Women's Soccer
- Title:
- Women's Soccer Assistant Coach
Donald Dione returns to the Quinnipiac women’s soccer staff for his fifteenth season. Dione has over 20 years of coaching experience and 22 years of managerial experience in medical research.
In 2010, Dione completed his master’s degree mentorship with the women’s soccer team under the guidance of head coach Dave Clarke. Dione’s duties as a volunteer assistant coach included the generation of advanced scouting reports, game analysis, and assistance with operations.
Before working with the Bobcats, Dione was the head coach for East Haven High School’s girls’ varsity soccer team from 2001 to 2009. While at East Haven, Dione was the winningest coach in the program’s history, as he guided the team to three state tournament appearances. He played a critical role in the team’s fundraising efforts as well. Additionally, Dione has worked as a head coach at South Central Premier since 2003.
In addition to years of coaching experience, Dione holds a USSF National “C” License from the United States Soccer Federation and an Advanced National Diploma from the United Soccer Coaches.
Dione recently opened A Step Ahead Soccer, which is the only facility in the state specifically designed to help players develop their dribbling and finishing skills. A Step Ahead Soccer also has a mobile soccer clinic for preschool children. He was also the manager of the Nuclear Cardiology Research Laboratory and then the Yale Translational Research Imaging Center at Yale University, School of Medicine. He was also the founder and president of Ultrasound Detection Systems, LLC.
Dione graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with a Bachelor of Science in biomedical engineering in 1989, where he was a member of the men’s soccer team for four seasons. He received his master’s in sports science, with an emphasis in coaching, from the United States Sports Academy in 2011. In addition to his responsibilities with the women’s soccer team, he has initiated several research projects with Drs. Juan Garbalosa, Thomas Martin, and David Wallace to study ACL injury prevention utilizing Quinnipiac’s Motion Analysis Laboratory.
He currently lives in Deep River with his wife Donna.
