Funeral services set for former EWU soccer coach Chad Bodnar

Funeral services for former Eastern Washington University soccer coach Chad Bodnar will be held on Tuesday, Aug. 9 at 3 p.m. in Richland at Einan's Funeral Home.

According to his obituary in the Tri City Herald, Bodnar, 44, passed away suddenly on July 18, 2022.

Bodnar was hired as coach at Eastern in December 2013 and guided the program to its most successful period in history until his contract was not renewed in May 2020. In seven seasons at Eastern, Bodnar compiled an overall record of 73-44-15 (.623%) and was 38-19-8 in Big Sky play.

Bodnar was named the Big Sky Coach of the Year (2019) and coached Chloe Williams to three-straight Big Sky Offensive MVP awards (2015-2017).

His teams won the 2017 conference regular season crown and qualified for a second consecutive NCAA Tournament. The 2016 EWU team won the conference tournament and qualified for the program's first postseason berth. Bodnar's 2021 team lost its final match to Montana and failed to make the conference tournament.

Prior to Eastern, the Pasco native had similar success at Walla Walla Community College in his 10-year stint there.

A Pasco High School graduate, Bodnar played soccer in college as well as professionally. He went on to coach high school and was also a coach for the Olympic Development Program. He was the Technical Director for Three Rivers Soccer Club for 19 years.

He was the son of the late Robert Bodnar and is survived by his mother Karen Salazar; twin daughters Jaxi and Brodi Bodnar; his three sisters Desiree (Mike) Diaz; Chandra (Joe) Gonzales; Bobbi Jo (Zachery) Eslick; his beautiful nieces and nephews, Christopher (Alissa), Joseph, Tessa, Wyatt, Olivia and Grace. Chad was preceded in death by his nephew Jerimyah.

Paul Delaney is a retired Free Press Publishing reporter and can be reached at [email protected].