Lewis Dunne begins his third campaign on the staff of the UNCW men's soccer program in 2025.
Dunne came to UNCW following a successful one-year stint as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at IUPUI. Dunne helped coach the resurgent Jaguars, who scored 31 goals and secured the most clean sheets in over a decade. IUPUI secured its highest Horizon League regular season finish and secured its first Horizon Tournament Championship Game appearance.
The Ellesmere Port, England, native joined the Jaguars after spending two seasons at Notre Dame (Ohio) College where he helped the Falcons to a 16-8-2 record and a 79-31 scoring margin over that span.
“I am delighted to have been given the honor and responsibility by Coach Heaney to be the next assistant men’s soccer coach at UNCW,” said Dunne at the time of his appointment in summer 2023. “I relish the opportunity to work with a hungry group of players and a coach with the knowledge and experience such as Coach Heaney, as we seek CAA championships and compete at the top of NCAA Division I. I am confident that I can bring the skills and hard work required to continue to push this team towards championships, and I am excited to become a part of the beautiful UNCW campus community."
Dunne began his coaching career at Lake Erie College as a graduate assistant in 2017 and was later promoted to assistant coach in 2019. LEC climbed from five wins in 2017 to 18 victories in the 2019 campaign. That squad climbed as high as No. 4 in the country, became the GMAC regular season champs and qualified for the NCAA Division II Tournament.
Dunne enjoyed a successful playing career at Urbana University where he earned NSCAA First Team All-American, D2CCA All-Atlantic Region First Team and All-MEC First Team honors as a senior in 2016. In 2015, he was named D2CCA All-Atlantic Region First Team, All-MEC Second Team and OSCA All-Ohio First Team.
Following his college career, Dunne captained the Dayton Dutch Lions in the Premier Development League in 2016. He then played for Cleveland SC in the NPSL in 2018.
He was later hired as assistant coach of Cleveland SC in 2019, winning the Rustbelt Conference. The following season, Dunne was hired as the head coach of Cleveland SC in the NPSL. The team became the 2021 Rustbelt Champions and Midwest Regional Champions and was named Coach of the Year.
He graduated from Urbana with a bachelor's degree in sports management and earned a master's degree in business administration from Lake Erie in 2019. Dunne currently holds UEFA B and USSF C licenses.
