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Former UCLA All-American Jorge Salcedo enters his sixth season as head coach for the Bruins.
A product of UCLA's strong soccer tradition, Salcedo has maintained the Bruins' standard for success, winning three Pac-10 titles and guiding his teams to NCAA Tournament appearances each year. He signed the No. 1 recruiting classes in the nation in 2006 and 2004, and those players produced results, advancing all the way to the NCAA Championship game in the 2006 season.
In 2008, he guided UCLA to the Pac-10 Championship and was named the Pac-10 Coach of the Year for the second time in his tenure. The Bruins finished with a 10-5-6 record, and junior midfielder Michael Stephens earned Pac-10 Player of the Year honors and Soccer America MVP second team acclaim.
His 2007 team extended UCLA's post-season appearance streak to 25 consecutive years, advancing to the NCAA second round. The Bruins, who finished with a 9-9-3 record, scored in the classroom, with 24 of 30 team members making the Director's Honor Roll during the school year.
The 2006 Bruins faced an uphill battle with injuries to several starters throughout the season, but they fought through the adversity and ended a successful post-season run in the title game with a final season record of 14-6-4.
In 2005, Salcedo's Bruins recorded a 12-5-3 record and ranked amongst the best in the nation in team defense, allowing just 14 goals and posting a team goals against average of 0.67. The Bruins also captured the Pac-10 title for the fourth year in a row and earned a No. 5 seeding in the NCAA Tournament.
During his first season, Salcedo earned Pac-10 Co-Coach of the Year honors after leading UCLA to its third-straight conference title. His Bruins ended the regular season ranked No. 3 by Soccer America and advanced to the third round of the NCAA Tournament, where they finished the year with a 14-4-2 record.
Salcedo was UCLA's assistant coach from 2001-03 and helped lead the Bruins to the 2002 NCAA Championship and to two Pac-10 team championships. In 2002, he served as acting head coach in a crucial road victory at Stanford in November that helped the Bruins capture their first-ever Pac-10 title. He also served as acting head coach in the spring of 2002 in the coaching transition between Todd Saldaña and Tom Fitzgerald and had served in a similar capacity after Fitzgerald announced his resignation.
Salcedo, who is a scout for the U.S. National Team, was the head coach of the 2002 U-16 SoCal ODP State team and was also the assistant coach of the U-17 team in 2001.
The Cerritos, Calif. native had an illustrious career at UCLA from 1990-93. Salcedo was a four-year starter, playing 74 games and tallying six goals and seven assists for 19 points. As a freshman, he scored the decisive penalty kick in the shootout during the 1990 NCAA Championship game to give UCLA its second national title. In 1993 as a senior, he earned NSCAA first-team All-America honors. He prepped at Cerritos HS, where he earned two Parade All-America honors.
Salcedo played for five years in Major League Soccer (MLS). In his first season in the league, he was a starter for the Los Angeles Galaxy and helped take his team to the MLS Championship game. He also played for Chicago, where he served as team co-captain, Columbus and Tampa Bay before returning to the Galaxy in 1999. Prior to his MLS career, he played with the LA Salsa in the APSL and then for F.C. Morelia of the Mexican First Division. Salcedo was also a member of the U.S. National Team program, earning three caps with the full national team and captaining the U-17 team at the 1989 World Youth Championships and the U-20 team at the 1990 CONCACAF Tournament.
Salcedo has had extensive ties to the Bruin program for many years. He graduated from UCLA with a Bachelor's Degree in Political Science and was part of three of the Bruins' four NCAA Championship teams. He was a ball boy for UCLA during its first championship year in 1985, scored the game-winning penalty kick in the 1990 Championship game and was an assistant coach for the 2002 squad. In addition, his father Hugo was a UCLA assistant coach from 1978-79 and a member of the 1972 U.S. Olympic team and will be serving as the FIFA Chairman of the 2014 World Cup. His brother Eddie was a UCLA letterwinner in 1995.
Salcedo and his wife Rebecca have been married for five years, and they have two children, Matteo (3) and Malea (1).
