Men's Soccer Coaching Staff
Jim Brazeau
Head Men's Soccer Coach
jimbrazeau@pacificu.edu
Now celebrating his 10th season at the helm of Pacific men’s soccer program, Jim Brazeau has brought the Boxers back to being a regular top division contender among Northwest Conference programs.
Over the last three years, Brazeau’s squad have regularly finished with winning records and flirted with runs at the conference championship thanks to their brand of hard-nosed defense.
The 2008 campaign produced another landmark season as the Boxers won 10 matches for the second time in three years and finished just five points out of second place in the league standings. The team ranked among one of the top defensive teams in the nation, finishing in the top-100 among NCAA Division III teams in both save percentage and goals against average.
Brazeau coached forward Danny Williams and defender Brandon Porter to First Team All-Northwest Conference honors. A total of six Boxers made the 2008 All-NWC squad, the most ever for a Pacific team. In all, Pacific has garnered 23 all-conference selections, including 10 first team nods.
The former Pacific goalkeeper’s road to success began in earnest in 2006, when the Boxers recovered from a 2-15-1 record the year before to finish with a 10-6-1 mark. It was the team’s best record since 1996 and ranked the Boxers as the most improved team in NCAA Division III soccer. The effort earned Brazeau NWC Coach of the Year honors and forward Matt McDonough the conference offensive player of the year award.
In 2007, Brazeau led a young Pacific team that featured 19 underclassmen to a respectable 8-7-2 record, slipping just two wins from the 2006 season that featured eight seniors. The Boxers’ fourth place finish in the 2007 NWC standings, the team’s best finish since 1999.
The Boxers’ rise is no surprise for Brazeau, who narrowed his focus to coaching only the men’s team in 2006 after leading both the men’s and women’s programs for four seasons.
Under Brazeau's tutelage in 2003, the Pacific women's soccer team accomplished the best year in school history. The team's 11-8-2 was the first winning record since 1999 and set a record for wins in a season. The Boxers also succeeded in tying records for both goals and assists in match.
Brazeau's coaching resume includes over 18 years of success coaching players at nearly every level of the game. In conjunction with his Pacific duties, Brazeau is in his seventh year as the goalkeepers coach for the Portland Timbers of the United Soccer Leagues' First Division. He also serves as the director of coaching for the Willamette United Soccer Club.
Prior to Pacific, Brazeau served as a head coach at Portland Community College and for the Oregon Youth Development Program. He has been an assistant for both Oregon State University and Jesuit High School in Portland and has served on the coaching staff with the F.C. Portland Academy.
As head of the Boxer soccer program, Brazeau's goal is to provide a quality playing experience while building quality individuals. "We have to continue building the program to a more competitive position," he said. "The goal has to be to build a quality program by giving our students the best possible learning environment and prepare them for competition."
Brazeau played two seasons for the Boxers as a defender, helping the team to the NAIA District II championship in 1986. He followed former Boxer head coach Jimmy Conway to Oregon State where he played one season as a goalkeeper, earning all-conference honors.
After leaving Corvallis, Brazeau spent six years as a professional player for the Seattle Storm outdoor team and the Washington Warthogs and Portland Pride indoor sides. As a goalie with the Pride, Brazeau was responsible for the first shutout in the history of the Continental Indoor Soccer League.
A native of Seattle, Brazeau and his wife, Wendy have a son, Chris, and a daughter, Chloe, and reside in Portland.
Jim Rilatt
Assistant
Men's Soccer Coach
Jim Rilatt, a longtime Portland area coach at all levels of the game, returns for his fourth season as the assistant coach for the Pacific men’s soccer program.
The mastermind of the Pacific defense, Head coach Jim Brazeau credits the addition of Rilatt for much of the team’s success over the last three years. Rilatt’s superior knowledge and teaching of the defensive side of the game paid dividends as the Boxers have allowed no more than 25 goals in each of the last three years after being scored upon 52 times in 2005.
In addition to his duties with the Boxers in the fall, Rilatt recently finished his third season as an assistant coach with the Portland Timbers professional club, which plays in the United Soccer Leagues’ First Division. He also works with the Willamette United Soccer Club.
Rilatt was involved for 13 years with the F.C. Portland Soccer Academy. He served as the club's director of coaching from 2001-2005 and prior to that served as the club's associate director. He served as one of the club's coaches for 19 years, coaching teams to Oregon Youth Soccer Association (OYSA) titles 15 times. In 1994, Rilatt coached F.C. Portland to the United States Youth Soccer national title.
Rilatt last served in the college ranks in the 1992, spending one season as head women's soccer coach at Willamette. He led the now defunct Lewis & Clark men's soccer program in 1991 and spent two seasons as an assistant coach at Warner Pacific where he helped lead the Knights to a pair of NAIA District II titles.
In addition to college, Rilatt coached 14 years in the high school ranks, leading squads at Central Catholic, Barlow, Columbia River and Parkrose. He coached teams to the Oregon state quarterfinals three times and was named the Mt. Hood Conference Coach of the Year five times.
Rilatt's resume also includes work with the Oregon Olympic Development Program, the OYSA and the United Soccer Leagues' Super Y-League, a developmental league for high school players.
Rilatt lives in Beaverton and graduated from Portland State with a degree in business and education. He holds a national "A" coaching license from the United States Soccer Federation.
Jeff Grundon
Volunteer
Assistant Men's Soccer Coach
A fixture on the Pacific campus and in Boxer athletics for nearly three decades, Jeff Grundon is in his third season as a volunteer assistant coach with the Pacific men's soccer program. Grundon's duties involve providing motivational support for the Boxers and assisting in the team's recruiting efforts and strength and conditioning.
Grundon has been a fixture within Boxer athletics since he came to Pacific in 1975 as a football player. Since his playing days, Grundon served in every possible assistant coaching post with the Boxer football squad until the program was eliminated after the 1991 season. Many of his players earned both all-conference and all-American distinction.
In his full-time position as Senior Associate Director of Admissions & Athletic Liaison, Grundon serves as the main contact person for prospective students from Hawaii and northwest Oregon. Grundon also serves as the liaison between the athletic department and admissions, and assists coaches in developing plans to recruit the finest student-athletes to Forest Grove.
In 2008, Grundon was inducted into the Pacific University Athletic Hall of Fame for his meritorious service to the Boxers' athletics program.
Grundon has served in varying roles in the admissions department since 1983 where he has been a very well received ambassador for the University. In a poll conducted during a January 2003 episode of Pacific's "Boxer Backtalk" radio show, one in two students and alums in the room had been recruited to Pacific by Grundon.
A native of Hawaii, Grundon serves as one of five advisors for Pacific's Hawaii Club, Na Haumana O'Hawai'i. The University's Alumni Association bestowed upon Grundon it's Outstanding Alumni Service Award in 1998 and was presented with Pacific's prestigious University Service Award in 2006.
A 1980 graduate of Pacific with a degree in communications, Grundon has three children: Michael, Amber, a sophomore at St. Scolastica College, and Dyllun. Jeff and his wife, Mary, live in Forest Grove.