July 31, 2002

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - University of North Carolina men's soccer coach Elmar Bolowich announced on Wednesday the hiring of John Cone as goalkeeper trainer and assistant coach for the defending NCAA champion Tar Heel program.

Cone comes to Carolina after two years as an assistant coach with the University of Tennessee women's soccer program. His primary duties at UNC will be to coach the goalkeepers and assist Bolowich and assistant coach Carlos Somoano in all facets of the Tar Heel program.

During his two seasons in Knoxville, the Volunteers finished second in the Southeastern Conference in 2000 and earned their first-ever NCAA Tournament bid in 2001. Prior to coaching at Tennnessee, Cone served as an assistant coach for two years for the men's team at Metropolitan State College in Denver, Colo.

Cone replaces Scott Calabrese, who served as Carolina's goalkeeper trainer for the last two seasons and is now the goalkeeper coach with the Carolina Courage of the WUSA. The Tar Heels went 21-4 in 2001 and won the NCAA championship with a 2-0 win over Indiana in the College Cup final in Columbus, Ohio.

"I'm confident John will be a great fit here at Carolina," Bolowich says. "He has good experience as a player and a coach and I know he's looking forward to working with our young goalkeepers this year. He'll be an asset to our program."

Cone was the Director of Goalkeeping for the Colorado Rush soccer club, in which he oversaw the progress of all of the squad's advanced goalkeepers ages 11-18, as well as devising an effective curriculum for their development. From 1993-2002, he spent his summers as a director for Tony DiCicco's Soccer Plus Goalkeeping Schools. DiCicco piloted the U.S. Women's National Team to the World Cup title in 1999 and stepped down from the position that November to spend more time with his family.

Cone was a three-year starting goaltender at Butler University from 1990-93, where he established school records for most saves in a game, season and career. He later served as an assistant coach for the Bulldogs in 1995 and 1996, as the team compiled an overall mark of 29-12-3. The club captured the Midwestern Collegiate Conference post-season tourney in 1995 to claim the school's first-ever NCAA berth. The following season, BU won the league's regular-season crown.

The Denver, Colo., native earned a bachelor of arts degree in English literature from Butler in December 1993. Cone was taken in third round of the National Professional Soccer League mid-season draft by the Kansas City Attack in December of 1993 and later spent a trial period with RFC Seraing, a first-division club in Belgium from July-October of 1994. He also spent three months playing with the Hampton Roads Mariners of the United States International Soccer League in 1996.