Rich Cullen

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Rich Cullen
Soccer goalkeeper.jpg
Rich Cullen as Seattle Sounders (2003)
Personnel
Surname Richard Patrick Cullen
birthday January 12, 1975
place of birth Spokane , Washington ,  USA
size 183 cm
position goalkeeper
Juniors
Years station
Mead High School
1996-1999 United States Air Force Academy
Men's
Years station Games (goals) 1
2000 Colorado Rapids 0 (0)
2000 →  Colorado Springs Ascent  (loan)
2001-2003 Seattle Sounders 25 (0)
Stations as a trainer
Years station
2000 United States Air Force Academy (Co-Tr./TW-Tr.)
2003-2005 United States Air Force Academy (Co-Tr./TW-Tr.)
2005-2006 Pikes Peak Rush U-13B
since 2007 SSC Shadow (TW-Tr.)
2014-2016 Eastern Washington University (Women; Co-Tr./TW-Tr.)
1 Only league games are given.

Richard "Rich" Patrick Cullen (born January 12, 1975 in Spokane , Washington ) is a retired American football player in the position of goalkeeper . In addition to his military career and his work in the financial sector, he also occasionally appears as a football coach.

Football career

Rich Cullen was born on February 12, 1975 as the son of a US Air Force pilot in the city of Spokane, Washington state. After growing up in Spokane and completing his school education, he finished it in 1996 when he graduated from Mead High School , of which he was a member of the school's men's soccer team. He then began his studies at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs , Colorado , and was also a member of the men's soccer team of the Air Force Falcons , the university sports department. In this he appeared from 1996 to 1999, was a letterman in all four years and was in the All- Western-Athletic-Conference selection in three years . For several years he led the goalkeeper statistics of the Air Force Falcons; especially in the area of ​​held balls and in the penalty shoot-out .

With 38 wins and 238 balls held over the course of his college career, he is still the second best Air Force Falcons player in this ranking today (as of 2018). In 1997 he reached the NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship with the Falcons , but retired there in the first round game with 2: 3 against the Bluejays from Creighton University . That year he also managed to score a goal himself. In 1999 he made it to the All Mountain Pacific Sports Federation First Team because of his achievements . He was also the Air Force Falcons Most Valuable Player (MVP) in his senior year 1999 . His older brother Chris , who was also a member of the Air Force Falcons soccer team in the early 1990s and later played professionally for the Colorado Foxes , received this award.

About the MLS SuperDraft 2000 , Cullen was drafted as the 67th pick in the sixth round for the major league soccer franchise Colorado Rapids . Around three months later he received his Bachelor of Economics and thus completed his career at the US Air Force Academy. In the same year, he was no longer eligible to play, briefly as graduate assistant coach of the Falcons. After moving to the Colorado Rapids, he was not used for them under coach Glenn Myernick , but spent a large part of the 2000 game in the reserve team or as a loan player at Colorado Springs Ascent playing in the fourth-rate North American USL Premier Development League (USL PDL ). The Colorado Springs Ascent franchise, trained by Mark Plakorus , was particularly advantageous to Cullen's due to its proximity to the US Air Force Academy. A professional contract did not materialize mainly because Cullen had already committed to serve in the Air Force in Colorado Springs for another second year. Nevertheless, during this time he commuted between Denver , where the Colorado Rapids are located, to train there and Colorado Springs, where he appeared for the local fourth division team and the Air Force.

In 2001, the 1.83 m tall goalkeeper moved to the Seattle Sounders in the A-League , the then second division in the US football league system. There he initially acted as the second goalkeeper behind the regular Preston Burpo , but came in May 2003, after Burpo broke his jaw after a collision on the field with his teammate Danny Jackson , the number 1 action. During this time with the Seattle Sounders, he was also on active duty at McChord Air Force Base as a reservist . There he acted as a communications officer and as a flight commander of information systems flight . At the same time, Cullen also appeared for all-air-force and all-military teams and in 2003 took part in a regional CISM tournament in Barbados with an all-military selection . As in the previous game year 2002, Cullen made it with the Seattle Sounders in 2003 as the first of the Pacific Division , one of the parallel divisions of the Western Conference and thus one of four divisions of the A-League, in the season-closing play-offs. Unlike in 2002, when the team was eliminated in the Conference Semifinals against the Vancouver Whitecaps , the franchise made it to the Conference Finals in 2003 and was defeated in these Minnesota Thunder with a total score of 0: 2 on the return leg. This year he was also elected to the All-A-League second team because of his performance .

