Ryan Coulter (born 8 February 1989) is an Irish

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who is a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

coach for

MLS Next Pro MLS Next Pro (MLSNP) is a men's professional association football, soccer league in the United States and Canada that is affiliated with Major League Soccer (MLS). It launched in 2022 with 21 teams and now comprises 27 reserve sides of MLS clu ...

team

FC Cincinnati 2 FC Cincinnati 2 is an American professional soccer team based in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. It is the reserve team of FC Cincinnati and participates in MLS Next Pro. History On December 6, 2021, FC Cincinnati were named as one of 21 cl ...

, the reserve team of

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

FC Cincinnati Football Club Cincinnati is an American professional soccer club based in Cincinnati. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team was first announced on August 12, 2015 as a United Soccer Leag ...

Career

Youth and early career

Coulter was a member of the St Joseph's Boys FC in

Sallynoggin Sallynoggin () is an area of Dublin in Republic of Ireland, Ireland, in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, County Dublin. The area consists mainly of former local authority housing built between the late 1940s and the mid-1950s by the Corporation of D� ...

, where he played all through the underage structure before signing with

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ) is the county town of County Louth, Ireland. The town is situated on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the north-east coast of Ireland, and is halfway between Dublin and Belfast, close to and south of the bor ...

U-20 side in 2008 He made his debut in the

League of Ireland Premier Division The League of Ireland Men's Premier Division (), also known as the SSE Airtricity Men's Premier Division for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in the Republic of Ireland and the highest level of the Republic of I ...

on 10 April 2009, starting in the home match against

Bray Wanderers Bray Wanderers Football Club are an Irish association football club playing in the League of Ireland First Division. The club in its present form was founded in 1942 in Bray, and was known until 2010 as ''Bray Wanderers A.F.C.'' It was elect ...

, which finished as a 1–1 draw.

College career in the United States

In mid-2009, he moved to the United States to attend college. He began at the

University of San Diego The University of San Diego (USD) is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic research university in San Diego, California, United States. Chartered in 1949 as the independent San Diego College for Women and San Diego University ...

, and made one appearance for the Toreros men's team in two seasons. In 2011, he joined

East Tennessee State University East Tennessee State University (ETSU) is a public research university in Johnson City, Tennessee. It was historically part of the State University and Community College System of Tennessee under the Tennessee Board of Regents, but since 2016, ...

and made 61 appearances for the Buccaneers before graduating in 2014. Coulter impressed in his time at ETSU, captaining the side to a conference championship and national ranking in 2013. He broke a long standing clean sheet record in the

Atlantic Sun Conference The Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN) is a collegiate athletic conference operating mostly in the Southeastern United States. The league participates at the NCAA Division I level, and began sponsoring football at the Division I FCS level in 2022. ...

set by

Jeff Cassar Jeff Cassar (born February 2, 1974) is an American soccer coach and former goalkeeper who last coached Real Salt Lake of Major League Soccer. Playing career Cassar played college soccer at Florida International University, where he was room ...

. In 2013, Coulter was voted Atlantic Sun Conference Goalkeeper of the Year and in the Atlantic Sun Team of the Year. Upon graduation, Coulter was selected to the

NSCAA The United Soccer Coaches (formerly known as the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)) is an organization of American soccer coaches founded in 1941. It is the largest soccer coaches organization in the world, with more than ...

All-South Region First Team.

Return to Ireland

Upon graduation, he returned to Ireland to join

Athlone Town Athlone Town Association Football Club is an Irish football club from Athlone who are playing in the League of Ireland. The club is the oldest in the League as it was founded in 1887. First elected to the League of Ireland in 1922, they play t ...

, making 15 league appearances in 2014. He moved to

Sligo Rovers Sligo Rovers Football Club is an Irish professional association football, football club playing in the Premier Division of the League of Ireland. The club is based in Sligo in the west of Ireland. The club was founded in 1928 and have been in ...

in 2015, before returning to Athlone Town the following season. Later in 2016 he joined

Longford Town Longford () is the county town of County Longford in Ireland. It had a population of 10,952 at the 2022 census. It is the biggest town in the county and about one third of the county's population lives there. Longford lies at the meeting of I ...

, before moving to

Drogheda United Drogheda United Football Club is a professional Irish association football club based in Drogheda, County Louth playing in the League of Ireland Premier Division. They play their home matches at Sullivan & Lambe Park. The current club is the ...

in 2017, where he made one appearance for the club. Following this, he joined

, but did not appear for the club.

Emerald Force SC

In 2018, he returned to the United States to join Emerald Force SC in the NPSL. He made seven appearances for the club during the season.

Forward Madison FC

On 20 February 2019, Coulter joined

Forward Madison FC Forward Madison FC is an American professional soccer team based in Madison, Wisconsin. The team was founded in 2018, and played its inaugural season in 2019. The team competes in USL League One, the third division of the United States soccer l ...

USL League One USL League One (USL1) is a professional men's association football, soccer league in the United States that had its inaugural season in 2019 USL League One season, 2019. The United States soccer league system, Division III league is operated ...

as a

player-coach A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...

for the team's inaugural season. Having earned a

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

Goalkeeping B License, he also served as the goalkeeping coach for the club. He made his competitive debut for the club on 13 April 2019 in a 1–0 defeat to

North Texas SC North Texas Soccer Club is a professional soccer club that competes in MLS Next Pro, the third division of American soccer. The team is owned by, and operates as the reserve team of the Major League Soccer club FC Dallas. North Texas SC currently ...

. In the first win in club history, Coulter made numerous saves, including the USL League One Save of the Week and was selected for the USL Team of the Week.

Rio Grande Valley FC

Coulter joined

USL Championship The USL Championship (USLC) is a men's professional association football, soccer league in the second tier of the United States soccer league system#Men's leagues, United States league system. It is organized by the United Soccer League (USL) a ...

side Rio Grande Valley FC in March 2020, serving as a player and the club's goalkeeping coach.

Personal life

Coulter was born in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, England, though he was raised in the Irish town of

Bray Bray may refer to: Places France * Bray, Eure, in the Eure ''département'' * Bray, Saône-et-Loire, in the Saône-et-Loire ''département'' * Bray-Dunes, in the Nord ''département'' * Bray-en-Val, in the Loiret ''département'' * Bray-et-Lû ...

. He is a son of the singer

Phil Coulter Philip Coulter (born 19 February 1942) is an Irish musician, songwriter and record producer from Derry, Northern Ireland. He was awarded the Gold Badge from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors in October 2009. Coulter ha ...

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Coulter, Ryan 1989 births Living people Footballers from London Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Republic of Ireland expatriate men's association footballers Irish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Men's association football goalkeepers San Diego Toreros men's soccer players East Tennessee State Buccaneers men's soccer players Dundalk F.C. players Athlone Town A.F.C. players Sligo Rovers F.C. players Longford Town F.C. players Drogheda United F.C. players Bray Wanderers F.C. players Forward Madison FC players Rio Grande Valley FC Toros players League of Ireland players National Premier Soccer League players USL League One players USL Championship players 21st-century Irish sportsmen