April 13, 2006

DAYTON, OHIO - University of Dayton assistant women's soccer coach Manoj Khettry has resigned his post to accept the head coaching position at St. Bonaventure. Khettry served under head coach Mike Tucker for the past three years.

"I'm happy for him to have the opportunity to step in and become a Division I head coach," Tucker said. "It's an opportunity that he definitely deserves and we are happy for him. We need to thank him for how much he's helped us advance our program in the past few years. I certainly appreciate all he's done for me and for UD soccer."

Khettry is the third assistant of Tucker's to get a Division I head coaching job, joining Greg Sheen and Deb Flaherty. Sheen, now an assistant at Texas, was named the head coach of Morehead State in 2004. Flaherty has been the head coach of Holy Cross for the past two seasons.

"I want to thank all the people at UD," Khettry said. "Coach Tucker, Coach Berbary, Coach Demetriades, All of the support staff, but specifically Athletic Director Ted Kissell, Associate Athletic Director Tim Wabler and Senior Women's Administrator Cindy Hartmann. They have been not only extremely supportive of me as a coach and my decision to pursue becoming a head coach, but they have helped me mature and develop as a leader. We will miss UD, especially the players and the coaching staff. They have all helped me become a better coach for young women. My family and I will always have some wonderful memories of our time at UD, but we are extremely excited to begin the next phase of my coaching career as the Head Women's Soccer Coach at St. Bonaventure."

With Khettry, along with Amy Berbary and George Demetriades also assisting, Tucker has led the Flyers to two regular season Atlantic 10 championships, two conference tournament championships and a pair of visits to the NCAA Women's Soccer Championship in the past three seasons. Tucker was named the Atlantic 10 women's soccer Coach of the Year in 2004.

Khettry and his wife, Moira, a 1993 graduate of the University of Dayton, have two children, Kiran (3), and Lilli, who was born in March.

He takes over a St. Bonaventure program that finished 2-15 and 1-8 in the A-10 last season and has thirteen players returning in the fall.

The Flyers return 19 players from last year's team, which finished 10-7-3 and advanced to the Atlantic 10 Conference semifinals. The Flyers saw their string of four-straight Atlantic 10 Championships and NCAA berths snapped with a 1-0 upset at the hand of Saint Louis in the semifinals. Dayton will add 10 newcomers to the roster in 2006.

Dayton and St. Bonaventure are not scheduled to meet in the 2006 season, as part of the rotating nine-game schedule for the 14 Atlantic 10 Conference teams.