The 19th head coach in Franklin & Marshall history, Dan Wagner enters his sixth season as the squad's mentor. A two-time National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)/adidas Mid-Atlantic Region Coach of the Year, he led the Diplomats to their best season in program history with 15 wins along with a return trip to the NCAA tournament in 2007.

F&M also went undefeated at home during the regular season, starting the year 12-0 and not allowing a goal in the first six games. The Diplomats won the Centennial Conference (CC) regular-season championship and reached as high as No. 9 in the Division III national coaches poll, ending the season ranked 21st with a 15-4 record. Wagner mentored Brandon Corday to his second straight CC Player of the Year honors, becoming the only player to accomplish this feat.

In 2006, the Diplomats tallied a then program-best 13-4-3 record, capped with the school's first NCAA Division III Soccer Championship berth in a quarter century, a myriad postseason awards, including First Team All-America honors and Conference MVP honors for Brandon Corday.

During the course of the 2006 campaign, Franklin & Marshall piled up a 14-match unbeaten streak, and was not defeated on its home field at any point in the year. Combined with a pair of home wins at the tail end of the 2005 campaign, the Diplomats did not lose in its last nine games at home which aided Franklin & Marshall in maintaining a consistent top-three ranking in the NSCAA/adidas Mid-Atlantic Poll.

The regional ranking was accompanied by a spot in the National Top 20, defying the preseason prognostication of the Centennial Conference's coaches, who collectively tabbed the Diplomats for a sixth place finish. Franklin & Marshall finished the regular season in second place in the Centennial, and was the runner-up to Johns Hopkins in the Conference Championship Tournament.

The men's soccer class of 2007 was the first recruited to Lancaster by Wagner. As freshmen, their squad won just three games. They came back the following year with 11 wins, marking one of the ten best season-to-season turnarounds for a program in the NCAA that year.

Wagner also directs the F&M Soccer Africa Project, a cooperative venture with Ethan Zohn and Grassroots Soccer. The Project is intended to capitalize on soccer's international popularity in order to raise HIV/AIDS awareness, as well as support clinics and communities across the African continent.

The Diplomats will act as goodwill ambassadors, traveling to Cape Town, South Africa, in March of 2008 to play matches against professional teams. Franklin & Marshall soccer will also lend "boots on the ground" support to Grassroots Soccer. The Diplomats will travel with donated soccer goods, and a donation of several thousand dollars specifically earmarked for soccer balls and uniforms. Wagner hopes the trip will be the beginning of a budding transatlantic soccer relationship.

Wagner's soccer pedigree is rich. Steeped in the rich tradition of Messiah soccer, where he excelled as an undergrad, Wagner is the only player to captain the Falcons for three seasons. While playing in Grantham, he earned All-Middle Atlantic Conference honors in 1991, 1994 and 1995. He finished his career at Messiah with 16 goals and 23 assists for 55 points.

In addition to his time on the F&M sidelines, Wagner is the Co-Director of Tactical Team Trainers, conducting high school soccer team and player development camps. Amongst the teams benefiting from Wagner's tutelage are Warwick High School, which won the 2005 AAA Pennsylvania State Champion, and Manheim Central, a 2006 AA State Finalist.

Wagner first went from the pitch to the sideline at Northern York High School, coaching the girls' junior varsity (1994) and varsity (1995) teams. From Dillsburg, it was on to Pequea Valley High School, where he stood at the helm for two seasons. In that time, he raised the varsity boys' program from a 5-13 record in 1997, to 14-4 in 1998. The sudden turnaround earned Wagner the 1998 Lancaster-Lebanon League Section III Coach of the Year award, and demonstrated his uncanny knack for making his teams instantly competitive.

Prior to his joining the staff at Franklin & Marshall, Wagner served as the head boys' soccer coach at Penn Manor High School from 1999 through the spring of 2002. Wagner serves as a teacher and Social Studies Coordinator at Penn Manor High School. He currently resides in Lancaster Township with his wife, Shelby, and children, Tyler and Cassidy.

An accomplished soccer player in the collegiate ranks, Matt Bills is quickly establishing himself as an accomplished soccer coach. Assisting Dan Wagner is all aspects of running the program, Bills has been instrumental in Franklin & Marshall's soccer resurgence over the past three seasons.

A 2004 graduate of Messiah College, Bills played in four NCAA Division III Championship Tournaments, winning a pair of NCAA Division III National Championships.

Bills finished his career at Messiah tied for the lead in career goals scored (68), and was second on the Falcons books in total points (162). He was twice named the Commonwealth Conference MVP, and landed on the Conference's First Team in three times. He was named to the NSCAA All Mid-Atlantic Region First Team in 2002 and 2003, and was an NSCAA Third Team All-America selection in 2002.

With several years experience on the camp circuit, Bills attained his NSCAA State Coaching Diploma in December of 2005, immediately following his first season on the F&M sideline.

Bill Esterly joins the Diplomats' soccer program after serving 3 years as first assistant coach with York College of PA's men's soccer team.  During that period, he helped York amass a record of 60-3-6 including a CAC championship and 3 NCAA Championship Tournament appearances.

Prior to serving at York, Esterly also assisted with the Gettysburg College women's soccer team and with Millersville University's men's program.  Bill is currently the Technical Director of Lanco United Premier Soccer Club where he also coaches two teams.  He is also currently an EPYSA Olympic Development Program staff coach. 

In addition to his years on the sidelines with various club and college programs, Esterly has earned his Advanced National Diploma from the NSCAA and his "B" License from the USSF. 

 

Dwayne Lawrence joined the Franklin & Marshall's soccer staff in 2007 after stringing together nearly a decade of highly successful seasons coaching both boys' and girls' soccer on the high school level. Lawrence's varsity boys soccer team at Camp Hill High School compiled a 114-43-11 record under his tutelage, going 65-10-7 in league play.

Those wins added up to four championships, seven trips to the District Championships, and four trips to States, including a trip to the Pennsylvania State Semifinals in 2005. The most successful coach in Camp Hill's history was named the Coach of the Year by the Carlisle Sentinel in both 2000 and 2005. He was also named the Mid Penn Division Coach of the Year four times.

In addition to his work with the boys time, Lawrence orchestrated the turnaround of Camp Hill's girls team. In 2004, took over a team that posted a 5-12-2 record the previous season. It took him two seasons to produce an undefeated league champion. For that effort, Lawrence earned 2005 Mid Penn "AA" Coach of the Year honors.