Junior Gonzalez (soccer)

For the Puerto Rican politician, see Junior González.

Junior Gonzalez

Personal information
Full name	Othoniel "Junior" Gonzalez
Date of birth	(1977-09-26) September 26, 1977
College career
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1995–1998	UCLA Bruins
Managerial career
2001–2003	UC Riverside Highlanders (assistant)
2004–2013	UC Riverside Highlanders
2013–2014	Chivas USA (assistant)
2015	United States U15 (assistant)
2016	Seattle Sounders FC 2 (assistant)
2017	Rio Grande Valley FC Toros
2018–2019	LA Galaxy (assistant)
2019	LA Galaxy II (interim)
2019–2021	LA Galaxy II
2022–2023	Chicago Fire (assistant)
2024–	Los Angeles FC 2

Othoniel "Junior" Gonzalez (born September 26, 1977) is an American professional soccer coach. He was previously an assistant coach for Chicago Fire FC, and had coaching positions with LA Galaxy II, Seattle Sounders FC, Chivas USA and was head coach with Rio Grande Valley FC Toros. Junior attended UCLA where he played on the Men's NCAA soccer team and won the NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship in 1997.

Gonzalez's coaching career began in 2001 as an assistant coach for the University of California, Riverside men's program. Three years later he became the head coach and under his tenure 30 players were named All-Big West Conference – including two Big West Conference Players of the Year – and six players went on to MLS and USL careers. In 2011, Gonzalez was named the Big West Coach of the Year.

As a player, Gonzalez won the 1997 NCAA National Championship with UCLA. His collegiate career included four trips to the NCAA tournament and three Mountain Pacific Conference Championships. Gonzalez continued his playing career with the USL's San Diego Flash and his career continued throughout California before his final stop with the Utah Blitz.

During 2019, Gonzalez was the interim manager for LA Galaxy II.