Runners Name Famiglietta as Inaugural Head Coach

Rio Rancho, N.M. (August 24, 2018) – It has just been over two months since the announcement of the New Mexico Runners arena soccer team and preparations for the inaugural season have been nonstop. One of the preparatory spotlights of the Runners team is the naming of inaugural head coach, Steve Famiglietta.

Head Coach Famiglietta who is also known as “Fami” in the local soccer community, is a USL soccer Hall of Famer and is a well-known soccer icon who has dedicated his entire life to the sport.

Famiglietta is originally from Long Island, New York and moved to Rio Rancho, New Mexico with his family when he was in elementary school. He attended Cibola High School where he followed up his education at the University of New Mexico playing soccer.

After playing at UNM, Famiglietta went on to play in the Southwest Indoor Soccer League (SISL) which later became the United Soccer League (USL) and continued to play indoor and outdoor soccer for numerous teams where he played as a player-coach on several of those teams.

His accomplishments in professional soccer are stacked and include being named to the USL All-Star team three times along with being named the USL Defensive Player of The Year twice. Prior to Famiglietta’s last season, he represented the USL touring Russia and since his playing career, he has been inducted into the USL Hall Of Fame as well as the Cibola High School Sports Hall Of Fame.

“I’m excited to be returning to what I loved in my soccer career and that’s indoor soccer. I guess you can say it has come full circle from playing indoor soccer in Rio Rancho to now coaching a MASL team in Rio Rancho!” Famiglietta exclaimed.

This hire is a very strong hire out of the gate for the Runners especially because it’s the inaugural season.

 “Steve just falls in line with our competitive and core organizational values. Look at his resume, he understands the game!” states team President & Owner Andres Trujillo.

With the fresh hire of a new head coach, assembling a team is now a priority and local athletes will be getting an opportunity to play soccer at a higher level. The Runners will be conducting the first open tryouts for the inaugural season on Sunday September 9^th, 2018.

"We have a ton of talent in the Rio Rancho and Albuquerque area. We are excited to see who’s ready to play” says Famiglietta.