Joel Bancroft enters his first season as an assistant coach on Erica Walsh[apos]s staff. Bancroft brings an incredible amount of coaching experience to Penn State, as he has served as head coach in the past for two collegiate institutions.
Bancroft was named as the Head Men[apos]s Soccer Coach at Saint Joseph[apos]s College prior to the 2008 season also served as the Intramural and Home Game Coordinator. During his time as a head coach at Saint Joseph[apos]s, his team was a GNAC conference finalist in 2008. He inherited a team that went 5-11-3 and went to finish 12-7-3 that year. Bancroft[apos]s 2008 squad also broke 28 program records in 2008 and also sported the highest team GPA in program history. He came to St. Joe[apos]s in 2006 and served as an assistant men[apos]s soccer coach and was the co-head coach in 2007.
A graduate of Westbrook High School where he was a team captain and received all-league honors, Bancroft went on to play at the collegiate level for Southern Maine. While there he was named as a team captain and received All-Little East honors. He also played club soccer with the Cumberland United side, where he served as a captain and been a part of five state championships.
Bancroft is a graduate of the University of Southern Maine with a degree in Liberal Arts. He also coached for the Maine Olympic Developmental program and is the founder of Maximum Performance Training Systems, a sport-specific training program for high school and collegiate players and teams.