STANFORD, Calif. — Stanford University Director of Athletics Bob Bowlsby appointed former Fort Lewis College men’s soccer coach Jeremy Gunn as the head coach at Stanford yesterday.

Gunn, 40, coached the Skyhawks from 1999-2006, leading his squad to the 2005 NCAA Division II national championship and runner-up finishes in 1999 and 2006. He was inducted into the Fort Lewis College Athletic Hall of Fame in 2010 as a member of the 1999 FLC side, chosen as the coach of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference’s All-Century Team in 2009, and received FLC All-Century Team honors as one of the top 100 athletes, coaches, and administrators in school history this past August.

Gunn led North Carolina-Charlotte to the NCAA Division I College Cup on Dec. 10, where the 49ers lost 1-0 to top-ranked North Carolina. During his five years in Charlotte, Gunn’s teams qualified for two NCAA tournaments.

Now the 15th head coach in the history of Stanford men’s soccer, he succeeds Bret Simon, who resigned on Nov. 15 after 11 years coaching the Cardinal.

“I am truly honored to accept the position as the new head men’s soccer coach at Stanford University,” said Gunn. “I am excited to begin a new era of Stanford men’s soccer, and am thrilled to be given the opportunity to become a part of one of the most prestigious universities in the world. I am looking forward to the chance to continue to develop and learn from such a successful athletics department, and to interact and work with some of the most respected collegiate coaches in the country.”

During the five seasons at Charlotte, Gunn compiled a 64-26-14 record (.682), including a 5-2 mark in the NCAA tournament. The 49ers also won a pair Atlantic-10 Conference titles under Gunn’s guidance in 2010 and 2011.

“Jeremy Gunn has a proven track record of winning and developing student-athletes and programs everywhere he has coached,” said Bowlsby. “We are very excited to welcome Jeremy Gunn as our new men’s soccer coach. His teams are known to be extremely well organized, determined, hard-working and well coached. He is passionate about teaching and developing his student-athletes as soccer players and young men. With Jeremy at the helm we look forward to returning Stanford men's soccer to national prominence year in and year out.”

A 1993 graduate of Calif. State-Bakersfield, Gunn began his coaching career as an assistant at his alma mater. He served on both the men’s and women’s coaching staffs during his seven-year stint in Bakersfield, helping the Roadrunners win the 1997 NCAA-II title after appearing in the NCAA-II Final Four in 1995.

After leaving Bakersfield, Gunn built Fort Lewis into a Division II powerhouse. During his eight seasons at the helm of the Skyhawk ship, Gunn led FLC to five NCAA playoff appearances (1999, 2001, 2004, 2005, and 2006) and six RMAC championships (1999, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2005, 2006). The Skyhawks went 123-35-17 (.751) in his eight seasons at FLC.

Following the 2005 season, in which FLC went 22-0-1 in winning their first-ever national title — a feat they repeated in 2009 and again this season under current head coach and former Gunn assistant Oige Kennedy — Gunn was named the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) Division II Coach of the Year. He was named RMAC Coach of the Year five times (1999, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006).

“It continues to illustrate that Fort Lewis is a launching pad for a lot of very talented coaches,” said fifth-year FLC women’s soccer head coach Damian Clarke, who served as an assistant on Gunn’s 2005 FLC championship team and also as the assistant director of the Durango Youth Soccer Association under Gunn. “We all look at Jeremy as our mentor if not the best coach that any of us have ever been around.”

In his 13 seasons combined at Fort Lewis and Charlotte, Gunn posted a 187-61-31 record (.726).

He also had a successful playing career. Growing up in England, he was a youth player at Grimsby Town F.C. and Scunthorpe United F.C., while representing the North Region as an English schoolboy. A first team All-American at Calif. State-Bakersfield, Gunn played professionally from 1993-95 with the Chico Rooks Pro Soccer Club in Chico, Calif., the North Bay Breakers in Rohnert Park, Calif., and in 1998 with the Nashville Metros and the Charleston Battery of what is now called the United Soccer League (formerly the A-League).

Gunn is one of two former FLC head coaches in the NCAA Division I ranks. Jeremy Fishbein, who coached at FLC from 1992-98), has been the head men’s soccer coach at New Mexico since 2002.

One Skyhawk coaching alumnus is in the professional ranks: Tim Hankinson, who coached at FLC in 2007 and 2008, was named skipper of the fledgling San Antonio Scorpions of the North American Soccer League last fall.

The Stanford University Department of Athletics contributed to this release.