Gordon Hired to Lead Central Baptist College’s Soccer Programs

Lance Gordon

Central Baptist College Director of Athletics Lyle Middleton has announced the hiring of a new Director of Soccer Operations. Lance Gordon will begin his duties at CBC on July 15.

“We’re excited about Coach Gordon and his experience coaching men and women” said Middleton. “We are also excited about the direction the program is headed.”

Gordon, who becomes the sixth head coach in program history, replaces Chris Murphy, who resigned in May and left the coaching industry at the collegiate level. Murphy led the women’s soccer program to four wins last season in his second season directing that program and also guided the men’s program to three wins in his only year.

Gordon comes to CBC from Presentation College, an NAIA school in Aberdeen, S.D. At Presentation, he led both the men’s and women’s programs to new heights academically, posting a 3.4 GPA collectively. The women’s program had a 9-25-1 record in Gordon’s two seasons with two players earned Daktronics NAIA scholar athlete awards in 2018 and two players earning All-Great Plains Athletic Conference honors that same season while three players earned All-North Star Athletic Association honors in 2017. The men’s soccer program went 2-32 in his two seasons but one athlete earned NAIA Daktronics Scholar Athlete honors and two players earned All-GPAC honorable mention honors in 2018 while two players earned All-Association of Independent Institutions honors in 2017.

Prior to arriving in Aberdeen, Gordon coached one season at AMC rival Stephens College. Gordon led the Stars to a 2-14-1 record in his lone season in Columbia with two players earning all-AMC honors for their performance on the field.

Prior to his gig at Stephens, Gordon was the assistant women’s soccer coach for one season at NCAA Division II Northwestern Oklahoma State. The Rangers went 3-14-1 in that one season with one player earning all-Great American Conference honors.

Before Stephens, Gordon coached six seasons at the University of Wisconsin-Fox Valley, a junior college in the University of Wisconsin system. His first stint and UWFV was from 2006-2008 and his second stint was from 2012-14.

His first four-year college head coaching gig came at Ripon College, an NCAA Division III school in Ripon, Wis., from 2009-11. Gordon led the men’s team at Ripon to a 20-30-6 record in his three seasons and he had two players selected for the all-Midwest Conference team in his final season of 2011 while also earning Midwest Conference Coach of the Year honors in 2009 & 2010.

Gordon also has 15 years of experience coaching soccer at the club level and in camps all around the upper Midwest. He also has one year of coaching girls’ high school soccer in Wisconsin, leading the girls’ team at Menasha High School to a 15-5-6 record and their first conference title in school history in his lone season.

“I am grateful to be coaching at CBC,” said Gordon. “I want to thank Coach (Lyle) Middleton, Ryan Johnson and President Terry Kimbrow for this opportunity to be both the men’s and women’s head coach. I look forward to the challenge this opportunity gives me and we will strive for a lot of success.”

Gordon, a native of Wisconsin, earned his bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Wisconsin in 2004 and completed his master’s in American Studies from Northwestern Oklahoma State. He is married to Dr. Cristina Gordon, the campus director at Mount Marty College in Watertown, S.D., and they have three children, Alex, 24, a 2017 graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee; Miranda, 22, a 2019 graduate of the University of Wisconsin and Cameron, who will be a freshman on the Northwestern Oklahoma State football team this year; and three rescue dogs, Toby, Booboo and Truffles.