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NAME: Denis Hamlett
POSITION: Head Coach
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A member of the Chicago Fire coaching staff since the club's inaugural 1998 season, Denis Hamlett begins his first season as the head coach. Hamlett was a top assistant coach with the Fire since 2001 before being hired as the head coach on January 11, 2008.
Hamlett began his playing career in 1987 at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington, earning All-Colonial Athletic Association honors his freshman season. He transferred to George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, leading the Patriots to NCAA berths his sophomore and junior seasons of 1989 and 1990. During his senior year of 1991 at GMU, Hamlett again received All-CAA and All-South Atlantic Region honors.
Hamlett started his professional soccer career in 1992, splitting his time between the indoor and outdoor seasons for two years for the National Professional Soccer League's (NPSL) Harrisburg Heat and the Ft. Lauderdale Strikers of the American Professional Soccer League (APSL, now USL First Division). He was an All-Star for the Continental Indoor Soccer League's (CISL) Anaheim Splash, for whom he played during their 1994-95 seasons.
In 1996, Hamlett was selected 12th overall in the inaugural MLS Draft by the Colorado Rapids. In his first season, he starting 31 of the Colorado Rapids' 32 contests en route to being named the team's 1996 BIC Tough Defender of the Year. Hamlett's playing career was cut short in 1997 by injury. The next year, 1998, Hamlett joined the Fire as an assistant coach.
Hamlett was honored by his alma mater George Mason when he was enshrined in the Men's Soccer Hall of Fame on April 29, 2006. Hamlett was one of six former Patriot players inducted in the inaugural Hall of Fame class.
Hamlett earned his "A" coaching license from U.S. Soccer following his retirement from professional soccer in 1997. After the 1999 MLS season, he served as the assistant coach during the U.S. Project-40 squad's visit to Portugal. The team played in four games while in Portugal, and Hamlett helped Project-40 leave with a 2-2 record. The bilingual Hamlett was born January 9, 1969, and moved to the United States from Costa Rica when he was 10 years old.
Hamlett currently resides in Chicago with his wife Jackie.