Until Kevin Durr's draft to the Seattle Sounders via the 2013 MLS Supplemental Draft , Cullen was the only United States Air Force Academy graduate to make the leap into Major League Soccer. The last player with a background at the US Air Force Academy was Daniel Wasson , who was at the academy for two years before moving to the University of Tulsa , who was drafted to the Colorado Rapids via the 2006 MLS Supplemental Draft .

Career away from football

After this game year 2003, Rich Cullen, at that time with the rank of captain, ended his active career as a football player and concentrated mainly on his military career. From 2003 to 2005 he also worked as an assistant or goalkeeper coach of the men's soccer team at the United States Air Force Academy, where he supported the legendary coach Lou Sagastume in his work. Later he also worked as a coach in the youth field, for example from 2005 to 2006 with the U-13-B team at Pikes Peak Rush . In 2007 he returned to his hometown Spokane, where he settled with his family from then on. Since then he has been stationed with the Washington Air National Guard at Camp Murray at Joint Base Lewis-McChord and is now Director of Operations and Joint Terminal Attack Controller (JTAC) with the 116th Air Support Operations Squadron (116th ASOS) of the United States Air Force Tactical Air Control Party (USAF TACP) in action.

From 2007 to 2010 he also worked as a project manager at the local construction company Vandervert Construction, Inc. in Spokane. From March 2010 to September 2011 he completed a SERE training on his basis at the so-called SERE school . After that, between July 2013 and July 2017, he was part of the financial services provider Northern Capital Management, Inc. as a financial planner, and in July 2017 he moved to Financial Management, Inc. as a financial and asset advisor on his return to Spokane is active as a goalkeeping coach at the youth training club SSC Shadow . In addition, between May 2014 and November 2016, under head coach Chad Bodnar , he was in charge of the women's soccer team at Eastern Washington University as an assistant and goalkeeper coach. Since his return to Spokane, he has been running his own training center for goalkeepers here with Washington Goalkeeping . With this he already entered into various partnerships, including with the Spokane Soccer Academy .

Today (as of 2018) Rich Cullen lives with his wife Tamara and their four daughters in Spokane.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Rebel soccer beaten at Air Force , accessed January 2, 2018
  2. ↑ a b A LOOK BACK ON THE 1999-2000 AFA ATHLETIC SEASON - MEN'S SOCCER , accessed on January 2, 2018
  3. ↑ Air Force Falcons - 2011 Men's Soccer Media Guide (pdf), accessed January 2, 2018
  4. ↑ Nick Cullen on the North Dakota Fighting Hawks official website , accessed January 2, 2018
  5. ↑ a b c d Soccer's Ascent - New Springs franchise kicks off season , accessed on January 2, 2018
  6. ^ Geoffrey C. Arnold: Cascadia Clash: Sounders versus Timbers
  7. ↑ 2015 USL Media Guide (pdf; English), accessed on January 2, 2018
  8. ↑ a b KEVIN DURR SELECTED IN MLS SUPPLEMENTAL DRAFT , accessed on January 2, 2018
  9. ↑ Rich Cullen on the official website of the SSC Shadow , accessed on January 2, 2018
  10. ↑ Rich Cullen - Goalkeeping Specialist , accessed January 2, 2018
personal data
SURNAME Cullen, Rich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Cullen, Richard Patrick (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American football player and coach
DATE OF BIRTH January 12, 1975
PLACE OF BIRTH Spokane , Washington , United States