UC Davis Athletics

A veteran of the Aggie Soccer Field sidelines, associate head coach Jason Hotaling returns for his 21st season overall with the Aggies in 2025. Elevated to his current position in April of 2014, Hotaling’s duties include coordinating the program’s recruiting efforts, team travel, and scouting, while also leading the development of UC Davis’ goalkeepers.

“Jason has been an outstanding associate head coach with the UC Davis men’s soccer program for several years,” said head coach Dwayne Shaffer. “He has been instrumental in building our championship teams and the success we have achieved. He has been directly involved in the recruitment of so many excellent student-athletes, many of whom have gone on to sign professional contracts. He has helped establish our soccer program as a conference championship contender every year and compete on a national level every season.”

Hotaling has helped engineer the Aggies’ successful transition to the Division I level and the always-difficult Big West Conference, helping lead UC Davis to four NCAA Tournament appearances (2007, 2008, 2019, and 2024). With Hotaling on staff, UC Davis has earned nine consecutive trips to the Big West Tournament, winning the conference’s North Division and advancing to the tournament’s championship match in 2012, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2023. The Aggies also advanced to the semifinals in 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2021.

In 2024, Hotaling played a key role in the Aggies’ historic season, which saw UC Davis secure its spot in the NCAA Championship with a 2-0 victory over UC Santa Barbara in the Big West Championship Final. This marked the program’s fifth appearance in seven seasons in the Big West Championship Final and its fourth NCAA Tournament appearance at the Division I level. The Aggies’ incredible run was further complemented by their representation with five selections to the end-of-season awards: Carson Hammond, Lucas Fernandez-Kim, Zack Lillington, Keegan Walwyn-Bent, and Cason Goodman.

In 2021, with Hotaling on staff, UC Davis returned from a one-year competition absence due to the Big West Conference canceling the 2020 season because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Aggies went 9-10-1 and advanced to the Big West Conference Tournament semifinal, defeating CSU Bakersfield in the quarterfinals. Goalkeeper Derrek Chan posted four shutouts, and both Chan and Charles Janssen recorded save percentages over .700.

UC Davis enjoyed a historic season in 2019, one that saw it win both Big West championships—regular season and the league’s year-end tournament—for the first time in program history. The Aggies earned a No. 14 ranking in the NCAA Division I Men’s Soccer Tournament and hosted Louisville in Aggie Soccer Field’s inaugural Second Round Tournament match. With Wallis Lapsley in goal, the Aggies’ defense allowed just 13 goals throughout the championship campaign—one of the lowest totals in the nation and in program history. The team matched a program record with 13 overall victories and tied the program-best mark with seven home wins.

Under his tutelage, the Aggies have earned a collective 93 All-Big West awards, including 15 first-team honorees. Hotaling also helped develop two NSCAA All-Americans: Quincy Amarikwa (2008) and Dylan Curtis (2008). Six other student-athletes—Amarikwa (2008), Curtis (2008), Brian Ford (2012), Omar Zeenni (2013), Roy Boateng (2017), Nabi Kibunguchy (2017), and Lapsley (2019)—were named to the NSCAA All-Far West Region squad during his time on the sidelines, including first-team honors for Amarikwa and Curtis in their respective seasons.

In net, Hotaling has coached some of the Aggies’ best goalkeepers, including UC Davis’ first Big West Conference Goalkeeper of the Year honoree in Omar Zeenni (2013) and Wallis Lapsley, who received the award in 2019. Lapsley ended his senior season with one of the highest shutout totals and lowest goals-against averages in the nation, adding his name to numerous all-time and Division I-era lists within the program’s record book.

The 2008 season saw goalkeeper Ryan McCowan allow a program Division I record-low 20 goals (while leading the Big West with a 0.87 goals-against average), a mark later equaled in 2012 behind the combined efforts of Zeenni and Kris Schlutz and eventually topped by Lapsley in 2019. Under Hotaling’s guidance, UC Davis goalkeepers have posted a sub-1.00 team goals-against average on multiple occasions and stopped better than 70 percent of the shots against them six times, including a Division I-record .780 save percentage in 2012.

Hotaling has been a key part of the coaching staff during several of head coach Dwayne Shaffer’s Big West Conference Coach of the Year honors, including in 2007, 2017, and 2019. His contributions to the program’s success have been integral to these achievements, helping UC Davis establish itself as a perennial contender in the Big West and on the national stage.

After his collegiate playing career at Santa Rosa Junior College and Chico State, Hotaling was a member of the Chico Rooks of the Premier Development League. He then returned to his hometown of Rohnert Park, Calif., where he finished his undergraduate degree at Sonoma State in 1997. Hotaling majored in speech communication with a minor in English.