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Tim Romanello
Rock Valley College selected Tim Romanello as the program's second coach in July 2019, replacing the retiring Frank Horvat. Romanello came to RVC after spending two years as an Assistant Coach at both NCAA D1 Oakland University and University of Detroit Mercy; he has more than 19 years of coaching experience across all levels and has coached a significant amount of talent across the country and internationally.
"I want to thank Athletic Director Darin Monroe and the search committee for placing their trust in me, and giving me this opportunity to lead this program forward" said Romanello. "It's a brilliant opportunity that RVC provides quality throughout- from its athletics, its campus, its people and the community. I'm extremely excited about getting started and incredibly happy to be here."
"I would like to welcome Tim Romanello and his family to Rock Valley" Athletic Director Darin Monroe said. "Tim brings a wealth of experience to our Men's Soccer program having served as a former Junior College head coach and as an NCAA D1 assistant coach. Tim also has experience as an Interim Athletic Director which will be extremely beneficial as we continue to move our department forward in a positive direction. The future of our Men's Soccer program is very bright under Coach Romanello."
Romanello has experience and found success at all three NJCAA levels and NCAA's top flight identifying and recruiting talent. Several former players have found success playing professionally. Noah Jensen (Forge FC/Canadian Premier League) was Horizon League Most Valuable Player and a MAC Hermann Trophy Finalist in 2021. Two former players have been drafted in the MLS SuperDraft. Nyal Higgins (FC Edmonton/Canadian Premier Legaue) was drafted 19th by Toronto FC in 2020, and Wilfred Williams was picked 82nd by Sporting KC in 2019. Other players finding success have been Dylan Borczek who currently plays with USL Championship's Memphis 901 and Nebojsa Popovic, who was named 2019 Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year and All-Big Ten First Team at Michigan.
Romanello has also aided the development and advancement since arriving at Rock Valley College in 2019. Three former players are enjoying success as transfers in their junior seasons. Poe Reh was named NJCAA All-American 2020 and 2021 and N4C Conference Most Valuable Player in 2021 before moving on to Chicago State University. Joining him was 2020 All-American nominee and All-Region First Team Amani (Zid) Amrami, while 2020 All-American and NJCAA National Tournament All-Tournament Team Bernardo Dominguez is currently at Saint Xavier.
Rock Valley finished their inaugural year in the Division II ranks in 2022 with a 13-4-2 overall record, setting program records in wins (13), winning percentage (.737), points-per-match (2.16), goals (55), goal differential (+38), region wins (6), home wins (9), and goals-against-average (0.89). The Golden Eagles tied program best marks of fewest goals allowed (17), losses (4) and played in the most games (19) since the 2014 season. Rock Valley made their debut in the national polls when they landed 19th in the October 24 NJCAA Poll following their 3-2 road victory against eventual national semifinalist #11 Prairie State College. A week later, the Golden Eagles would move up three spots to #16 in Week 10 and the final poll on October 31st. Rock Valley would advance to their fourth straight region semifinal after defeating Illinois Valley 2-0 at LaSalle Rotary Park in the first round of the region tournament. The Golden Eagles would fall in the region's semifinal 3-2 to eventual national semifinalist #4 Morton College, despite leads of 1-0 and 2-1 over the eventual district champions. Three members of the 2022 squad were given All-Region honors, including sophomores Roberto Davila and Joshua Ceniceros, and freshman goalkeeper Alyas Fritz.
The Golden Eagles finished their 2021 fall campaign with an overall 10-4 record and Region IV two-seed. The Golden Eagles set multiple program-best marks in wins (10), win percentage (.714), points-per-match (2.14), goals against (17), goals-per-game (3.50) and goal differential (+32). The Golden Eagles opened the season as the seventh-ranked team in the country and as high as fourth (NJCAA Poll | Sep.13) and appeared the NJCAA national polls for a program-best seven straight weeks. Despite the marks and regular season success, Rock Valley would be upset by third-seeded Illinois Valley 3-2 in the region semifinal. Forward Poe Reh was recognized as Conference Most Valuable Player and nationally as an All-American. Five players were named to the All-Region teams.
