Dustin Downey enters his fourth season at Idaho State after he was named the Head Coach of the Idaho State Soccer program by Athletic Director Pauline Thiros at the beginning of the new year in 2022. Downey comes to Idaho State with extensive coaching experience at the high school, club, ODP and NCAA Division I levels.
Here are Thiros first comments about Downey, “Coach Downey has an impressive body of work at the Division I level. He is known to be an exceptional recruiter, and has been touted by elite players as their most influential coach. Dustin is a great technician, a culture builder, and his enthusiasm for the game and for student athletes is tremendous. He is the right person to take Bengal Soccer into the future!”
Dustin is originally from Owenton, Kentucky but he most recently has been the head coach of the Chicago FC United team and he spent two years at Illinois-Chicago. From 2019-20 he was an assistant coach for the Flames. In 2019, the staff was named the Horizon League Coaching Staff of the Year as it broke records for home, road and conference wins. He served as Interim Head Coach in the 2021 season, taking the Flames to their best start in program history and finishing 5-3-1 for the abbreviated Covid season.
Downey served as an assistant coach at Western Kentucky from 2012-19 where the team tallied 64 wins and 19 draws. While at WKU he mentored one Conference Player of the Year, 29 All-Conference players and six All-Region honorees. During his tenure at WKU the staff was recognized as both the Sun Belt and Conference USA Coaches of the Year, making postseason appearances in five of the seven years.
He worked with the US Soccer Federation from 2014-19 and the Kentucky ODP staff from 2015-19.
As a player, Downey played three seasons at Western Kentucky before finishing his career at Northern Kentucky. Downey helped lead the Norse, then in Division II, to the national semi-finals.
He returned to Western Kentucky to complete his studies and earn his degree in Broadcast Communications and TV Production.
Downey has his United State Soccer Federation (USSF) A-Senior Coaching License and is currently working to be a USSF Coach Educator.
He is married to Kelley Downey and they have a miniature goldendoodle named Winston.
