Aug. 18, 2003

FAIRFAX, VA ... Chris Haitz has joined the George Mason University men's soccer team as an assistant coach.

Haitz joins the staff of third-year men's head coach Fran O'Leary and will assist in all aspects of the program, including on-field coaching, recruiting and administrative duties. He assumed his duties last week as official practices began.

This season marks Haitz's third as a collegiate assistant coach -- his first being at the University of Rochester (NY) in 1998. Haitz also holds an NSCAA Advanced National Diploma and is a candidate for the preliminary German coaching license.

Haitz, 28, worked in the front offices for Bundesliga clubs Hamburg SV and FC St. Pauli in Hamburg, Germany, and also trained with local fourth division semi-professional clubs from 2001-02. Haitz played with various teams in Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic and England from 1996-2002, and also coached community teams in England and Germany (2000-02). Haitz is fluent in German, is proficient in Spanish and has basic knowledge of Czech and Norwegian. Haitz currently works for the US Soccer Federation as a liaison officer to visiting international teams in the United States.

Haitz played four seasons (1993-95, '97) at Earlham College, an NCAA Division III institution in Richmond, IN. He was a two-year captain and team most valuable player in 1995, and he earned All-North Coast Athletic Conference honors in 1995 (second team) and 1997 (honorable mention). After graduation, Haitz played a year with the Carolina Dynamo in the D3 Professional League.

A 1997 graduate of Earlham, Haitz earned a bachelor's degree in German studies and received his MBA in Football Industries from the University of Liverpool in England in 2001.

A native of Batavia, NY, Haitz is a 1993 graduate of Byron-Bergen High School.