Otters soccer found a treasure trove of experience and success by adding former Colorado School of Mines boss Frank Kohlenstein to the bench for the 2019 season. Kohlenstein coached the Orediggers to unprecedented levels of success over a 19–year career that ended in 2016.
Kohlenstein led Mines to 231 victories, five Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference titles, five RMAC Tournament titles and six NCAA Tournament appearances. His Oredigger teams advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16 three times and to the NCAA Quarterfinals in 2015. He finished his career in Golden with a 231–120–38 record.
Mines finished with a winning record in 16 of his final 17 seasons at the helm, wining at least 10 matches 14 times over that span. His best season came in 2015 when he led the Orediggers to an undefeated regular season and a final mark of 18–1–3. Those 18 wins still stand as the most in program history.
In terms of individual achievement, Kohlenstein coached 15 All–Americans over his final 15 seasons at Mines. The Oredigger career leaders in every statistical category (entering the 2019 season) all played under his tutelage.
Prior to his time at Mines, Kohlenstein laid the foundation for longtime success at UNC Charlotte, where he turned the 49ers into a perennial NCAA Division I power in the early 1990s UNCC finished 77–32–12 under Kohlenstein and reached as high as No. 2 in the NCAA Division I polls.
He began his collegiate coaching career at South Carolina Spartanburg (now USC Upstate), where he founded the program in 1979 and led it to national prominence at the NAIA level over the next 10 seasons. His tenure there saw him post a 128–45–11 mark, win NSCAA National Coach of the Year honors twice (1983, ’84) and earn induction into the school’s hall of fame in 2001.
In addition to his collegiate men’s soccer résumé, Kohlenstein also founded the Mines women’s soccer program, leading the Orediggers to a 55–36–9 record from 2005–09. He led the women to three postseason appearances, including the NCAA Central Region title in 2009.
Kohlenstein made two stops in the professional ranks with the Raleigh Flyers and Richmond Kickers between his tenures in Charlotte and Golden. His extensive club experience includes 17 years leading the top teams at Real Colorado Academy.
A 1976 graduate of Florida State with a bachelor’s degree in physical education, Kohlenstein earned his master’s in exercise physiology from Montana State in 1977.
