Marcus Ziemer, Sonoma State’s longtime soccer coach and a member of Northern California’s prominent Ziemer soccer family, died at the age of 63.
Ziemer coached the SSU men’s soccer Seawolves for 35 years until the athletic program was eliminated by budget cuts after the 2025 season. He was also heavily involved in various levels of North Bay youth soccer.
“He was always giving back,” said Joe Dugan, the executive director of the San Francisco Elite Academy, who met Ziemer 45 years ago at a soccer camp. “He was always coaching or assistant coaching. The influence he had on an enormous number of Northern California players is tremendous. Up until now, he was coaching in the PDP program, mentoring young players.”
Marcus’ father Herbert had stopped playing soccer when he emigrated from Germany via England, but when Marcus, his oldest son, discovered the sport, Herbert founded the Sebastopol Youth Soccer League in 1975.
Herbert also started a soccer camp that Marcus ran and his younger brothers, Andrew, Benjamin and Christopher attended and, when they were older, worked at.
Marcus Ziemer became Sonoma State head coach in 1991 after serving as Peter Reynaud’s assistant for two years. With his three brothers on the team, Ziemer guided the Sonoma State to a runner-up finish in the 1991 NCAA D2 national championship.
Sonoma State reached the NCAA quarterfinals in 1993 but still had a hard time gaining the respect of the Division II tournament selection committee. Despite winning conference titles, the Seawolves didn’t return to the NCAAs until 2002, when it beat Southern New Hampshire, 4-3, in the national championship final.
Marcus’ wife, Trish Ziemer, was a member of Sonoma State’s 1990 national championship-winning women’s team. Their son, Thomas, attended U.S. U-17 residency camp in Bradenton, Florida. Tera Ziemer won the 2022 NCAA D2 national title with Western Washington and was that year’s United Soccer Coaches National Player of the Year. Their other daughter, Taylor, starred at Virginia and Texas A&M before moving to Europe. After winning the Icelandic championship with Breiðablik and a Dutch title with Twente, she joined the Frauen-Bundesliga’s FC Köln.
Marcus and Trish embarked on a Europe trip earlier this month and on March 9 he shared video of Taylor training in Cologne. On March 14, Marcus went to see his favorite team play in nearby Dortmund — a 2-0 Borussia Dortmund win over FC Augsburg.
After that game in Dortmund, Ziemer suffered a fatal traumatic brain injury in an electric scooter accident. German media reported that he apparently hit a pot hole and crashed into a parked car.
A big influence. The Santa Rosa Press Democrat described the Ziemer family “as one of the most remarkable athletic dynasties in Northern California history … helping push soccer in the North Bay into the front ranks of the sport.”
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