Cameron Knowles
Biography
Cameron Knowles was announced as a first-team assistant coach under Head Coach Eric Ramsay’s staff on March 11, 2024. Knowles recently served as MNUFC’s interim head coach since January, where he had successfully prepared the team for its upcoming 2024 MLS regular season and coached the team during its first three matches of the campaign. In those three matches, Knowles led the squad to an undefeated 2-0-1 (W-L-D) record, including two road victories against Austin FC and Orlando City SC.
Prior to his time as a first-team assistant coach and the interim head coach, Knowles was the head coach of Minnesota United’s MLS NEXT Pro team, MNUFC2, from 2022-23 and was the video analyst for the Loons’ first team in 2021. Knowles led the MNUFC2 squad to a 19-20-13 (W-L-D) record in the Western Conference.
Before arriving in Minnesota, the New Zealand native, spent nine years as a coach with the Portland Timbers, beginning with the 2012 MLS season. In those nine years, six were spent as an assistant coach, winning an MLS Cup in 2015 and three years as head coach for the Portland Timbers 2 team that competed in the USL Championship.
Knowles’ professional playing career spanned from 2004-11, where he featured for Chicago Fire Premier, Real Salt Lake, Portland Timbers – pre-MLS – and the Montreal Impact (CF Montreal), totaling 103 game appearances in his professional career. He notably made 77 of those game appearances with the Timbers, a side he later would become a coach for following the club’s entry into Major League Soccer.
Knowles played collegiate soccer at the University of Akron from 2001-04, starting in 73 out of 75 games for the Zips. He captained the Zips during his senior year and helped lead Akron to three MAC titles and four consecutive NCAA appearances. Knowles earned many accolades during his collegiate career including two-time All-Mid-American Conference first-team selections, two-time All-MAC second-team selections, and Akron’s Newcomer of the Year in 2001. He became the first Akron player to be drafted by an MLS team in 2005 after he was selected by Real Salt Lake in the 2005 MLS Supplemental Draft. He was inducted into the University of Akron Hall of Fame in 2016.
Knowles holds a USSF Pro License and has a Master’s Degree in Psychology.
