Throughout his first season serving as UCF men’s soccer’s primary goalkeepers coach in 2024, David Jacobs made a strong impression on the Knights’ netminding corps.
He oversaw starter Juanvi Muñoz in the junior’s third season as the team’s anchor between the goalposts and aided redshirt freshman Shane Wright navigate his first taste of Division I game action, while continuing to mentor Muñoz, Wright, incoming freshman Timo Haböck and redshirt freshman Pablo Ossabal throughout the season.
Muñoz, despite seeing his season shortened to just nine games due to an early-season injury, continued his upward trajectory in his third year donning the Black and Gold. The Valencia, Spain, native recorded a season-best 1.11 goals-against average, lowering his career average to a 1.24 mark that ranks eighth-lowest on the UCF all-time career list.
He also notched multiple clean sheets for the third straight season to begin his career, and allowed two or fewer goals in each of his nine appearances, one or fewer in six games, and a pair of clean sheets.
Wright stepped in for the injured Muñoz beginning with UCF’s third match of the season and showed immediate poise between the posts. In his first season of Division I action, he posted a 1.57 goals-against average while making 24 saves and recording one shutout. He also made a season-high eight saves in UCF’s tilt at FIU Sept. 11, one of three games that saw the Orlando native make at least four saves.
The tandem combined to allow two or fewer goals in 15 of UCF’s 16 total matches throughout the fall, leading to a 1.31 goals-against average that ranked fifth-best in the Sun Belt Conference.
Before Jacobs joined the Knights’ staff in 2024, he spent seven seasons as the head coach with the Trine University Thunder, a member of the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA), where he compiled an aggregate 63-47-15 (.564) overall record, including three seasons with at least 11 wins.
In his first season at Trine in 2017, Jacobs led the Thunder to an appearance in the MIAA Tournament, marking the second time since the program joined the conference in the 2007-08 year that team had done so.
Trine went on to advance to the conference tournament in the next four consecutive seasons through the 2021 campaign, a stretch that featured the program’s first MIAA tournament title and an NCAA Division III Tournament appearance.
In seven seasons at the helm, Jacobs' teams have turned a 0-16-3 season in 2016, the year prior to his arrival, to double-digit win seasons in three of his last six seasons with the Thunder through the 2023 slate.
Under Jacobs’ watch, Trine goaltenders ranked within the top three in the conference in both saves per game and save percentage in his first season in 2017, and his goalkeeping corps also slotted within the top three in save percentage in both 2018 and 2020 as well.
Prior to joining the Thunder, Jacobs served as head coach at Ancilla College in Plymouth, Indiana. While at Ancilla, Jacobs led the Chargers to two Michigan Community College Athletic Association Championships, including their first outright title in program history.
He went on to lead the team to a semifinal appearance in the National Junior College Athletic Association Men's Soccer National Tournament and had an overall coaching record of 30-5-2, highlighted by an 18-2 mark in 2016. Jacobs was named MCCAA Coach of the Year as well as being tabbed Region 12 Coach of the Year and District 20 Coach of the Year accolades in 2016. He also founded a junior varsity program in his first season.
In addition to his time at Ancilla, Jacobs earned experience from multiple levels of soccer prior to joining Trine. He has served as head coach at both the high school and club levels, as well as an assistant coach at Bethel College and Judson University. Jacobs also played goalkeeper in professional organizations in the United States and Mexico.
During the summer of 2016-17, Jacobs served as an assistant coach with the Midland Odessa FC, formerly "The Sockers." The team made it to the national semifinals of USL/PDL, and in 2017, advanced the national semifinals of the National Premier Soccer League in Midland, Texas. Jacobs also helped guide the team to the national championship out of 96 total teams. The squad also qualified for the US Open Cup in three consecutive years.
Jacobs graduated from Bethel College with a general studies degree in 2014, and he and his wife, Kara, have two daughters.