Meet the Creator

Coach Fossi

Former college keeper. Championship-winning head coach. The coach who built Ask The Gaffer.

Coach Fossi at his desk in a dim tactics room, arms folded, holding a 'Soccer Is Simple' mug, a chalkboard of formations and match photos behind him

You want to know who's behind the app before you take its advice. Fair enough — I'd want the same.

Where it started

I was developed as a player through the Leeds United youth setup — the club's known today as PA Classics. That's where the foundation was laid: the habits, the standards, and a way of seeing the game that still shapes how I coach.

Long before there was an app, there was a kid being taught that the details are the difference.

The college keeper

I played in goal at the college level — first at Old Dominion University, where we took the 2004 CAA Regular Season Championship, then at the University of South Florida from 2005 to 2006.

At USF we won the Big East Red Division Championship in 2005 and earned Big East Finalist honors. Goalkeeping teaches you to read the whole field — to see the picture before it forms. That habit never left me.

Onto the touchline

When the playing was done, I stayed in the game. I coached at Elizabethtown College from 2015 to 2018, and in 2018 I took over the Lancaster Catholic High School boys soccer program — where I'm still head coach today.

I'm USSF Grassroots licensed, with experience across every level that matters to the families I help: club, high school, and college.

The trophy cabinet

The work shows up on the scoreboard.

  • Two-time PIAA District 3 AA Champion (2024, 2025)
  • Three-time Section Champion (2020, 2023, 2025)
  • District 3 Finalist (2022)
  • PIAA State Finalist (2022)
  • Four-time LL-League Section Coach of the Year (2020, 2022, 2023, 2025)
  • Pennsylvania State AA Boys Soccer Coach of the Year (2022)

Why recruiting is personal

I've lived the recruiting journey from every side. I went through it as a player chasing a college roster spot. I sat on the other side of the table as a college coach, evaluating and recruiting prospects. And now I walk high school families through it, one decision at a time.

That means a deep, working knowledge of NCAA, NAIA, and NJCAA regulations — not the theory, the reality.

Why I built this

Ask The Gaffer exists for one reason: to put real tactical intelligence and honest guidance in the hands of coaches and families at every level — grassroots to pro. No fluff, no gatekeeping. Just the help I wish I'd had at every stop along the way.

Still on the touchline every Saturday. The app didn't replace the work — it came straight out of it.