Position: Assistant Coach
Camilo Rodriguez finished his eighth season as the goalkeeping/assistant coach for the 2023 National Champion Team. He previously spent eight seasons as the head coach at Southern Wesleyan University.
Rodriguez has been instrumental to the success which the Tigers have had since his arrival. Early in his time at Clemson, Rodriguez helped develop Ximo Miralles, one of the best goalies to ever play at Clemson. Under Rodriguez’s direction, Miralles posted a sensational .72 goals allowed average for the 2016 season, the eighth-best average in program history.
Rodriguez was George Marks’s goalkeeper coach for the entirety of his historic career. As a captain in 2021, Marks closed out his career on the highest of high notes, finishing in the Clemson record book as No. 8 all-time in goals-against-average (0.93) and No. 3 in most goalkeeper wins (57) and No. 3 in career solo shutouts (21). His 179 career saves are eighth in school history. The 2021 Tigers’ goalkeeper group combined for ten en route to the National Championship and a season .802 goals against average, 15th best in the country.
The 2019 season proved to be full of success for Clemson’s goalkeeping group. With Marks in net for his sophomore season, the goalie earned 17 victories and seven solo shutouts throughout the 21 games in which he played in. The 17 wins in a single season is tied for fourth-most by a goalkeeper in Clemson’s 60-year soccer history. Marks’ seven solo shutouts made the young netminder tied for 11th on the all-time list at Clemson.
The trio of Rodriguez’s goalies each earned playing time in multiple matches throughout the season and combined for 10 shutouts across 22 matches. The 10 shutouts in 2019 brought the team’s total to 32 over Rodriguez’s first four seasons leading the goalkeepers. As a team, the Tigers only allowed 21 goals in 2019 and finished the year ranked 28th in the nation for goals against average (0.923).
The 2019 Clemson squad posted a record of 18-2-2, giving the program the most wins in a single season since 2001, while the two losses were the fewest since 1998. En route to such a record, Clemson scored 70 goals – a mark which was good enough to lead the nation and be the most by a Clemson squad since 1993 – and amassed a staggering 214 points.
Rodriguez played an instrumental role in developing the 2019 squad, with the members of the team combining to win the 2019 MAC Hermann Trophy (Robbie Robinson), along with garnering four All-American honors, five All-South Region honors, seven All-ACC honors and two ACC All-Freshman honors following the conclusion of the season. Marks was the lone athlete to earn CoSIDA Academic All-Region distinction during the season.
In 2018, Rodriguez helped develop Marks and Jonny Sutherland to become stalwarts in goal, providing important instruction and development for the players during their first years in Clemson. Sutherland and Marks combined for five shutouts this past year.
In his eight seasons as head coach at SWU, Rodriguez led the program to two national titles, in 2013 and 2015. The Warriors were ranked second in the final NCCAA rankings in 2013 and finished in the top 10 of the rankings each of the last four years. The program also finished in the top 25 in the NAIA rankings each of the last two years, while competing in the toughest NAIA conference in the country, with over six teams ranked those two seasons. SWU recently completed the transition phase from NAIA to NCAA Division II.
Rodriguez finished with a 94-57-13 overall record as Southern Wesleyan’s head coach, earning several coaching accolades during his tenure. He was named the NCCAA Regional Coach of the Year in 2015 and was recognized as the NCCAA Regional Coach of the Year and NCCAA/NSCAA National Coach of the Year in 2013. In 2012, he was named the Southern States Athletic Conference Coach of the Year by unanimous vote.
He also has professional coaching experience, serving as the assistant coach of the NPSL Upward Stars in 2014 and 2015, helping lead the program to its first South Atlantic Conference Championship. In 2006, he was the goalkeeper coach for the Charlotte Eagles of the USL second division.
The native of Bogota, Colombia is fluent in Spanish and played collegiate soccer at Southern Wesleyan University from 2001-04. He was a goalkeeper on the Warriors’ 2003 team, which won the SSAC Championship and the NCCAA South Region Tournament, and advanced to the NCCAA National Championship match. Rodriguez also received several individual accolades while playing for SWU. In 2001 and 2002, he was named to the Georgia Alabama Carolina Conference Second Team, and added selections to the NAIA All-Region XIII Team and the NCCAA All-South Region Team in 2002. He also played professionally in the Colombian second division.
Rodriguez graduated from Southern Wesleyan University in 2004 with a degree in Internet Computing Science and earned a master’s degree in Management from SWU in 2007. He and his wife, Stephanie, have two sons, Luca and Nico, and a daughter, Norah.
October 31, 2024
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