Shawn Watts begins his second season with the Nighthawks in the 2018-19 academic year.
Watts came to NNU after a 13-year coaching career in Southern California with some of the top youth clubs in the country, as well as high school and college experience.
Before moving to Idaho, Watts most recently coached for Strikers FC. At the Strikers, Watts coached the 2004 and the 2005 Flight 1 teams and was also the club’s Director of Player Development.
In his 14 years of coaching, Watts has helped guide players who went on to play at the NCAA Division I, Division II, Division III and the NAIA levels. Watts has also coached 12 players to Youth National Teams, three players to the Men’s Senior National Team, as well as players to the MLS and the WPSL.
At the club level, Watts' success is evident in having won three Cal South State Championships, two trips to the USYSA Regional Championships, four Surf Cup Championships, and two Dallas Cup Championships, all with different teams. Before making the jump to NCAA DII, Watts spent three years as an assistant coach at Santiago Canyon College where he was the first assistant for the men’s team.
Watts also was the head coach at El Toro High School for the boys program where he led the team to an overall record of 57-23-14 and helped them reach a top-10 National ranking in 2015 and 2017. In his four years at El Toro, Watts led the Toros to three South Coast League Championships, 2015 CIF-SS Division 1 Finalists, 2017 CIF-SS Division 1 Champions, and the 2017 California State Regional Finalists. He also coached three league MVPs, 19 First-Team All League Selections, 23 Second-Team All League Selections, as well as the 2017 Division 1 Player of the Year. Watts was also named the 2017 Division 1 Coach of the Year.
Prior to coaching, Watts had an extensive playing career. As a youth player, Watts was a member of multiple US Youth National Team camps, as well as playing with the US Youth National Team in the U17 World Cup. In high school, Watts was a two-time NFHS Gatorade Player of the Year, two-time League MVP, and a three-time 1st team all-league selection. After playing one year at Irvine Valley College, and winning the California State Championship and being the No. 1 ranked team in the country in 2003, Watts went on to play professionally for the LA Galaxy, Chivas USA and the Colorado Rapids.
Watts holds a United States Soccer Federation (USSF) National “A” License.
Shawn, and his wife Ashley, have a 2-year-old son, Landon, and a daughter Regan (1).
