UDA@NMSU hire Blake Ordell as Associate Technical Director/Head Coach

Current UDA@NMSU Technical Director and Head Coach Tahlon Drake has announced that UDA@NMSU has hired Blake Ordell as Associate Technical Director/Head Coach. Ordell will join UDA@NMSU in Las Cruces on February 1st.
Ordell played professional soccer for nine years throughout the United States, Sweden, and Canada and has coached collegiately for eleven years. He previously served as head men’s and women’s soccer coach at Lincoln Trail College, head men’s and women’s soccer coach at Sheridan College, head men’s soccer coach at Culver-Stockton College, an
assistant men’s soccer coach at Quincy University, and assistant men’s and women’s soccer coach at MacMurray College.

Ordell was the head men’s soccer coach at Culver-Stockton College of the NAIA for 7 years. In his second season as head coach in 2014, Ordell led the Wildcats to the postseason for the first time since 1999 and the Wildcats advanced to the championship game of the Heart of America Athletic Conference Tournament. They advanced to the playoffs 5 consecutive years in a row.

C-SC broke a school record for victories in 2014, garnering an 11-9-1 overall record. During his tenure, the season and career shutout record was broken along with the season and career goal-scoring record. After seven seasons with the Wildcats, Ordell holds the best winning percentage all-time. In seven seasons, Ordell coached 14 players who had been named to the All-HAAC team, including Kevin Urbeck, who was a first-team selection in 2014, and Alejandro Mentasti who was an All-American in 2016. Urbeck and Mentasti also earned All-Midwest Region second-team accolades from the NSCAA. In addition, 33 players had been named Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athletes during Ordell's tenure, and in 2015, Dominic Caruso was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-America® College Division Men's Soccer First Team.

Prior to coaching, Ordell was the director/owner of 'SC’ Ordell Soccer Academy in Detroit, Mich. As the director of coaching/owner, Ordell produced and implemented practice sessions, generated clientele, and created a budget for the facilities while organizing the finances of the company.

Ordell is a graduate of Westminster College in New Wilmington, PA, where he played soccer and was a member of the Presidents Athletic Conference (PAC) All-Conference team all four years, including first-team honors his junior and senior seasons. He was named the team's most valuable player his senior year. While in college, Ordell studied in England and played soccer at the University of Central Lancashire. He helped lead the team to the tournament final 16 in the United Kingdom.

Ordell played professional soccer for nine years throughout the US, Canada, and Sweden. These teams include the St. Louis Ambush, Cedar Rapids Rampage, Edsbyns IF, Wichita B52’s, Illinois Piasa, Detroit Waza Flo-Pro, Cincinnati Kings, Toronto Italia, and the Windsor Border Stars. After a strong season with Detroit, he was invited to play with the U.S. National Arena Team where he played against Peru and Mexico.
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Ordell, who has a master's degree in Management and Sports Management, has also achieved his United States Soccer Federation B License and United Soccer Coaches Premier Diploma and is currently working to achieve his USSF A License. He is married to Amanda Ordell.