position Associate Head Coach
Coaching veteran Brian Jankowski is in his sixth season with the women’s soccer program with Ohio State. He was promoted to associate head coach in the spring of 2022. Jankowski joined the Buckeyes after spending five seasons as an assistant coach at Dayton.
In his first season in Columbus, Jankowski helped the Buckeyes to their first outright Big Ten championship in program history and was part of Walker-Hock’s staff that earned United Soccer Coaches Midwest Region Staff of the Year accolades. Nikki Walts garnered Big Ten Midfielder of the Year honors while Morgan Wolcott was named the conference’s Defender of the Year and Sammy Edwards joined the duo on the All-Big Ten team. In addition, Wolcott was named a United Soccer Coaches Second Team All-American while Walts earned United Soccer Coaches Second Team All-American honors.
In 2018, Jankowski helped the Buckeyes advance to their fourth-consecutive NCAA Tournament after tying for third in the Big Ten with a 6-2-3 conference record. Seven Buckeyes garnered Big Ten postseason honors, headlined by 2018 Big Ten Goalkeeper of the Year Devon Kerr. Kerr was joined by Izzy Rodriguez as a first team All-Big Ten selection while Sarah Roberts garnered second team All-Big Ten honors. Kayla Fischer, Emaly Vatne and Talani Barnett each earned Big Ten All-Freshman team laurels while Alyssa Baumbick was the Buckeyes’ Big Ten Sportsmanship Award honoree. Rodriguez earned first team United Soccer Coaches All-North Region honors, while Kerr was the second team all-region goalkeeper.
The 2020 season was pushed the Spring of 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Buckeyes finished the regular season, all against Big Ten competition, with four-consecutive wins and an unbeaten streak of six games before a win over Maryland in the Big Ten Regional in Columbus. The Buckeyes fell to Rutgers 1-0 prior to being selected for the 2021 Spring NCAA Tournament, the 14th appearance for the Buckeyes. Ohio State downed Stony Brook 5-1 in the NCAA First round to set a record for goals in NCAA play at Ohio State. The season ended with a loss to No. 10 Santa Clara (1-4). Individually, Izzy Rodriguez was named First Team All-Big Ten and the conference Defender of the Year. Peyton McNamara earned Co-Freshman of the Year and all-freshman team accolades. Kayla Fischer also was a first team all-conference selection and Ohio State’s sportsmanship award winner. Emma Sears was a second team all-league honoree while Talani Barnett and Alyssa Baumbick were third team members.
The 2021 season was a return to normal. Played just over three months after the end of the 2020 spring season, the Buckeyes played nine ranked opponents and finished the season 9-9-2 and 4-4-2 in Big Ten play. That earned the Buckeyes their 15th NCAA Tournament appearance. Izzy Rodriguez began the season on the MAC Hermann Award Watch List and ended it as a Senior CLASS Award finalist. Kayla Fischer led the team with 19 points. Freshman Kailyn Dudukovich had a great first season, leading the team in goals with seven. Her and Fischer each earned third team All-Big Ten honors while her and Sydney Jones were named to the All-Big Ten Freshman Team.
Jankowski, who is involved in recruiting and all aspects of the Buckeye program, has an expertise in the attack and was an integral part of a Flyer program that advanced to the NCAA Tournament and won the Atlantic-10 Tournament championship two of his final three seasons. Under Jankowski’s tutelage, the Flyers’ Alexis Kiehl led the nation in goals in 2016, finding the back of the net 21 times.
In Jankowski’s time at Dayton, the Flyers had three Atlantic-10 players of the year and three Atlantic-10 midfielders of the year. Ashley Campbell, a letterwinner from 2012-15, broke the Dayton career goals record with 63 while Nicole Waters, also a Flyer from 2012-15, set Dayton’s career assists record with 54.
Jankowski, a Strongsville, Ohio, native, has strong ties throughout the state, spending two years as a volunteer assistant at Akron, helping lead the Zips to the Mid-American Conference Tournament both seasons, before joining the Flyers. In addition, he coached the Cleveland FC club program, helping the team to four youth state championships while two of his players were selected to the U.S. National team pool.
Jankowski was a four-year letterwinner at Mercyhurst College, where he was a member of the Lakers’ 1998 NCAA Division II Final Four team. He was a first team Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference selection in 2001 and 2002 and was a member of the Premier Development League’s West Michigan Edge in 2001 and 2002. Prior to his time at Mercyhurst, Jankowski had a strong prep career at Strongsville High School, where he earned All-Ohio honors while captaining the 1997 Division I state champions.
Jankowski graduated from Mercyhurst with a bachelor’s degree in marketing in 2002. He then completed his master’s degree in Sport Coaching from The Ohio State University in December of 2021. He holds a U.S. Soccer Federation “B” License.
Brian and his wife Kristie welcomed their first child, Kane, in June of 2021.
