After a nearly three-decade tenure as the Bellarmine University men’s soccer head coach, Tim Chastonay transitioned into the role of Senior Associate Athletic Director at his alma mater in December of 2025.
Chastonay retired from collegiate head coaching at the end of the 2025 season, his 28th at Bellarmine. A three-time conference Coach of the Year (two ASUN, one GLVC), he is not only the winningest coach in men’s soccer program history (244) but in the women’s (119) as well. Between the two, he amassed 363 career wins helming Knights soccer.
Chastonay’s legacy includes leading Bellarmine to championship success in both Division II and Division I. He piloted the 2019 men’s team to one of the greatest seasons in all of BU athletics in the final D2 campaign and then guided the Knights to groundbreaking achievements after the program’s ascension to the NCAA’s highest level of play.
D1 ERA (2020-25)
The transition from D2 to D1 was supposed to be bumpy, but the foundation and competitive culture that Chastonay built, particularly in the latter stage of the D2 era, helped Bellarmine seamlessly transition to D1 and become a model of consistency in the ASUN.
From the outset, Bellarmine established itself as one of the top-tier teams in the ASUN. In the spring of 2021, after the fall 2020 season was delayed due to the pandemic, Chastonay led the Knights to the top seed in the North Division in the ASUN Tournament after they went 3-1 in league play. The auspicious debut season in D1 included ASUN Coach of the Year honors for Chastonay.
Five seasons later, his swan song concluded with him being named ASUN Coach of the Year for the second time. Picked to finish last in the 2025 ASUN preseason coaches’ poll by a significant margin, Chastonay’s squad laid waste to that projection, becoming the first team in the league to seal an ASUN Tournament berth. The Knights followed by delivering an unprecedented achievement in Bellarmine athletics history when they secured the university’s first-ever regular-season championship in the D1 era after capturing the ASUN Gold Division crown.
In his final season before retirement, Chastonay shepherded Bellarmine to the finals of the ASUN Tournament. It was the program’s second appearance in the title game in three seasons after the Knights made their first-ever run to the ASUN finals in 2023.
Bellarmine’s consistency under Chastonay in the D1 era was defined by the Knights earning a bid to the ASUN Tournament in all six seasons under him. In five of those, BU appeared in at least the ASUN Tournament semifinals. The Knights’ eight wins in 2025 were yet another D1-era program record achieved in his last season at the helm.
Under Chastonay’s stewardship, Bellarmine accrued five ASUN superlative, 19 All-ASUN, five ASUN All-Freshman Team and 16 Academic All-ASUN Team laurels in the D1 era.
D2 ERA (1998-2019)
Bellarmine’s D2 send-off under Chastonay in 2019 was something to behold. The Knights made an indelible mark not only on the BU men’s soccer program but on BU athletics as a whole when they carried out a momentous campaign that included an undefeated regular season, a GLVC Tournament championship and a berth in the NCAA II Sweet 16 while extending an unbeaten streak that began in 2018 to an astonishing 30 games.
That landmark season — when the team finished 16-1-5 overall and 10-0-4 in the GLVC — was the culmination of 22 years at the D2 level for the program under Chastonay, where he guided Bellarmine to a 208-164-41 record in that span. He led the Knights to 11 seasons of at least 10 wins, including eight of the last 11 years in D2, and was acknowledged as the GLVC Coach of the Year in 2005.
Chastonay steered Bellarmine to a GLVC Tournament berth in 12 of the last 13 years in the conference. The watershed 2019 title run was preceded by a push to the finals in 2018.
All five of Bellarmine’s D2 All-Americans (Ross Hopkins, Brad Barraclough, Tomas Bernedo, Micah Linscott, Eddie Williamson) were produced during Chastonay’s tenure along with 40 All-GLVC citations and five GLVC superlative awards.
Chastonay also pulled double duty by simultaneously leading Bellarmine’s women’s program as the head coach for 12 seasons (1998-09), guiding the program to its first-ever appearance in the NCAA II Tournament in 2009. The Knights finished 14-4-1 overall and 10-2-1 in the GLVC in his final season in charge of the women, capping a stretch where the team won 10 games or more in seven of eight years.
PLAYER AT BELLARMINE
A 1993 Bellarmine graduate, Chastonay was a four-year member of the soccer team, where he helped lead the Knights to a GLVC runner-up finish three times. As a senior, he was named to the All-GLVC team and also received Bellarmine’s Silver Knight award for athletic achievement and sportsmanship.
After his collegiate career, Chastonay spent one season playing semi-pro soccer for the Louisville Thoroughbreds of the USISL.
HIGH SCHOOL/CLUB COACHING HIGHLIGHTS
Prior to coming to Bellarmine, Chastonay was a successful high school coach in Louisville at Eastern High School. He spent four seasons at the lead of the Eagles soccer team, where he compiled a 71-19-2 record including winning the 1996 Kentucky state championship and finishing the season ranked nationally in the top 25. For his accomplishments that season, he was named the KHSAA Soccer Coach of the Year.
Chastonay in 2017 was inducted into the Kentucky Youth Soccer Association's Hall of Fame as part of the Javanon '81 team that he coached to the 1997 USYSA National Championships title. He was recognized as the KYSA's Boys Select Coach of the Year in 2008 and 2017.
PERSONAL
Chastonay lives in Louisville with his wife, Kelli, and they have two children, AJ and Ryan. AJ was a standout player at Belmont University, where he was an All-Conference and All-Region selection.
