University of California, Santa Barbara

UC Santa Barbara alumnus Carson Vom Steeg joined the Gauchos' coaching staff in the spring of 2025 as an assistant coach, returning to his alma mater after a three-year career as a professional player in the USL Championship. 

In his first season as a coach, Vom Steeg helped UC Santa Barbara achieve something they had not since he was a student-athlete, winning The Big West Regular Season Championship. The 2025 Gauchos also matched the 2021 Gauchos by keeping nine clean sheets, eight of which were part of a 13-game unbeaten run, the program's second longest of all time and longest since 1982. The 2025 team finished with a record of 7-5-8. At the end of the season, Calle Mollerberg was named The Big West Defensive Player of the Year and Steinar Björnsson The Big West Freshman of the Year. Mollerberg also earned All-Big West First Team honors alongside Kaden Standish and Zac Siebenlist as a total of eight Gauchos earned all-conference acclaim. 

A Santa Barbara native, Vom Steeg was an All-American at San Marcos High in 2016, going on to play for Stanford in 2017, when the Cardinal won the national championship. After that year, he returned to Santa Barbara and finished his collegiate career as a Gaucho, graduating with a degree in Communication in 2021. As a senior on the 2021 team, Vom Steeg was part of a Gaucho defensive line that kept nine clean sheets — seventh-most in a single season in program history — including one in The Big West Championship match, where Santa Barbara blanked UC Irvine, 4-0, at Harder Stadium.
 
Following his graduation in 2021, Vom Steeg began his career as a professional, playing 1,819 minutes for Loudoun United in the 2022 season. Loudoun served as the reserve team for Major League Soccer side D.C. United at the time, and Vom Steeg earned a call-up to the Black-and-Red while there, logging one appearance for D.C. United. In 2023, he moved to Memphis 901 FC, where he totaled 42 appearances across two seasons.

Vom Steeg holds a U.S. Soccer Federation Coaching License and is taking on his first coaching position with the Gauchos.