Carolina RailHawks is an American professional soccer team based in Cary, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 2006, the team plays in the North American Soccer League (NASL), the second tier of the American Soccer Pyramid.
The team plays its home games at WakeMed Soccer Park, where they have played since 2007. The team's colors are orange, white and blue. The current head coach is Colin Clarke.
History
The expansion of the USL to Cary, NC was announced on January 26, 2006 at a press conference at SAS Soccer Park (since renamed WakeMed Soccer Park). After a few changes in the 2008 off season the RailHawks ownership group consisted of: Wellman Family Limited partnership (Selby and Brian Wellman), HTCFC. INC (Bob Young former CEO of Red Hat, presently founder and CEO of LULU.com), Singh Holdings (Dr. H. Paul Singh) and Boris Jerkunica. After the 2010 season, Traffic Sports USA took ownership.
On October 11, 2006, former Rochester Rhinos defender Scott Schweitzer was named the first head coach of the RailHawks. Schweitzer played collegiately at North Carolina State University and retired from play prior to the 2006 season. On December 5, 2006, the RailHawks named the first players to sign with the franchise. Among the signings were two former UNC Tar Heel players, Chris Carrieri and Caleb Norkus, as well as several other players with Major League Soccer, United Soccer Leagues, and foreign playing experience.