Dustin Buchanan is entering into his 16th season, making him the longest tenured Head Coach of the men's soccer team at Grace. Coach Buchanan, a Wayland Union High School graduate, has been present at Grace Christian University for 20 years, where he graduated with his degree in Human Services. He represented the Tigers on the pitch after transferring playing seasons 2002, 2004, and 2005. During this time he was a two year team captain, and named twice to the NCCAA All-Region Team. He is fourth on the GCU all time scoring list having notched 45 goals in three years. He also holds the single game scoring record scoring 6 goals against Finlandia University in 2005.
Coach Buchanan took over the program in 2007 and has earned the most wins in Grace history with 167 wins. He has been named Regional Coach Of the Year seven times (2010, 2015, 2018, 2019,2021, 2022, 2023). He has had players recognized 17 times for 1st Team All-American, 8 times 2nd Team All-American, 26 times players have received Academic All-American, 2 Kyle Rote Jr. Award Winners(NCCAA Most Prestegious Award) and 46 times players have been named to All-Region 1st Teams. He has had several former players and coaches go on to coach at high levels of club, high school, collegiate, and professionally. Coach Buchanan has led the Tigers to 5 Regional Championships with National Championship finishes of 5th place, two 4th place, one 3rd place and National Runner Up in 2022 with a 16-4-2 record. Buchanan's teams have also broken almost every single GCU record over the years, including most goals in a season in 2019 with 108, and most assists in a season also in 2019 with 74, single season shutouts with 14 in 2022, goals against average of 0.86 also in 2022. In 2019, Coach Buchanan was inducted into the Grace Christian University Athletics Hall of Fame. His teams have gained national recognition by the National Intercollegiate Soccer Officials Association (NISOA) with the Layton Shoemaker Sportsmanship Award. This marks the third time in four years Coach Buchanan and GCU have won this prestigious award, doing so 2019, 2022 and 2023 seasons.
Coach Buchanan and his wife Lindsey, have three children, Liam, Declan, and Brielle, and a dog, Myla.
