Daniel O'Hare is entering his fifth season on the Arkansas State coaching staff. He spent the first two seasons as a graduate assistant before being promoted to assistant coach.
Helping the program to back-to-back seasons with 10 or more wins and the first Sun Belt Conference regular season championship, O'Hare has primarily worked with the A-State goalkeepers.
The teaching O'Hare has offered to the goalkeepers through his four seasons has produced a 0.88 goals-against average, including 20 clean sheets in the last two seasons. In fact, A-State has posted a 0.78 goals-against average allowing 30 goals spanning 37 matches since the start of the 2019 season.
Despite COVID-19 pandemic challenges during the 2020-21 campaign, O'Hare and the coaching staff led the team to the most successful season in program history. The Red Wolves set single-season records for wins (11), shutouts (11) and goals-against average (0.58) in an 11-5-1 season. A-State was unbeaten in the eight-game league slate, posting a 7-0-1 record and allowed just one goal in those eight fixtures.
O'Hare has helped goalkeeper Megan McClure re-write the record book at A-State. McClure holds program records wins (23), goals-against average (0.94), and shutouts (22).
McClure was named the Sun Belt Conference Defensive Player of the Year, the first to be honored as such in program history. McClure finished with single-season records for wins (11), goals-against average (0.53) and shutouts (11). A-State allowed just 10 goals all season on 9.8 shots per game. A-State finished the year with a single-season record 0.58 goals-against average along with the 11 clean sheets.
A-State finished the 2019 with a 10-6-4 record and 5-2-3 mark in league play. The 2019 team was the first to play in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament final in program history.
In 2018, A-State posted an 8-7-3 record and appeared in the Sun Belt Tournament for the third-straight season. The 2017 campaign saw A-State post a program best at the time with a 0.85 goals-against average with the squad finishing 9-6-2. The nine victories accounted for the third-highest win total in program history at the time.
Before joining the Arkansas State staff, O’Hare had a two year appointment with McMinn United FC in Athens, Tenn., as the club's director of goalkeeping. Prior to that, he worked for FC Dallas as a residential coach where he evaluated goalkeepers and outfield players for the recruitment to the FC Dallas Academy.
O'Hare played collegiately at the University of Limerick in Ireland for two years before transferring to the U.S. where he finished out his career at Tennessee Wesleyan University as a goalkeeper. The Bulldogs, who were ranked regularly in the top 25, advanced to the Appalachian Athletic Conference tournament in each of his two seasons with the squad, while winning 19 games and keeping 6 shutouts during his time with the club.
He also worked with Wimbledon FC Regional Academy in his hometown of Cork in Ireland as an assistant soccer coach and head goalkeeping coach for nearly four years before moving to the United States.
O'Hare graduated Tennessee Wesleyan with his bachelor's degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in finance. His currently working on master's degree in Business Administration at Arkansas State.
