Colby Gay, former top assistant at Division III powerhouse Cortland, begins his first season as Penn State Harrisburg men's soccer head coach in 2026.
Gay joined Penn State Harrisburg after spending the last four seasons as an assistant coach at Cortland. During his time on the staff of head coach Steve Axtell, the Red Dragons made four consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament, including three runs to the NCAA Round of 16, and captured a pair of State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) Championships.
In addition to deep runs in NCAA Tournament play and conference championships, Cortland was ranked as high as No. 2 in the nation during Gay's tenure, and the Red Dragons finished the season nationally-ranked each of the past four years. In 2023, Gay was part of the staff that was named the United Soccer Coaches Region III Staff of the Year. Under his tutelage, five Cortland players earned United Soccer Coaches All-America honors, while another secured College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-America recognition.
With Gay's leadership as the program's recruiting coordinator and academic success coordinator, the Red Dragons won 58 games the past four years, hosted a pair of NCAA Regionals and ranked top-20 nationally in goal differential and goals allowed average. Five players earned SUNYAC Player of the Year recognition, 17 secured United Soccer Coaches all-region honors and a dozen were named CSC Academic All-District.
Prior to his time at Cortland, Gay served as an assistant coach at Dubuque for three seasons. He was part of the program's United Soccer Coaches Division III National Coaching Staff of the Year and North Region Staff of the Year after the team secured the American Rivers Conference Championship during the 2020 campaign adjusted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The following fall, Dubuque racked up 13 victories and finished undefeated in conference play.
Before joining the college ranks, Gay coached the Nordic 2007 Premier boys, who were ranked No. 1 in the state of Vermont by GotSoccer. He's also served as a coach at Camp WInadu and the Summit Football Club. At Camp Winadu, he instructed nearly 500 athletes for a seven-week program that fostered individual technical, physical and tactical abilities. For the Summit Football Club, Gay served as a volunteer coach for five years beginning in 2016 and helped lead the club's technical academy, focusing on developing player ball control and technique.
Prior to his coaching tenure, Gay turned in an impressive four-year collegiate career at Castleton. A team captain and four-year starter in the midfield, he registered eight goals and nine assists in 70 games. In 2017, the Spartans earned an NCAA Tournament berth after winning the North Atlantic Conference (NAC) Championship. An all-state player at Milton High School in Vermont, Gay was a team captain and led the league in total goals scored.
