Yarborough replaces the late T. Logan Fleck as head coach at Stetson. Fleck passed away earlier this month.
“Coach Yarborough came to our attention from multiple recommendations including several Stetson alums,” Altier said. “The search committee members, along with these former Hatters players, were extremely impressed with Coach Yarborough’s experience, work ethic, organization, integrity and commitment to the development of student-athletes.”
Yarborough comes to Stetson from Indiana, which is one of the preeminent men’s soccer programs in the NCAA.
“It is with great excitement and a heavy heart that I accept the position of head men's soccer coach at Stetson University,” Yarborough said. “While I'm truly excited for this opportunity, I want to first pay my respects to the late Coach Fleck and all he has done, not only for Stetson University, but also for all of college soccer. Both Stetson and collegiate soccer are better off for all of the work he has done.
“It has been a dream of mine for some time to lead a Division I program, and I look forward to using my depth of knowledge and skill to help take Stetson to new heights both on the field and in the classroom."
Yarborough has served as an assistant coach at his alma mater since 2009. His other stops in more than 17 years as a collegiate coach have included the Wisconsin, Michigan and UAB.
“With 17 years of Division I experience, I am most impressed with the constant athletic success of every team he has been involved with,” Altier said. “Coach Yarborough was instrumental in the development of a start-up program at Michigan, helping lead it to [a national quaterfinals] appearance in the program’s fourth year, as well as assisting in three national championship teams at Indiana.”
Yarborough, who played at Indiana for legendary coach Jerry Yeagley from 1991-95, helped the Hoosiers to four Big Ten titles and made two national semifinals appearances as a goalkeeper. He played professionally for one year before launching full time into his coaching career.
After one year as a high school coach he returned to IU as an assistant. During that first tenure on the IU staff the Hoosiers compiled a 68-6 record and won back-to-back NCAA championships in 1998-99.
From there he moved on to Michigan where he spent six seasons. During that time the Wolverines reached the Big Ten championship once and made two NCAA appearances, reaching the national quaterfinals in 2003.
From Michigan he spent two seasons as UAB, helping the Blazers post two of their lowest goals-against averages in the program's history.
Yarborough joined up with Todd Yeagley, the son of the Indiana head coach, as an assistant coach at Wisconsin in 2009 before joining the younger Yeagley back at Indiana for the 2010 season.
Teams Yarborough has coached have won seven Big Ten regular-season titles as well as eight Big Ten Tournament crowns. He was a part of 14 teams as a player and coach to have made appearances in the NCAA tournament, including three national championship teams.
“Stetson has made a fantastic hire with Ernie Yarborough,” Todd Yeagley said. “Ernie has all the qualities and skills to run a championship program. Ernie will be sorely missed at IU and we are thankful for all his years of loyal work at Indiana. Ernie will do a wonderful job building upon T. Logan Fleck’s legacy at Stetson.”
Yarborough is a 1995 graduate of Indiana with a degree in criminal justice.
Fleck, who was set to begin his eighth season with the Hatters, was 54,
“Logan Fleck will be missed,” Altier said. “He was a wonderfully caring person, committed to family, friends and student-athletes. Logan was passionate about the game of soccer and dedicated himself to advancing the game in college athletics. Logan was a person of high integrity and always demonstrated this integrity in the way he coached the game. Coach Fleck and his hallmark sense of humor will be missed by the DeLand community."
Fleck also coached at South Florida (men’s and women’s) and UALR, amassing 213 career victories in 25 seasons as a head coach. He was 59-47-18 in seven seasons at Stetson, 97-94-18 in 12 seasons with the USF women’s squad, 34-17 in three seasons with the USF men’s squad and 23-14-8 in three years with UALR.
Fleck took over the reins of Stetson’s program in August 2007 and guided the Hatters to an 11-5-2 mark and a second-place finish in the Atlantic Sun Conference.
In 2009, Fleck led the Hatters to the second Atlantic Sun tournament championship in the program's history and second berth in the NCAA tournament. Stetson finished the regular season with 12 wins and then picked up postseason victories over Eastern Tennessee State and Mercer, before falling to, ironically, South Florida, in the NCAA tournament. Stetson’s final record was 14-4-2, giving Fleck the program record for the most wins in a season.
