Bob Dikranian

Bob Dikranian, who coached Rudy Meredith at Southern Connecticut, is in his third season as a member of the Yale staff. Dikranian served as Southern's head coach for 21 seasons before stepping down in 1989, and his teams had a superb 227-94-31 won-lost-tied record. Dikranian has been a consultant to the Southern men's and women's programs and was an assistant coach for former Southern player and coach George Kiefer at the University of South Florida. Dikranian's teams appeared in 14 NCAA Division II tournaments, including six straight trips to the semi-finals from 1978-83. But it was the seventh trip to the semifinals, in 1987, that will be remembered as Southern won its first NCAA title, tipping Cal State Northridge at Tampa, Fla. Dikranian has been a regional coach with the U.S. Soccer Federation; trained the Connecticut Senior all-star team; was head coach in the Senior Bowl Classic; and is a former member of the NCAA Soccer Committee. An All-America soccer player at the University of Bridgeport, Dikranian was Southern's director of intramurals and club sports before retiring. He was inducted into Southern's Alumni Sports Hall of Fame in 1993, and was among the inaugural class of inductees to the Connecticut Soccer Hall of Fame in January of 1999.