DALLAS – Former Eastern Illinois soccer player and head coach Schellas Hyndman was announced as the new head coach of FC Dallas, an entry in Major League Soccer. He will assume duties immediately and coach his first match this Saturday against the New York Red Bulls.

Hyndman was a member of the Panthers 1969 NAIA national championship team earning his bachelor's degree in physical education in 1973. After two years as a graduate student and soccer coach at Murray State he played one season with the Cincinnati Comets of the American Soccer League in 1975. He then moved to Sao Paulo, Brazil serving as an apprentice at Escola Graduada de Sao Paulo and training regularly with Sao Paulo FC.

He returned to EIU in 1977 and started his collegiate coaching career becoming the school's first full-time head coach. From 1977-1983, Hyndman posted a 98-24-11 record at Eastern Illinois reaching the NCAA Division II finals in 1979 and Division I finals in 1981 (EIU's first season at the NCAA Division I level). He was named the National Coach of the Year.

In 1984 he took over the Southern Methodist program and continued as one of the top collegiate coaches compiling a 466-122-49 career mark with 30 NCAA playoff appearances in 31 years including three NCAA Division I final fours.  Hyndman was inducted into the Eastern Illinois Hall of Fame in 2001.

"This is a very special day for me and my family," said Hyndman. "I want to thank the Hunt Sports Group, John Wagner, and especially Michael Hitchcock to have faith in me to give me this opportunity to coach FC Dallas. All of us that are competitors, we all strive to do something special, and I think this is the opportunity to do something special. My goals are very simple: to continue to find success for FC Dallas, to compete for an MLS championship, and to make Dallas very proud of the team that we put on the field."

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