Claudio Arias Position: Head Coach

The 2010 season will be Claudio Arias' seventh campaign as head men's soccer coach at Texas A&M International University. He has compiled an impressive 56-43-8 record at TAMIU and a 99-81-9 overall record in 10 seasons as a head coach at the collegiate level.

Arias has TAMIU poised to make a run at a Heartland Conference title after directing the Dustdevils to two consecutive third place finishes in the league's regular season standings. He was named Heartland Conference Coach of the Year in 2008 after leading the Dustdevils to a 12-5-1 overall record and 5-4-1 league mark in the team's first season competing as an active NCAA Division II member.

TAMIU established a school-record nine-game winning streak in 2008, finishing the campaign with a 9-1-1 mark over its last eleven games. The landmark 2008 campaign garnered national attention for the Dustdevils with the team finished ranked fourth in the final NSCAA/adidas South Central Region poll.

Arias led the Dustdevils to a 14-5-1 overall record and their second straight Red River Athletic Conference title in his first season at the helm in 2004. That team advanced to the championship game of the NAIA Region VI Tournament against Southern Nazarene.

Arias guided the Dustdevils to a 10-8-1 mark in 2005, marking the team's fourth straight winning season.

TAMIU made the jump from the Red River Athletic Conference and NAIA to the NCAA Division II ranks in 2006. Arias established the foundation of a winning NCAA program by guiding the team to a 14-16-2 overall record in two seasons as a provisional Division II member.

A total of 20 players have earned all-conference honors under Arias' tutelage. Two of the most notable of these standouts are Daniel Hermosillo and Greg Mulamba.

Hermosillo was a two-time Red River Athletic Conference first-team pick and one-time NAIA All-American under Arias. Mulamba was a two-time first-team All-Heartland Conference pick who ended his outstanding career in 2008 by being selected as conference Player of the Year and Daktronics South Central Region Player of the Year.

Four players earned All-Heartland Conference honors last season, with Roy Hernández and Luís Rincón earning first-team honors and Soamy Bautista and Julian Hierro earning second-team honors. Hernández was a repeat first-team selectee with Bautista earning second-team honors for the third consecutive season.

Prior to arriving at TAMIU, Arias served four seasons as head coach at Southern Wesleyan University (SWU) in South Carolina. He led SWU to the 2003 Georgia-Alabama-Carolinas Conference title, with a 2-1 overtime win over nationally-ranked (#2) Auburn-Montgomery in the semifinals.

Arias played collegiate soccer for Bryan College in Tennessee where he earned a bachelor's degree in psychology. He also holds a master's in health and exercise science from Furman University.

Arias played professionally for the Shreveport-Bossier Lions of the USISL and the Greenville Lions of the PDL as well as for Deportes Concepción in Chile. He holds a Premier National Diploma with the NSCAA and a "A" license with the USSF.

Arias and his wife Nicole are the proud parents of three daughters; Rebecca Nicole, Andrea Belan and Sarah Elizabeth and an infant son, Christian Hugo.