Concordia Chicago's Adam Nirenberg resigns as men's and women's soccer coach
RIVER FOREST, Ill. -- Adam Nirenberg, head coach for the men's and women's soccer teams at Concordia University Chicago, has tendered his resignation for both positions, effective February 1, 2008. Nirenberg is leaving Concordia to pursue other opportunities.

Nirenberg returned to Concordia last year after serving as an assistant coach at Concordia (2002-03) and Loyola University in Chicago (2005-06). In the interim, he served as the head coach for the women's team at the University of the Ozarks in Clarksville, Arkansas.

Highlights of Nirenberg's tenure at Concordia include Kari Zielke setting the record as the all-time leading scorer in the seven-year history of the women's program when she notched her 41st career goal on October 16, 2007, and Zielke and Dan Fosheim earning recognition as ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-Americans. Zielke and David Garcia earned second-team honors for their respective All-Northern Athletics Conference (NAC) teams, and Bryan Fulton was named to the conference men's All-Rookie team.

"I feel that both programs took a step forward this year, although the records may not reflect it," states Nirenberg. "The women showed a tremendous improvement from the first day of training to the end of the season. They worked hard and worked for each other, and I think it's notable that their two best games came against Aurora and Webster, two NCAA III tournament teams.

"The men had to go through several changes during the course of the season, and we had a fairly young team from the beginning. But, I feel that we had some individual improvements along the way that helped us make some progress."

Nirenberg is grateful for the opportunity he received to coach Concordia's teams and says that his decision is made "with a heavy heart. It feels odd to be pursuing an opportunity outside of soccer, because I feel that I will always be involved with the game in some capacity. But, I am thankful to the people at Concordia that supported and helped me along during this last year, and I can say that I will always be supportive of Concordia Cougar soccer."

Courtesy of Concordia University Chicago, Sports Information Department, January 23, 2008.