Technical Staff

25th season
(eighth with Pittsburgh)

Overall pro record: 405-195-189

Record with Hounds: 118-54-67

Date Hired:
November 14, 2017

Hometown:
Fort Monmouth, N.J.

Alma Mater:
George Mason University (1987) 

Accolades:
2023 Players’ Shield
2015 USL Champion
2006 USL-1 Champion
USL Hall of Fame (2010)
Six-time Coach of the Year

Announced as the club’s 10th head coach in its history on Nov. 14, 2017, Bob Lilley is in his eighth season at the helm for Riverhounds SC.

Across 24 seasons of head coaching at the pro level, Lilley holds an all-time record of 405-195-189, giving him more wins than any other active coach at in the U.S. at the professional club level. Excluding his one season coaching indoor soccer, he has 383 wins leading outdoor professional clubs, more than any coach in U.S. pro league history — men’s or women’s — stretching from the present day to before the beginning of the original NASL (1968-84). He has logged at least a .500 winning percentage during every regular season, and he has led his team into the postseason every year.

In seven seasons leading the Hounds, the veteran head coach has transformed the team into a perennial contender. The Hounds have qualified for the postseason in all seven seasons under Lilley after reaching the playoffs in only 8 of 18 seasons prior to his arrival.

In 2023, Lilley and the Hounds had their most successful season to date by posting a 19-5-10 record and winning the USL Championship Players’ Shield for the first time with the league’s best record. The team also advanced to the quarterfinals of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup for only the second time, knocking off a pair of MLS teams in the process, and their 23 overall wins established a new single-season record across all competitions. For his work, Lilley was named Coach of the Year for the second time in the USL Championship and the sixth time overall.

His time in Pittsburgh has been marked by new levels of success for the team, which also includes a 19-4-11 regular-season record in 2019. The 68 points were the most in team history, as the team finished atop the USL Championship Eastern Conference standings. The club also made the postseason in his first year, 2018, ending a two-season playoff drought with the first-ever playoff match at Highmark Stadium. Lilley has posted a 118-54-67 overall record with the Hounds, the most wins by any coach in club history, and the most for Lilley at any of his career’s coaching stops.

Lilley came to Pittsburgh after coaching USL’s Rochester Rhinos, which he led during two separate stints (2014-17 and 2010-11). In his six seasons with the Rhinos, Lilley compiled a 102-48-53 overall record, the highlight of which was 2015, in which his team went 17-1-10 in the regular season en route to the Rhinos’ last USL title. He was named Coach of the Year in 2015, an honor he also took in 2010, when Rochester won the USSF Division 2 Professional League regular-season title. Before joining Rochester, Lilley spent 2007-08 as head coach of the Detroit Ignition of the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL), earning Coach of the Year honors as the Ignition went 22-8, the best record in the league.

For three seasons (2005-07), Lilley served as head coach for the Vancouver Whitecaps of the USL First Division, winning his first league championship in 2006. From 2002-03, he led the Montreal Impact of the USL A-League, winning Coach of the Year honors in 2003. He began his pro head coaching career with the Hershey Wildcats from 1997-01, reaching the A-League final in 2001, and he was named Coach of the Year in 1997, his first campaign as a pro head coach.

In 2010, Lilley was inducted into the USL Hall of Fame as a coach.

Before his coaching days, Lilley played at George Mason University from 1984-87, where he was a four-year starter and team captain. He was inducted into the George Mason Men’s Soccer Hall of Fame in 2011. He also played professionally with the Orlando Lions of the American Soccer League (1989-90) and the Maryland Bays of the American Professional Soccer League (1991). He also played on the indoor circuit with the Hershey Impact (1988-91) and Harrisburg Heat of the National Professional Soccer League (1991-97) and the Pittsburgh Stingers of the Continental Indoor Soccer League in 1994.

Dan Visser enters his ninth full season with Riverhounds SC and his second as Sporting Director, overseeing the soccer aspect of the club at both the professional and academy levels. He holds bachelor’s degrees in math and economics from Messiah College, and he received his Master of Business Administration from Eastern University (Pa.).

He first came to the club as an assistant coach midway through the 2016 season as part of head coach Dave Brandt’s staff. Prior to arriving in Pittsburgh, Visser also served as an assistant coach under Brandt at the United States Naval Academy during its 2015 campaign.

From 2013-14, Visser was head coach at Eastern Nazarene College, and he began his coaching career as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Eastern University while completing his MBA.

Visser played collegiately as a midfielder at Messiah for four seasons before graduating in 2008. During this period, the team won three national championships and accumulated an 89-6-2 record. The two-time team captain also received Regional All-America honors in 2007.

Rob Vincent is entering his second season as the assistant coach for the Hounds pro team after six seasons leading ECNL teams in the Riverhounds Development Academy.

A youth player with Everton, Crewe Alexandra and Stockport County in England, Vincent came to the United States to play college soccer at the University of Charleston (W.Va.) from 2009-12. He starred for the Golden Eagles and was three times named a First Team Division II All-American.

Vincent signed with Hounds in 2013, the same year Highmark Stadium opened, and played three years for the club. In 2015, the midfielder had a breakout season with 21 goals in all competitions — still tied for the second-most in club history — and was named to the USL All-League First Team.

Prior to the 2016 season, MLS team D.C. United reached a transfer agreement with Hounds to bring Vincent to Washington, and by season’s end, he was a regular starter for playoff-bound United. He began 2017 in a similar role, but he suffered a knee injury in the team’s second match that ended his season.

In 2018, Vincent announced his retirement as a player and returned to the Hounds in his academy role.

Jon Busch is in his third season as the goalkeeper coach for Riverhounds SC. He was previously the goalkeeping coach for Scottish Premiership side Hibernian, and before that, with Indy Eleven in the NASL and USL Championship.

Busch entered coaching after an impressive 21-year professional career that included 14 seasons in MLS. Busch first played in the A-League, where he was named the 2001 A-League Goalkeeper of the Year while helping the Hershey Wildcats reach the league final under Bob Lilley.

He was drafted by the Columbus Crew in the 2002 MLS Super Draft and played there until 2006 before joining the Chicago Fire from 2007-09. In 2008, his best year with the Fire, he was named MLS Goalkeeper of the Year after leading the league in save percentage and tying for the league lead in shutouts. Busch continued his career joining the San Jose Earthquakes in 2010, returning to the Fire in 2015 and finishing with Indy Eleven in 2016-17.

Busch also represented the United States in international play as part of the Under-17 team in the 1993 World Championship. He remained in the U.S. player pool and made his only start at the senior level in 2005, recording a shutout against Colombia, 3-0.