Doug Mello

Doug Mello started the Carroll College men's soccer program in 2014.

Last season: The Saints posted a 7-9-1 overall record. Paolo and Leo Georgiades were noted as USC Scholar All-Region players, while Leo went on to be named a CoSIDA Academic All-District choice. One player was named all-conference while three were honorable mentions. Thirteen players were named academic all-conference.

Previous season:

The Carroll College Fighting Saints defeated the No. 12-ranked Corban Warriors in Cascade Collegiate Conference tournament to advance to the semifinals in 2018. It was a highlight during a season that also saw senior Javi Porras become the USC National Scholar Player of the Year.

In Mello’s tenure as the head coach for the Carroll College men’s soccer team, he has taken the Saints from inception to a strong competitor in the Cascade Conference.

The Saints finished the season with a 10-9-1 record, and an 8-5 record in Cascade Conference play in 2016. Jacob Groh was named to the Cascade Conference First Team. Jose Porras received Second Team Honors and James Lamont and Isaac Bostrom were honorable mention honorees.

Academically, the Saints were named a Cascade Conference Scholar Team and five players were named NAIA Scholar Athletes. Groh received NSCAA Scholar All-American Honors and Bostrom was named CoSIDA Second-Team All-American.

During Mello’s first-year, the 40-year veteran coach immediately put together a great recruiting class in his first summer on the job and built a team that went 6-11-1, a strong record for a team in its inaugural year.

A year and an additional recruiting class later, the Saints flipped the wins and losses and ended the Season at 11-6-2, earning a trip to the Cascade Conference tournament in their first season in the new conference.

Two Saints, Groh and Porras, were named to the Frontier Conference First-Team and Lamont received a second-team nod.

Porras was also named to the National Soccer Coaches’ Association of America West Region First-Team.

Mello landed Ibrhim Niang and Conor Smith on the NAIA Scholar-Athlete list and Jacob Groh was named to the NSCAA Scholar All-West Team.

Mello built an impressive resume prior to his duties at Carroll. He has coached more collegiate soccer games than any other coach in history and has a career record of 774-446-68, 1288 matches coached.

Before coming to Carroll to start the Carroll men’s program, he was the head coach at Hendrix College.

Mello, who first became a collegiate head coach at the age of 20, has had the head job at five different programs. He was also the principle architect, starting both the men’s and women’s programs at Siena Heights University (Mich.) and Luther College (Iowa). At Luther, his men's team made the NCAA D-III Elite Eight twice and his squad set a D-III record for conference wins in a row at 42.

At Siena Heights, Mello’s women’s team was among the Top 10 in the NAIA in their first season, and the men’s team at Luther College had immediate success against Division-III competition.

He is the only collegiate coach to have won over 400 men's matches and over 275 on the women's side.

Mello and his family were drawn to Montana as they have developed a love for the state after purchasing a home in Eureka 10 years ago.

Mello has nearly 60 former players coaching in the collegiate ranks in some capacity and expects those connections to greatly help in recruiting and helping to expedite the process.

Mello believes that an inside-out approach of recruiting talented local recruits from the state first. After mining the Big Sky State, he looks into his previous recruiting areas/connections as well as exploring locations such as Spokane, Boise and Portland that have been fruitful for Carroll in other sports. Finally, he expects to sprinkle in some international and junior college student-athletes.

In addition to Mello’s coaching resume, he holds a master’s degree in counseling from Siena Heights University (Adrian, Mich.)

Mello's wife, Gina, is the pre-school teacher here in Helena. His son, DJ, received Master's degree in Archaeology at the University of the Philippines while playing pro football for the Manila Wolves, where he was named the special teams player of the year as a kicker/punter. His daughter, Marissa, currently resides in Helena where she enjoys horse back riding, swimming, hiking and traveling.

Coach Mello's hobbies include fly fishing, cross country skiing, riding his fat bike and reading.