Coach Fichtenbaum, or Coach Carl, as he prefers to be called, is beginning his first season as an assistant coach at MSJ under Coach Clark.
 
He grew up in St. Louis, Missouri playing soccer before attending medical school out of high school in Kansas City. He played for the UMKC Medical School Club team during the first few years before injuries cut his playing career short.
 
His coaching career began as coordinator for the elementary school soccer program at Flynn Park elementary in St. Louis from 1995-1998.  He then moved to Cincinnati in 1999 and began coaching in the Clifton SAY program through 2005 (boys and girls). He started his competitive soccer coaching career at Beechmont (2006) and moved on to coach at Classics Hammer FC (Now Kings-Hammer) from 2007-2011 and later joined the Ohio Elite Soccer Academy (2011-2017).  From 2017-2026 he was a head coach for high school age boys program at Total Futbol Academy. 
 
Some noteworthy soccer achievements include directly helping 20 players join collegiate soccer programs (since 2015) and helping develop dozens of others that went on to play in college and some even become coaches!  He’s coached finalist teams for Ohio President’s Cup and State Cup Championships and won numerous league titles during his coaching career. He currently holds a USSF National ‘C’ License, NSCAA National Diploma and Goalkeeper 2 license. 
 
He is married to Mary Beth Donica (1986) and has 2 children, Walter (Cornell D1 Soccer 2013-2016) and Adrienne. A couple of fun facts include he is a physician trained in internal medicine and pediatrics and a singer-songwriter. Carl’s philosophy is all about developing players to reach their best potential as players and human beings.