Joel Person enters his third season as head coach for women's soccer and fourth year at the university.  He served as the men's assistant soccer coach for 2008 prior to taking over the reigns of the women's program in 2009.

Person guided the Patriot Women to a 3-13-2 mark in 2010, with five of the losses coming by one goal.  In his initial season, Person directed FMU to a 3-12-1 record, with the Patriots suffering three one-goal losses, but winning two of their final three matches.

Person's 2009 squad earned a National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) Team Academic Award, the sixth time in seven seasons Francis Marion has garnered such national academic recognition.

Person is the third head coach in the program's 16-year history, following Marty Beall and Murray Hartzler.  The Patriot women own an all-time record of 171-104-14 mark, including 12 seasons of double-figure wins and an imposing 98-24-7 home record.

The Patriots lose only four seniors off last fall's roster and Person welcomes 12 newcomers to Florence for the 2011 season.

One former Patriot who played under Person, Angela Salem, is in her season season in the WPL (2011 with the Atlanta Beat, 2010 with league champion Sky Blue FC).

FMU is entering its fourth year as a full-fledged NCAA Division I member. 

With Person serving as assistant coach in 2008, the FMU men recorded a 14-5-3 record, won both the Peach Belt Conference regular-season and tournament titles, and earned an invitation to the NCAA Tournament, where the Patriots advanced to the second round.

Prior to joining the FMU staff in 2008, Person served one season as an assistant women's coach at the University of Mobile.  He also worked for two years as a state coach with the Alabama Youth Soccer Association Olympic Development Program.

He owns the United States Soccer Federation National B License and the USSF National Youth License.

Person was director of coaching with the Mobile Soccer Club in 2006-07, was the head boys' varsity coach at the UMS-Wright Preparatory School in Mobile for three seasons with a 41-16-4 record and three playoff appearances, and assisted with the University of Mobile men's program from 2002 to 2006.  That final stint included the Rams' 2002 NAIA national championship season.

A native of Fairbanks, Alaska, he earned the B.A. degree in history and religion (magna cum laude) from Mobile in 2002.  He played four seasons for the Rams, while the program made three NAIA Final Four appearances during his career.

He also played several seasons in the USL Premier Development League.

Person is also the director of coaching for the Florence Soccer Association.

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Mukherjee joined the Francis Marion coaching staff in the spring of 2011. He holds a USSF National "C" License and the USYS National Youth License. 

He was an All-District, All-Region, and All-State selection at Osbourn High School in Manassas, Va., prior to playing collegiately at High Point University.  While at High Point, he began his coaching career with Kernersville Soccer Association (KSA). His U-14G Kernersville Lady Sting won the 2002 North Carolina Youth Soccer Association (NCYSA) State Cup Championship, finishing the fall 2001/spring 2002 season with an overall outdoor record of 20-0-5, and also won a league championship in the Triad Challenge League (TCL).

After graduating from High Point with a B.S degree in sports management and a minor in business administration, Mukherjee returned to his home state of Virginia and won six more league championships coaching girls’ teams in the highly competitive Washington Area Girls Soccer (WAGS) league and in the Old Dominion Soccer League (ODSL).  In addition to his seven league titles, Mukherjee's youth teams have also recorded four league runner-up finishes.  His five league championships in the WAGS and ODSL leagues in 2007-2008 were the most titles of any coach in those two leagues during that span.  His seven league championship teams posted an overall combined record of 54-4-13, with all four losses coming by one goal.

In spring 2007, he was named the Director of the Arlington Soccer Plus program, a program that combines after-school tutoring with soccer instruction for youths across Arlington County. The program is currently in the process of expanding to other schools in Arlington County.

Mukherjee is married with one daughter.

4-18-11