Tim Vom Steeg enters his 26th season at the helm of the UC Santa Barbara Men’s Soccer team in 2025 as the program’s longest-tenured and most successful manager. In 2023, he became the first Gaucho soccer coach to record 300 career wins with the program, doing so in Santa Barbara’s 2-0 home win over arch rivals Cal Poly. He begins the 2024 campaign with a career record of 305-142-63 (.660) coaching the Gauchos.
Vom Steeg was named NCAA Division I National Coach of the Year in 2004 and 2006 after leading the Gauchos to their first ever National Championship appearance in ‘04 and first ever National Title in ‘06. A four-time Big West Coach of the Year (and 1999 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Coach of the Year), Vom Steeg has coached his alma mater to 13 total Big West Championships: 11 regular-season titles and two tournament crowns. In their 15 NCAA Tournament appearances under Vom Steeg, the Gauchos have reached the Sweet 16 eight times, the Elite Eight thrice and the College Cup twice.
Since men’s soccer returned to The Big West in 2001, Vom Steeg’s Santa Barbara squad has produced more All-Americans (31) and All-Big West players (191) than any else in the conference. Thirty-two of Vom Steeg’s Gauchos have been selected in the Major League Soccer Draft, including 2024 first overall pick Manu Duah, the first Gaucho in any sport to be selected first overall in his or her sport's professional draft, and one of nine first-rounders coached by Vom Steeg. In the summer of 2024, former Gaucho Michael Boxall, who played under Vom Steeg from 2007-2010, appeared at his second Olympic Games, playing every minute for New Zealand. Another former Gaucho, Christian Ramirez (2009-2010), led the Columbus Crew to the 2023 MLS Cup, a 2024 CONCACAF Champions League Final and the 2024 Leagues Cup Title.
Other notable Vom Steeg pupils include long-time MLS goalkeeper Dan Kennedy (2001-2004), 2020 MLS Cup winner Ema Boateng (2012), former DC United star Chris Pontius (2005-08), five-time All-American defender Andy Iro (2004-07), and U.S. Beach Soccer National Team all-time top scorer Nick Perera (2005-08).
Kennedy, Pontius, Iro and Perera all played key roles in UC Santa Barbara’s rise to national prominence in their first years under Vom Steeg. After leading the Gauchos to 13 wins in his first season in charge, Vom Steeg was named the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Coach of the Year in 1999. In 2001, Vom Steeg delivered Santa Barbara its first conference championship by winning The Big West in the first year back in the conference. He followed that up with a first NCAA Tournament appearance and win in 2002, kicking off a run of 10 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances from 2002 to 2011. That 2002 season also saw the Gauchos set Big West records for goals, assists and points in a season with 67, 74 and 208 in that order.
In 2003, Vom Steeg’s Gauchos got revenge on the Cal squad that had knocked them out of the postseason the year before, advancing to the Third Round for the first time. In 2004, they made a huge leap forward, making it all the way to the College Cup Final, only falling in a penalty shootout against powerhouse Indiana. Vom Steeg won his first National Coach of the Year Award for that run, and after a third-round exit in 2005, he won a National Championship in 2006.
Despite entering the 2006 NCAA Tournament unseeded, Vom Steeg’s Gauchos beat familiar foes San Diego State in the first round, upset SMU on the road in the second and beat Old Dominion in the road in the third. After beating Northwestern in Santa Barbara in the Elite Eight, the Gauchos won a penalty shootout against Wake Forest in the Semifinal then beat UCLA, 2-1, to win the National Championship. Vom Steeg collected his second National Coach of the Year honor along with the national championship trophy.
The Gauchos reached the third round of the NCAA Tournament three times from 2007 to 2011, and returned to the postseason after just a year’s absence in 2013. That was also the year that Vom Steeg recorded his 200th win as Gaucho Head Coach, doing so in a 3-1 defeat of Yale. He had previously become The Big West’s winningest head coach (since the return of men’s soccer to the conference in 2001) in 2009 with a win over Indiana and has held the title of Santa Barbara’s winningest men’s soccer head coach since defeating UC Davis in 2005.
The Gauchos reached the NCAA Tournament’s third round again in 2015, then made a run to the Elite Eight in 2019, out-scoring opponents 8-1 in their three wins.
Santa Barbara made the postseason again in 2021, when Vom Steeg guided the Gauchos to The Big West Regular Season Championship and The Big West Championship tournament crown, the first time Santa Barbara claimed both titles in the same season. They defeated UC Irvine, 4-0, in The Big West Championship Final, the most lopsided title match in conference history.
In the Gauchos' most recent NCAA Tournament appearance in 2024, they defeated UCLA with a game-winning goal in overtime for their 22nd victory in the national postseason, their 14th shutout in the tournament. After suffering a penalty shootout defeat at Stanford in the following round, Santa Barbara finished 2024 with a 12-5-5 record, their 14th season with 12 or more wins under Vom Steeg. Captains Alexis Ledoux and David Mitzner both entered the program's record books that year as well. Ledoux scored 14 goals en route to Big West Offensive Player of the Year honors, giving him the eighth-most goals in a single season in program history and the ninth-most single-season points. Mitzner finished his career with a 1.12 goals-against average for Vom Steeg, the eighth-best career mark in the program's history.
Prior to taking the helm of his alma mater, Vom Steeg was the head coach at Santa Barbara City College, leading the Vaqueros to a 120-18-7 (.852) record from 1992 to 1998, winning five Western State Conference Championships and the 1996 California Community College State Championship along the way. He was a five-time WSC Coach of the Year honoree in his seven-year tenure, the California State Coach of the Year in 1996 and the United Soccer Coaches Far West Region Coach of the Year in 1997. In 2008, Vom Steeg was elected to the California Community College Coaches Hall of Fame.
Vom Steeg played soccer at UC Santa Barbara from 1985 to 1988, graduating with a degree in History in 1989. He holds a USSF National “B” Coaching License and received a master’s degree from UC Santa Barbara in 2000. Vom Steeg and his wife Almeria have four sons, all of whom have played for the Gauchos: Justin, Carson and twins Caden and Jared.
