Jonathan Garbar - Soccer Coach

Jonathan Garbar

Title:
Associate Head Soccer Coach
Email:
jgarbar@athletics.msstate.edu
Phone:
662-325-2722

Jonathan Garbar was hired as an assistant coach at Mississippi State on January 23, 2025 and promoted to associate head coach later that semester. At MSU, he is primarily responsible for connected team play and handles the majority of State’s international recruiting.

Garbar came to Starkville on the heels of being named the Conference USA Coach of the Year while leading FIU to both regular season and conference tournament championships in 2024. In his tenure with the Panthers, he transformed the program from a 2-15 record the year before he arrived to a 13-5-2 record in his final campaign and returned the squad to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 13 years. Along the way, FIU posted the largest RPI improvement in the nation from the 2021 to 2024 seasons.

In his final season in Miami, Garbar’s team produced a top-10 goal scoring season in program history, netting 41 goals, while allowing just 18, the second-fewest allowed in school history.

The 2023 campaign saw a vast improvement for FIU, and one of its best seasons as a member of Conference USA. The Panthers won eight matches, the most in a single season since 2013 and matching their win total from the previous three seasons combined. The offense shined, scoring 38 goals, FIU’s highest scoring output as a member of C-USA. Defensively, FIU made strong strides, conceding just 19 goals to their opponents, its lowest total in more than a decade. The Panthers received a program record seven All-Conference USA selections, and their first selection to the First Team since 2015.

Prior to FIU, Garbar spent four years at Division II Franklin Pierce University, after taking over as the head coach in 2017. He coached three seasons due to the 2020 season being canceled by COVID-19. Garbar earned a 34-15-6 mark with the Ravens during his tenure, including a 16-2-2 mark in 2018 that culminated with a conference title, the program’s first since 2006, and trip to the NCAA Division II Tournament. The Ravens finished 2018 ranked No. 20 in the final United Soccer Coaches poll, while climbing as high as No. 7 during the season. Garbar was named the Northeast 10 Coach of the Year that season.

While at Franklin Pierce, Garbar saw seven athletes receive all-conference nods, five earn all-region selection and three be named All-Americans. He tutored one conference Player of the Year and one Defensive Player of the Year. Following their careers with the Ravens, four of Garbar’s players went onto sign first division professional contracts in Europe and South America.

His first collegiate coaching job was as the head coach at Monroe College from 2012-2016. He took over in the program's first year after elevating to the Division I level of the NJCAA and promptly rattled off a 72-7-4 record. Garbar's tenure at Monroe was highlighted by a NJCAA National Championship in 2014, as well as a national semifinal appearance in 2015. The 2014 national title earned him National Coach of the Year honors from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.

While at Monroe, Garbar saw 31 players promoted from the NJCAA ranks to the NCAA, which was more than any other junior college in the country. Five of his former student athletes went on to play at schools in the Power Five. Internationally, his athletes represented England, Spain, Brazil and Croatia on national teams.

Garbar has deep recruiting ties to Central and South America and is fluent in both Spanish and Portuguese. He previously served as an assistant coach with the Puerto Rican Women’s National Team. His duties with the national squad included overseeing northeast identification and recruitment. While at Monroe College, he served as the institution's Director for South American Recruitment from 2013-2015, and prior to that Garbar worked from 2010-2012 creating a program specifically targeted towards bringing international students to Monroe College.

A native of Maplewood, New Jersey, Garbar graduated from Delaware in 2002 with a degree in liberal arts, before earning his master's degree in teaching from Pace University in 2007.