including the national championship winning team in 2004.
“I’m really looking forward to coming back to Trinity Western,” Giesbrecht said. “It’s always felt like home for me. I have so many special memories there as a student-athlete and as a coach. My time coaching with Graham in the building stages of the program were so special and I look forward to working with Graham in the future and helping the team strive to reach their potential and get after pursuing that sixth national championship.”
Giesbrecht graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from TWU, majoring in Physical Education with a concentration in Business Administration. He earned a second undergraduate degree in Education from the University of British Columbia (1998) and a Master’s degree in Education from Concordia University (Seward, Nebraska), where he also coached from 2006 to 2010.
After a five-year stint coaching at Concordia University, he took over head coaching duties with UFV in 2010 and in his first year, he guided the Cascades women’s soccer team to the program’s first Canada West championship and a bronze medal at the national championship tournament. In 2014, Giesbrecht steered the Cascades to a Canada West silver medal and a fourth-place finish at the national championship. UFV’s women’s soccer team qualified for the Canada West playoffs in nine of Giesbrecht’s 10 seasons, and his teams posted a record of 59-46-29 in conference play.
Giesbrecht is joining a TWU program that finished atop the Canada West table during the 2019 regular season with a 12-1-1 record. Over the last 10 years, Roxburgh’s side has posted a combined regular season record of 105-14-15, while winning two national championships and a total of six national medals, as well as five conference championships and nine conference medals. All told, the Spartans women’s soccer team has won five national championship and eight conference championships since entering U SPORTS in 1999.
