Coaching Staff

Soccer - Head Coach

Email: Kenny Dale

The years pass, and the old records continue to fall by the wayside for the Matador Soccer team as Kenny Dale commences with Year #8 at the helm of the history-making program. Graced with the honor of becoming the program’s first-ever full-time head soccer coach when he accepted the position in 2005, Dale has done nothing but set the bar higher every year for the squad. A soccer program that hadn’t enjoyed a winning season since 1999 suddenly became a perennial ACCAC powerhouse under Dale, who took the Matadors to the Region I Quarterfinals in his inaugural year of 2005, and has missed the playoffs just once since. Their six playoff appearances in the last seven years is easily the most postseason berths in that short a span in the history of AWC Soccer. They had never hosted playoff matches in back-to-back seasons before Dale arrived; they broke that trend by hosting in ’05 & ’06, and have now commenced the postseason at home the last three seasons as well. The program hadn’t even enjoyed the thrill of winning a playoff match prior to Dale, but in the last three years, they’ve won a total of four playoff games, getting to the Region I Finals in 2009, and in 2010, ending 23 years of frustration by not only winning their first-ever ACCAC Regular Season Title but also defeating Pima to hoist the Region I Championship plaque for the first time ever. Their berth in (and right to host) the NJCAA West District Finals was also a first for the program, as was their new high-water mark of 18 overall wins in a season. Last season, Dale led the Matadors to their best conference record ever of 16 wins, 2 losses and 1 tie. Dale was no stranger to ACCAC Soccer circles when he arrived to AWC, spending seven successful seasons as a coach at Cochise College in Douglas, Arizona. He’s also coached at Moorpark College, Pepperdine University and Simi Valley High School in his more than two decades of coaching. Dale has worked with college-level soccer athletes every season since 1988, and just began his third decade of college head coaching experience. Dale has also coached youth club teams, and this past spring became the director of coaching for the Western Arizona Soccer Academy in Yuma. He’s also worked for the Olympic Development Programs in California and Arizona. As a player, Dale was a college soccer star for both the University of Arizona and Kennesaw State University in Marietta, Georgia, as well as for the professional Tucson Amigos of the USISL. Dale earned a Bachelor of Arts in Education in 1988 and a Master of Arts in History in 1993 from the University of Arizona. He became a USSF ‘A’ licensed coach in 1993, completed the NSCAA Premier Diploma course in 2005, and completed the NSCAA Master Coach Program in 2010.

Alfonso Perez

Soccer - Assistant Coach

E-Mail:  Alfonso Perez

He’s been a quiet force the past two years on the Matador bench, and now, the spotlight shines a little brighter on Alfonso Perez as he moves up to be Kenny Dale’s top assistant coach for the first time in 2012. Perez has been an integral part of the two most successful years in AWC Soccer history during his first two years of his coaching career, and will take what he’s learned from both Dale and the man he’ll succeed as the top assistant, Jay VanWassenhoven, to become an even more important part of the staff. Perez will now have a much more expanded role in the recruiting efforts of the team-both locally and regionally. Perez certainly has the respect of local soccer fans and players, since he’s spent much of his life on the local pitch, having been a star defender for the Rams of Antelope High School in 1996, and has since gone full circle now as the head coach of the Rams’ varsity soccer team in Wellton. Even while working in the private sector in the Yuma area, Perez continued to stay close to the local soccer scene and currently holds a United States Soccer Federation ‘D’ license.

Jon Gronbach

Soccer - Assistant Coach

E-Mail: 

It’s Year #3 on the Matador Soccer coaching staff for Jon Gronbach and his second tour of duty with the program. Each time that Gronbach has been a part of the proceedings, Matador fans have seen marked improvement from the guys learning at Gronbach’s signature position: goalkeeper. Gronbach’s first stop on the AWC campus was during the preseason and first month of the 2008 season, and by the end of the year, both Santiago Ruiz and Manuel Lugo had improved drastically between the pipes. Last season, Gronbach returned to the fold, and helped mold a young Oscar Hernandez into becoming the ACCAC Goalkeeper of the Year. As you might guess, Gronbach is a former goalkeeper himself, having grown up on the soccer fields of San Diego, California. At the age of 16, Gronbach headed to the Midwest, where he became the team captain and an All-State selection in soccer at Fort Dodge High School in Iowa. Gronbach then stayed in the Hawkeye State to continue his education and soccer career at Iowa Central Community College. Two years as a player at ICCC earned enough respect from his coaches to get an invitation to join their coaching staff while Gronbach was earning his Associate’s Degree in Clinical Lab Science. Gronbach continued coaching the ICCC Tritons’ soccer team while he moved up to the 4-year level of education and received his Bachelor’s degree in Business Management from Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, Iowa. During Gronbach’s coaching tenure, the Tritons went to the NJCAA Tournament, finishing 4th in the nation. Gronbach has also earned his D-Level soccer coaching license, and has also spent several years as the Director of Coaching for the Northwest Iowa Football Club. This coming season, Gronbach also takes over the reins of the girls’ varsity soccer program at nearby Gila Ridge High School. Jon currently works as the Chemistry & Hematology Supervisor at Yuma Regional Medical Center, and is not only happy to be back closer to his family in San Diego but back with his Matador Soccer family again.