Mark Stephen Sampson (born January 19, 1957) is an Americansoccer coach. He is also the former head coach of both theUnited States men's national team and theLos Angeles Galaxy ofMajor League Soccer.

Steve Sampson

Personal information
Full name	Mark Stephen Sampson
Date of birth	(1957-01-19)January 19, 1957 (age 68)
Place of birth	Salt Lake City,Utah, U.S.
College career
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1975–1976	Foothill Owls
1977–1978	San Jose State Spartans
Managerial career
1978–1980	Awalt High School
1981	Foothill Owls(assistant)
1982–1985	UCLA Bruins(assistant)
1986–1990	Santa Clara Broncos
1993–1995	United States(assistant)
1995–1998	United States
2002–2004	Costa Rica
2004–2006	LA Galaxy
2015–2022	Cal Poly Mustangs
Medal record Representing United States(as coach) CONCACAF Gold Cup 1996 Runner-up CONCACAF Gold Cup 1998 Men'sSoccer

Sampson attendedUCLA briefly before transferring toFoothill Community College, located inLos Altos Hills, California, in 1975. At Foothill Community he earnedAll-American honors while playing on the 1976 California junior college state championship team. He then transferred toSan Jose State University in 1977. He graduated from San Jose State in 1979 with a minor in Spanish, which he later used as coach of the Costa Rica national team.

After graduating from San Jose State, he moved toStanford University where he earned amaster's degree in education from theStanford Graduate School of Education. While at Stanford he entered the coaching ranks with theAwalt High School boys varsity soccer team inMountain View, California. Then, after graduating from Stanford, he served as an assistant men's soccer coach at Foothill College. In 1982,UCLA hired Sampson as an assistant men's soccer coach. In 1985, he was on staff when UCLA won theNCAA men's soccer championship.

At the end of the 1985 season,Santa Clara University hired him away from UCLA to serve as their men's soccer head coach. In 1989, he achieved his greatest success as a college coach when he led Santa Clara to theNCAA Men's Soccer Championship.^[1] Santa Clara's opponent in the final wasVirginia, coached byBruce Arena, who would later succeed Sampson as head coach of theUnited States men's national soccer team. Santa Clara and Virginia played even through regular time and four overtimes before NCAA officials stopped the game, much to the frustration of the players and two coaches, and named Santa Clara and Virginia as co-champions. Sampson was named the 1989 NCAA Men's Soccer Coach of the Year. When he left Santa Clara, he had compiled a 64–19–19 record.

After leaving Santa Clara, Sampson became an assistant toBora Milutinović on theUnited States national team in 1993 and was on the staff when the U.S. hosted the1994 FIFA World Cup. In addition to his coaching duties, he served as the Vice President/Competition Management for the World Cup organization.

When Milutinović resigned from the team after the World Cup, theUnited States Soccer Federation (USSF) named Sampson as the interim coach in April 1995. After leading the US to a surprising fourth-place finish at theCopa América 1995, including a 3–0 romp overArgentina, as well as a victory over arch-rivalsMexico in the quarterfinals, Sampson was promoted to full-time national team coach in August 1995.^[2]

Sampson coached the team to a second-place finish in the1998 Gold Cup, including a historic 1–0 victory over Brazil in the semi-final.^[2]

The US national team had a strong showing in the1998 World Cup qualifying rounds, finishing with an 8–6–2 record overall.^[2]

Sampson attempted to improve the team by looking for Americans playing in Europe.David Regis was the most talented of those Sampson brought in but was impacted by delays in gaining his citizenship. Others likeMichael Mason andDavid Wagner did not pan out as Sampson tried to overcome the weaknesses of a young MLS. In a controversial move, Sampson removed then captain,John Harkes from the squad. Sampson gave a variety of reasons, from Harkes' lack of leadership, Harkes wanting a more offensive role, and behavioral issues unbecoming of a national team player.^[3] There were injuries to both of the U.S.'s primary attacking threat,Eric Wynalda and creative midfielderTab Ramos.

The1998 World Cup would prove more challenging. Playing the likes ofGermany andYugoslavia were significantly more difficult than inCONCACAF qualifying. Sampson changed the formation in the spring of 1998 to an unusual 3–6–1 formation in preparation for the Germany match, trying to counter the quality of the German midfield. The conservative approach almost worked but was not to be as his team conceded a goal from a corner in the first half. When Sampson changed the system in the second half his team showed promise but was thwarted by an exceptional strike byJürgen Klinsmann. The team lost 2–0. The second match against Iran showed a spirited team but one that could not find the back of the net. The U.S. team hit the crossbar and post on five occasions en route to a2–1 loss in their most critical match. Counter-attack goals got the best of the U.S. seeking to overcome the Germany loss and the player unrest after that match. The lone goal came fromBrian McBride. After significant personnel changes for the Yugoslavia game, the team lost 1–0. Failing to win a game and finishing in last place, Sampson resigned as coach on June 29, 1998.^[4]

In February 2010, Sampson said that John Harkes was dropped from the 1998 World Cup because of an affair between Harkes and Amy Wynalda, then the wife of U.S. striker Eric Wynalda. Long rumored as the reason Harkes was dropped, Sampson finally cleared the air after Eric Wynalda confirmed the rumors during a discussion about the situation for the English National team in the run up to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.^[5][6]

In 2002, theCosta Rica national team hired Sampson as its head coach. In his first international post, he helped Costa Rica win the2003 UNCAF Nations Cup, going undefeated. Costa Rica also finished fourth in the2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup.

In 2004, Costa Rica ranked 17 in theworld, their highest ever at the time. However, after Costa Rica needed theaway goals tiebreaker to get pastCuba in the second round ofqualifying for the 2006 World Cup, Sampson was fired.^[7]

Sampson was hired as the LA Galaxy coach on August 18, 2004, replacingSigi Schmid. Despite an array of talent, the team was inconsistent the rest of the year and struggled for large stretches of 2005. Many of the players whom Sampson had brought into the team were absent from the Galaxy squad due to national team commitments for the US, Costa Rica, and Guatemala. As the season continued the Galaxy improved and eventually won the "double" of theU.S. Open Cup andMLS Cup, the latter as the lowest seed in the playoffs.^[8] The Galaxy failed to build on their success in the 2005 season and Sampson was fired on June 6, 2006, afterAlexi Lalas, who played for Sampson on the US National Team, was hired as president.^[9]

Steve Sampson was hired as the head men's soccer coach atCalifornia Polytechnic State University on December 4, 2014.^[10]

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