PETER NUGENT
Home town: Manchester, England
Peter Nugent enters his 10th full season with Orange County SC, having joined the staff in June 2015. This is his first year as the President of Soccer Operations and General Manager at OCSC, after working as the club’s Sporting Director. Peter has played an integral role in the recent success of OCSC, constructing rosters that has led the club to a USL Championship Cup (2021) and multiple Western Conference Finals and Semifinals appearances. He is also responsible for the recruitment of players such as Kobi Henry (Stade de Reims), Korede Osundina (Feyenoord), Milan Iloski (FC Nordsjaelland) who went on to make significant transfers to major European Clubs, helping establish OCSC as one of the leading clubs in player development in the North America. Previously he worked for a number of years in the English Premier League (EPL) and the English Championship with Blackburn Rovers FC as Head of Recruitment and Scouting. He was responsible for a number of notable transfers during his time with the club.
Morten
karlsen
Hometown: Copenhagen, Denmark
Morten Karlsen returns to Orange County SC on a multi-year contract beginning in 2024, after taking over midway through the 2023 season. Once assuming the role of head coach, Karlsen led the Black and Orange to a 16-7-3 record and the 2nd seed in the Western Conference, after starting in 11th when he took over. Karlsen was also a member for his home country Denmark’s technical staff at the 2022 FIFA World Cup prior to his time in Orange County. In 2017, Karlsen attained his UEFA Pro Coaching License, the highest UEFA recognized coaching license a coach can have. Karlsen also has prior coaching experience as the assistant coach of AGF. He has also served as a head and assistant coach in the Danish Superliga at the professional and U-19 levels. Prior to his coaching career, Karlsen made over 300 appearances as a player in the Netherlands and Denmark’s top divisions. Karlsen is trilingual, speaking English, Danish and Dutch.
PAUL HARDYMAN
Hometown: Portsmouth, England
Paul Hardyman returns for his fourth season with the club. Hardyman was the first Assistant Coach in the 2021 Championship season and has been instrumental in the very successful OCSC player development structure. Paul also manages the Individual Development Plans of our top young talents, which is a program that fine tunes certain aspects of their game. Prior to his time at OCSC, Hardyman has held coaching positions with Watford and Southampton. During his playing career, he made over 350 appearances for Sunderland, Bristol Rovers and Wycombe Wanderers amongst others. In 1992, Hardyman played for Sunderland in their FA Cup Final match at Wembley Stadium against Liverpool.
DIDIER CRETTENAND
HOME TOWN: Bovernier, Switzerland
Didier Crettenand takes command of OCSC II for the seventh consecutive season and will continue to assist with the first team as well. OCSC II is off a 8-4-0 campaign in the USL Academy League, that saw them finish first in the Southwest Division. OCSC II made the USL Academy League Finals Championship as a 10-seed, before ending the season in second place. Crettenand also assists Hardyman with the execution of the IDP. Crettenand made 90 appearances as a player with Sion of the Swiss Super League where he recorded five goals and nine assists. He also captained the Black and Orange for two seasons, tallying 16 goals and five assists in 46 appearances.
VICTOR NOGUEIRA
Home Country: Mozambique
A Indoor Soccer Hall of Famer, Victor Nogueira returns for his eighth season with the Black and Orange as the Goalkeepers Coach. He will once again oversee the first and reserve team goalkeepers. Nogueira began his playing career with Johannesburg Rangers before being sent to Newcastle United. He then made the move to the United States where he put together a legendary career. He won the 1984 North American Soccer League title, as well as seven indoor soccer titles. He has been named MVP of both the Major Indoor Soccer League and National Indoor Soccer League, twice. He was Goalkeeper of the Year in the National Professional Soccer League seven times, including six in a row from 1996-2001. He also has 16 caps with the U.S. Men’s Futsal Team where he was named the Best Goalkeeper and FIFA Futsal First-Team All-World in 1992.
Amanda
Preciado
Analyst
Dan
Guzman
SHAWN BEYER
Shawn enters his first year as Head Coach of the OCSC Academy/Reserve Team. After an All-American collegiate career at the University of Evansville, he was drafted by the Kansas City Attack of the NPSL. He also played for the Philadelphia Kixx and then finished his career with the San Diego Sockers.
Since retiring, Shawn has spent over 20 years coaching and scouting in Southern California. His credentials include the A – Coaching License and Talent ID Scout License, the latter in which he helped pilot the course with the US Soccer Federation. He continues to scout for the US Youth National Teams since 2017.
Additionally, Shawn is the Assistant Men’s Coach at Soka University in Aliso Viejo and has written extensively for the online publication SoccerNation. Shawn is married to his wife Carissa and they have two children, Hana and Owen.