Air Force Academy

Maj. Larry Friend

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Position: Assistant Coach Experience: Eighth season College: USAFA, 1985

Maj. Larry Friend is in his second stint with the Falcon women's soccer team. He is in his eighth season overall, having coached from 1992 to 1996 and then from 2002 to present.

He helped lead the team to a 14-3-2 record in 1995 and a No. 7 Division II national ranking. He also helped bring the team to its first Division I tournament appearance in the 1996 Western Athletic Conference Championships.

A 1985 graduate of the Academy, Friend was a four-year starter for the men's team. He earned all-league honors all four years and was an all-Midwest Region selection. As the team captain his senior year, he was selected as the team's best offensive player and the most inspirational player.

After graduating from the Academy, he spent one season as an assistant men's soccer coach before going to helicopter school at Ft. Rucker Army Post, Ala. Friend has served as a search and rescue instructor pilot at Kadena Air Base, Japan, and at Patrick AFB, Fla. He is a graduate of Squadron Officer School, Air Command and Staff College and has a master's degree in sports administration from the University of Northern Colorado. Friend left the Academy in 1997 to fly VIP helicopters in Washington D.C. He returned from Andrews AFB, Md., in 2001 and coached a season with the men's program.

A United States Soccer Federation "A" licensed coach, Friend continued to play soccer as a member of the all-Air Force team in 1985-87 and 1990. He helped the all-Air Force team to the interservice championship in 1985 and 1990 and was chosen as team captain in 1986 and 1990. Friend was chosen for the all-Armed Forces team each of his four years. As team captain of the all-Armed Forces team in 1990, Friend travelled to Canada and helped the team qualify for the 1991 Military World Championships in Holland.

Friend, and his wife, Maribeth, have been married 15 years and have three children, Corey, Carina and Felicia.