Staff photo by Tim Barber /
Tim Hankinson relays his vision for professional soccer after being named Chattanooga’s new head coach. Chattanooga Pro Soccer announced Tuesday that Tim Hankinson will be the first head coach as the United Soccer League Division III club heads into its inaugural season in 2019.
Hankinson has more than 20 years of professional experience, including stints with a pair of Major League Soccer clubs as well as the USL’s Indy Eleven and Charleston Battery.
He has coached at every level from college to professional and international. He was the first United States national to coach in Iceland and later directed Guatemala’s under-17 national team.
Staff photo by Tim Barber /
Tim Hankinson, center, answers questions as Chattanooga’s new professional soccer team coach. Owner Bob Martino, left, and general manager Sean McDaniel, listen as Hankinson relays his vision for soccer in the Scenic City.
“While the USL has had extensive experience building leagues and putting pro athletes through the soccer system, this is a new league. It’s beyond just the players: There’s budgets, there’s facilities, there’s equipment. There’s a whole component to building a club from scratch,” vice president and general manager Sean McDaniel said. “What probably was the most attractive about Tim was his ability to have an entrepreneurial mind behind it to understand the significance of cash flow and ticket sales, and drop that in as a part of building out the team, which is a huge help to me.”
It will be the third time that Hankinson has helped start a club. He helped found the Charleston Battery team in 1992 that competed in the USL, which was then called the United States Interregional Soccer League. He spent two seasons with the Battery, making the playoffs both times and advancing to the semifinals in his second year – when he was honored as USISL coach of the year.