Romanello was also selected to lead the DeKalb County United men's team of the Midwest Premeir League in the summer of 2022. As the head coach, Romanello helped improve the 2021 DeKalb side from a two-win, 8-loss side that finished 11th of 12 teams into a team that has held the top spot of the 12-team standings in six of the seven weeks and an eventual third-place finish. Romanello coached some of the area's top talent, including UW-Green Bay's Josh Johansen (Huntley, IL), a slew of nationally-ranked North Central College Cardinals in Jack Fairwood, Johnny Kraemer, Sid Marquardt, and Aiden Westerberg. Westerberg was named CCIW Student-Athlete of the Year in October 2022. Fairwood, Marquardt and Westerberg were all named to the All-CCIW First Team.
Rock Valley's spring 2020 campaign was a challenging one due to the on-going conronavirus pandemic, but ended up as a special one. The 2021 spring saw the Golden Eagles finish 7-4 overall, runners-up in both the North Central Community College Conference regular season standings and Region IV Tournament, an impressive enough mark to receive one of three NJCAA Division III National Tournament At-Large Bids. Seeded seventh, the Golden Eagles went 1-1, losing to national runners-up Camden County in the quarterfinals, then defeating the six-seed Monroe College-Bronx, 4-2, to conclude their historic season.
Enroute to their national tournament appearance, the program rewrote a bit of their own history book, finishing with the program's highest winning percentage (.636), points-per-match (1.91) and largest goal-differential (+16) to date, including the program's first winning record in conference play since 2015. Despite playing in five fewer games, the team finished third all-time in goals scored (34) in a season and second in goals scored-per-game (3.09). Six players made All-Conference and All-Region teams while Romanello was named N4C Coach of the Year.
Romanello inherited a RVC team that went 9-7 season in 2018. In his first year at the helm of Rock Valley College men's soccer team, Romanello went 7-8-1 overall, finishing fourth in both the N4C and NJCAA Region IV. The Golden Eagles won their first playoff game in three seasons. RVC appeared in their first semifinal since 2016, defeating Elgin Community College 4-3 in an overtime thriller. The quarterfinal win was Romanello's 75th collegiate win on the men's side. Romanello is 37-20-3 in three seasons at Rock Valley, and 103-98-14 overall as men's head coach at Rock Valley and Dodge City. An 8-0 victory at Richard J Daley on October 11, 2022 was Romanello's 100th collegiate win on the men's side.
Romanello spent 2017 and 2018 falls seasons as an Assistant Coach at NCAA D1 Oakland University. He also served as the Director of Player Development and head youth coach of five teams at Royal Oak FC, a position he has held since June 2017. Romanello has an extensive history in men's and women's soccer as he was both the men's and women's head coach at Dodge City Community College in Dodge City, Kansas. He was the head men's soccer coach from 2008 to 2017 and the women's head coach from 2011 to 2017. Prior to that he was the head men's soccer coach at University of Wisconsin-Sheboygan and an assistant at Lakeland University men's and women's soccer.
He has more than 19-plus years of experience coaching soccer overall and has coached players to 54 All-Region accolades, four NSCAA All-American teams and has brought in an average of 27 players per year (from 49 countries and 29 states). He rebuilt the Dodge City men's soccer program, coaching the team to a 50-38-5 mark across five years (2010-14). He also turned around a declining Dodge City women's soccer program, turning a three-win-in-three-seasons team into a squad that won 51 games in six seasons. At the time, Romanello coached the men's team to five winning seasons in seven years (and the only winning seasons in program history).
Romanello coached Dodge City CC to six-straight Region VI Women's Tournaments (2011-16) and seven consecutive Region VI Men's Tournaments (2010-16). He was named the Dodge City Coach of the Year in 2012 and coached both teams into the national rankings. Thirty-eight (38) of his players earned Academic All-Conference Awards, while 12 were NJCAA Academic All-Americans. In his 12 years as head coach, his team's had a cumulative GPA of 3.11.
Romanello is a Lakeland University (2008) graduate and recieved his M.S. in Athletic Administration with an emphasis in Educational leadership from Southeastern Oklahoma State University (2023). He and wife, Annie, and their two sons, Taylor (11) and Keaton (8) reside in Rockford, IL. Romanello was elevated to Assistant Athletic Director in July 2023.
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