University of Hartford

Mike Kulas, who joined the Hawks in 2011, enters his second season as the head coach of the men's soccer program after spending the two prior seasons as the interim head coach. Overall in his three seasons Kulas has a 14-27-5 record and a .359 winning percentage. 

Kulas had his first official season as the head coach in 2024 ending the year 10-5-3 and a 4-3-2 record in the Conference of New England (CNE). The Hawks won 10 games for the first time since 2014 and earned the four seed in the CNE Playoffs falling in the first round to Roger Williams. Hartford would also earn a bid in the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) falling in the Quarterfinals to McDaniel College. The Hawks had three CNE All-Conference selections, a pair of College Sports Communicators Academic All-District choices and 12 CNE Academic All-Conference selections in 2024. 

Since landing at Hartford, Kulas has led Hartford to 92 victories, including the second-most wins in program history (13) in 2013. The Hawks have been on the doorstep of reaching the NCAA Tournament several times during that stretch, making five trips to the America East Tournament’s title match in 2011, 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2019.

A total of 21 Hawks have taken home America East All-Academic Team honors, while Anthony LoBello, a 2016 graduate, became the Hawks’ first CoSIDA Academic All-District honoree since 2009. This past semester, 85 percent of the roster achieved at least a 3.0 GPA or better, as the men’s soccer team posted the highest GPA among Hartford’s men’s teams (3.53).

While at UW-Green Bay, Kulas helped pilot the Phoenix to four straight Horizon League tournament appearances, including an historic season in 2009 that saw the program earn its first-ever Tournament Championship and its first NCAA Division I Tournament appearance in 26 years. In 2007, his impact aided the Phoenix in returning to the Horizon League Championship Game as the former college defender helped UW-Green Bay set a team record with 12 shutouts in a single season.

Kulas got his collegiate coaching career started with a stint at Assumption College in 2004. Serving as an assistant women’s soccer coach with the Greyhounds, he helped direct the team to its first-ever berth in the NCAA Division II New England Regional Tournament that season. Following that appointment, Kulas served one season as an assistant to the Hawks’ women’s soccer team under current head coach John Natale before returning to Worcester, Mass., when he was named head coach of Assumption’s men’s soccer program.

Kulas is a 2002 graduate of Southern New Hampshire, where he was a standout defender for the men’s soccer team. He helped the team post a 38-12-8 record as a three-year starter and led the Penmen to a pair of NCAA Regional Appearances and a Northeast-10 Title (2000). Kulas went on to gain professional playing experience in 2002 as a member of the New Hampshire Phantoms, a team that placed fourth in the Northern Division.

Kulas holds a National ‘B’ License and has also served as a staff coach to the FC Green Bay Boys U-15 youth soccer club team as well as Wisconsin’s Olympic Development Program.