HIGH POINT, N.C. — High Point University Vice President and Athletic Director Dan Hauser is proud to announce a five-year contract extension for HPU Men's Soccer Head Coach Zach Haines.

"Zach Haines has earned the national reputation as one of the leading men's soccer head coaches in the country," HPU Vice President and Athletic Director Dan Hauser said. "Zach has elevated the High Point University program into a consistent top 20 ranked program and dominated the conference by winning eight championships with a 46-2-7 record over seven years. Coming off a Sweet 16 run in the NCAA Tournament in 2025, HPU men's soccer has advanced multiple times during Zach's tenure. We are thrilled to extend his contract at HPU, and I'm confident under Zach's leadership we will build even greater championship success in the future!" 

Since arriving in 2019, Haines has brought a winning culture to HPU behind eight Big South Conference Championships, seven Big South Tournament Final appearances, four straight Big South Coach/Staff of the Year awards, four NCAA Tournament appearances, two NCAA Tournament second round appearances, one NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 appearance, and a 79-31-19 overall record.

Haines is responsible for the program's first Big South Tournament title in program history, and both NCAA Tournament victories, while coaching 72 all-conference players — including 15 Big South Players of the Year —  17 All-Region honorees, six MLS SuperDraft picks and four All-Americans.

"Thank you to President Qubein and Dan Hauser for entrusting me to lead this program for years to come," HPU Head Coach Zach Haines said. "My wife Adrienne and I grew up here and have built our family and community over the last seven years at HPU. Alongside this amazing coaching and support staff, I am confident that we will continue to push for more success on and off the field."

Haines' seventh season (2025) was his best yet at HPU as the program firsts continued to stack up. Behind a 14-2-4 record and highest national ranking (#5), Haines led the Panthers to their first-ever second round win in the NCAA Tournament — a 3-2 victory over West Virginia at Vert Stadium in front of over 5,000 fans. It was also the school's first-ever time hosting a second round game on campus, and its first appearance in the Sweet Sixteen in any sport. Haines' squad didn't suffer a loss until after the 10th game to a Sweet Sixteen UNCG team. The Panthers completed a perfect, undefeated 9-0 Big South record and held league opponents to the best goal differential in conference history (30 goals for -1 against). Haines' tenure of defeating big-time teams continued with wins over #14/25 Georgetown in the season opener as well as results against #10 Marshall and #10 West Virginia in the regular season. Haines' Panthers were the first team in school and league history to receive a ranking from the NCAA Top 16 Committee at #7 before earning the school's highest national seed in the NCAA Tournament at #10.

HPU swept the league trophies, winning the Big South regular-season and tournament titles as Haines coached the nation's only four-time major award winner in a different category (Jefferson Amaya) and the team's first TopDrawerSoccer Player of the Year finalist and the team's fifth MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List honoree (Daniel Lugo).

The Panthers had three players drafted in the 2026 MLS SuperDraft, which is the most in one season for any Big South school ever, as Daniel Lugo (First Round), Jefferson Amaya (Second Round), and Koven Johnson (Third Round) were selected. In total, he's coached six MLS SuperDraft picks and the only HPU men's soccer head coach to do so.

A native of Jamestown, N.C., Haines began to lay the foundation in 2019 during his first season behind a 13-7-0 record. It signified the most successful first season of a head coach in High Point men's soccer history that saw the program's first-ever MLS SuperDraft pick in Keegan Meyer. The Panthers won a marquee match at Duke and made it back to the Big South Finals, the first of seven straight appearances.

In 2020-21, Haines led the Panthers to the program's first-ever Big South Tournament Championship after winning the regular-season title for his first of three conference trophy sweeps. He coached the program's first MAC Hermann Trophy Semifinalist in MD Myers.

From there, High Point has won four of the last six Big South Tournament Championships and eight conference championships overall while winning the program's first-ever NCAA Tournament match — a 2-0 victory over North Carolina in 2022 — and seeing its first MLS SuperDraft First Round pick Holden Trent selected.

Under Haines' leadership, High Point sits atop the list with Georgetown, Wake Forest, Denver, and Seattle for the most DI wins for private schools. The Panthers are the only Big South school to be unbeaten on the road in Big South play since September 2016 when the Panthers lost to Presbyterian 2-1 in OT. Coach Haines has never lost a Big South regular-season road game and is 46-2-7 in league play, while being the only program to defeat a #1 team in the country when the Panthers defeated Pitt in 2024.

The success continues off the field as all seven teams have had a 3.0 GPA or better in every season. In 2024, the Panthers recorded a 3.57 GPA for the program's highest ever.