Benge Joins Connors State Coaching Staff as Assistant Coach

WARNER – Connors State Soccer has added Richard Benge as an assistant coach for its inaugural season.

Benge joins the Cowboys and Cowgirls after spending the 2022-2023 season as the assistant women’s soccer coach at Millsaps College, a NCAA Division III institution in Jackson, Mississippi. At Millsaps, he was responsible for the training and match day preparation of the goalkeepers, a role he will continue at Connors State.

Benge has been coaching since 2015, with experience at the youth, high school, and collegiate levels.

In 2022, he helped lead the Majors to one of the best statistical seasons in over a decade. The team recorded the most shutouts (5) and allowed the fewest goals (24) since 2009. The starting goalkeeper earned Conference Player of the Week honors the opening week of the season and went on to earn All-SAA Honorable Mention recognition.

Prior to joining the staff at Millsaps, he spent two seasons as the goalkeeping coach for the girls’ soccer program at Ravenna High School in Northeast Ohio. While at Ravenna, the team increased their win total from the previous year in each season. The 2021 campaign saw the most wins since 2017, the most shutouts (7) since 2009, and the team’s first OHSAA Tournament win since 2011. The Ravenna starting goalkeeper earned All-Conference and All-Greater Akron district recognition in each season and finished as the school’s single-game, single-season, and all-time saves leader and in the top 10 for career shutouts.

Benge’s coaching career began as the boys’ head coach at Columbiana High School in 2015, and includes a season as the head coach for Youngstown State University’s men’s club team, a season as a volunteer assistant coach at Hiram College, and work as an ODP staff coach for the Ohio Soccer Association.

Benge earned a bachelor’s degree in exercise science from Youngstown State in 2018 and a master’s degree in sports administration from Kent State in 2021.

Here is what Head Coach Adam Skolnick had to say: "I am very excited to have Richard join the staff here at Connors. Finding a strong coaching staff is important when building a program from the ground up. I got to see Richard coach at Millsaps College while I was there as was impressed in the work he did with the goalkeepers and knew he would be a great fit here as well. While Richard is a strong goalkeeper coach, he will also be heavily involved in recruiting, which is important when you have two teams to recruit for. I'm excited for him to be a part of what we are starting here."