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Dalby and Ogunbiyi named Penn State assistant coaches

UNIVERSITY PARK – Penn State men’s soccer coach Jeff Cook now has his full staff in place, with the recent naming of Greg Dalby and Tunde Ogunbiyi as assistant coaches. Assistant coach Owen Griffith will stay on staff for his third season and Destiny Rodriguez will enter her second season as the director of operations.

Dalby comes to Penn State from Davidson College, where he was the lead assistant and recruiting coordinator since the 2015 campaign, while Ogunbiyi starts his role at Penn State after being the assistant coach at Drexel University during the 2017 season as well as serving as a goalkeeper coach for the Philadelphia Union Academy.

“I am very pleased to welcome Greg and Tunde to Penn State University and our men’s soccer program,” said Cook. “During the search process they stood out as extremely qualified candidates who are passionate about bringing the very best out of talented student-athletes. Their combined experience as outstanding players at both the collegiate and professional levels, in addition to their coaching backgrounds made them ideal choices to join our coaching team. I’m also delighted that Owen and Destiny will remain on staff with Nittany Lion men’s soccer, they have been fantastic during the transition and I look forward to working with this talented group.”

As the lead assistant at Davidson College, Dalby was responsible for recruiting and talent development among a wide-range of other duties. Prior to his time at Davidson, Daly served as the assistant coach at the University of Notre Dame where he helped the squad to a 2013 NCAA Championship as well as a 2012 BIG EAST Tournament Championship, and back-to-back ACC regular season championships in 2013 and 2014.

Dalby spent seven years as a professional soccer player, starting his career in the Belgian Premiere League at Royal Club Sporting Charleroi before moving on to the Colorado Rapids Major League Soccer club, where he played for two seasons. Dalby closed his professional career at the Charlotte Eagles where he spent two seasons as co-captain. Throughout his time in professional soccer, Dalby served on the US Soccer Athlete Council where he contributed to the drafting and implementation of new legislation to benefit US soccer athletes.

As a NCAA student-athlete, Dalby played four years at Notre Dame where he was a two-year team captain, leading his team to back-to-back BIG EAST regular season championships in 2003 and 2004. Dalby was a NSCAA First Team All-American as well as a M.A.C. Herman Trophy Semifinalist in 2005 and 2006. He was also named BIG EAST Midfielder of the Year and garnered First Team All-Big East honors twice. Dalby notched BIG EAST Academic All-Star team honors for three seasons and was the captain of the United States U-20 Men’s National Soccer team in the FIFA Youth World Cup in 2005. Finally, Dalby served as the men’s soccer Student-Athlete Advisory Council representative and was awarded Notre Dame’s prestigious Byron V. Kanaley Award, recognizing senior athletes who excelled as both students and leaders.

Ogunbiyi most recently was an assistant coach at Drexel University. In addition to his role at Drexel, he also served as a goalkeeper coach for the Philadelphia Union Academy. Prior to this, Ogunbiyi was the assistant coach at UC Riverside, helping the Highlanders to a Big West Tournament berth and the team’s first nine-win season in three years. Ogunbiyi was also the director of goalkeeping at Arsenal FC Academy for two seasons, where he instructed keepers for the USSF Developmental Academy teams, and spent one season as the LA Premier Club Coach in 2016.

As a professional athlete, Ogunbiyi played for four different teams in Denmark. At Aars FC, he started in 15 games and earned seven shutouts with a .760 goals against average in 2014. Ogunbiyi then played one season with Aarhus Fremad, where he registered one shutout before earning a promotion to the Skive IK in Denmark’s first division, where he Ogunbiyi played in six games with four shutouts. He closed out his professional career at NÊstved BK.

Ogunbiyi was also a member of the Nigerian Youth National Team and was in the Nigerian Olympic pool from 2007-08, playing in a number of qualifiers. He spent two years at the University of New Hampshire before transferring to Boston College where he helped the Eagles to a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances.

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