Sam Blackburn joins the men's soccer coaching staff in 2018 as an assistant coach. He will oversee all facets of the administration of the Badgers program in addition to his on field coaching duties.Â
A Native of Upper Hutt, New Zealand, Blackburn has played for a number of top clubs in New Zealand including Lower Hutt City, Central League Champions Wellington Olympic, and for NZ Premiership Champions Team Wellington FC. He was also a New Zealand U20 International before he accepted a scholarship to attend the University of Mobile, AL in 2009.
In his time with Mobile the Rams won multiple SSAC Conference Championships and made three trips to the NAIA National Championships. including a #1 ranking, a run to the National Championship Game, and the Honor Student Athlete of the Year Award his Senior year. Blackburn was also 3-time SSAC All-Academic Team at Mobile.
Upon graduating with a Bachelor of Science Sociology Major in 2012 Blackburn returned to NZ to continue his playing career with Team Wellington and to also take up a role as a Football Development Officer for the Capital Football Federation. In this role he oversaw the development of the sport through High Performance Coaching and Player Development, Coach Education, Club Growth and Support, and Community work for the 20,000 players and coaches in Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand.
Blackburn has been coaching at a variety of Levels for 10 years including School, Club, Federation, NZ Football Talent Centres, NZ Age Group Tournaments, and Alabama ODP. Sam holds qualifications in both NZ and the USA including his NZ Football/OFC ‘C’ License.
