Tab Ramos was named head coach of the U.S. Under-20 Men’s National Team in October of 2011. Ramos led the U.S. U-20s to a runner-up finish in the 2013 CONCACAF U-20 Championship in Mexico and a berth to the 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Turkey.

As a former U.S. National Team midfielder and U-20 MNT assistant and interim head coach, Ramos brings a wealth of experience to the U.S. National Team program. He has been a member of the U.S. Soccer Federation Technical Board since 2006, and after receiving his “A” coaching license in 2007, became the U.S. U-20 MNT assistant coach two years later. Ramos served as interim head coach in late 2011, guiding the U-20 Men through training camp and two friendlies in France.

Ramos’s first coaching experience came with the New Jersey Soccer Academy (NJSA 04), a U.S. Soccer Development Academy club, which he founded in 2004. He is currently the Executive Director of the program and has won four New Jersey state championships and a national championship, the only U.S. Youth Soccer National Championship for a N.J. boys’ club in more than two decades.

Ramos first earned international playing experience with the U-20 Men when he scored two goals for the U.S. in FIFA U-20 World Cup qualifying. He played for the U.S. in the 1983 U-20 World Cup and was also a member of the U.S. team that competed in the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea.

His first appearance with the full team came on Jan. 10, 1988, against Guatemala, and Ramos went on to play in the 1990 World Cup, where his performance earned him the title of U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year. By the time he retired from international duty in 2000, Ramos had played in three World Cups, earned 81 caps and scored eight goals, becoming the only U.S. player to score at least one World Cup qualifying goal in three different decades. He was named to the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2005.

A 2001 graduate of North Carolina State University, Ramos studied foreign language and literature while becoming a three-time All-American in his four years playing for the school’s men’s soccer team. He joined American Soccer League side New Jersey Eagles in 1998 before moving to fellow ASL club Miami Sharks the next season.

In 1990, Ramos had a contract to play exclusively for the U.S. MNT as it prepared for the 1990 World Cup, but Spanish Second Division club Figueres took him on loan later that year, before eventually signing him. Ramos was sold to Real Betis in 1992 and helped the team win promotion to La Liga, but a skull fracture suffered in the 1994 World Cup kept him from making any La Liga appearances.

Ramos was the first player signed to Major League Soccer in 1995 (Centennial 100 Moments), and before being allocated to the New York/New Jersey MetroStars, MLS loaned him to UANL Tigres in Mexico, where his team was 1996 Mexico Cup champion. In his seven seasons with the MetroStars, Ramos tallied eight goals and 36 assists before retiring in 2002.