Troy Michael Dayak (born January 29, 1971) is an American former

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player who played as central defender. He spent his entire

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

career with the San Jose Clash/Earthquakes and nearly all of his professional career playing for

Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose. The Association of Bay Area Governments ...

teams.

Club career

San Francisco Bay Blackhawks

Dayak (nicknamed ''

Cowboy A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the ''vaquero'' ...

'') grew up in

Walnut Creek, California Walnut Creek is a city in Contra Costa County, California, United States, located in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, about east of the city of Oakland, California, Oakland. Walnut Creek has a total population of 70,127 per t ...

and attended Livermore High School. In 1989, he attended the University of San Francisco for one year and then signed with the San Francisco Bay Blackhawks of the

Western Soccer League The Western Soccer Alliance was a professional soccer league featuring teams from the West Coast of the United States and Western Canada. The league began in 1985 as the Western Alliance Challenge Series. In 1986, it became the Western Soccer ...

(WSL). Seventeen years old at the time, he was the youngest player to sign with the WSL or its successor leagues, the APSL and A-League. In 1990, the WSL merged with the American Soccer League to form the

American Professional Soccer League The American Professional Soccer League (APSL) was a professional men's soccer league with teams from the United States and later Canada. It was formed in 1990 by the merger of the third American Soccer League with the Western Soccer League. ...

(APSL). In 1991, the Blackhawks won the APSL championship and Dayak was named a first team All Star. In 1993, the Blackhawks owner moved the team to the lower division USISL and renamed the team the San Jose Hawks. Despite going to the 1993 Sizzlin' Six tournament, the team folded at the end of the season.

Indoor soccer

In 1993, Troy signed with the

Cleveland Crunch The Cleveland Crunch is an American professional indoor soccer club located in Cleveland, Ohio. Formed in 1989 as an expansion team in the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL), the Crunch played a total of 16 seasons in three separate leagues unde ...

of the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL), helping lead them to the 1993–1994 NPSL title. In 1995, he signed with the San Jose Grizzlies of the

Continental Indoor Soccer League The Continental Indoor Soccer League (CISL) was a professional indoor soccer league that played from 1993 to 1997. History In the summer of 1989 Dr Jerry Buss, the owner of the Los Angeles Lakers and California Sports, told his executive Vice ...

(CISL).

MLS

In 1996, he was selected by MetroStars in second round of the Inaugural MLS Draft (19th overall). Troy, who had strong roots in the San Francisco Bay Area, refused to sign with the league and move his family to the New York area. Therefore, he was traded by the MetroStars to the San Jose Clash (later to be named the Earthquakes) in exchange for

Rhett Harty Rhett Stowe Harty (born March 8, 1970, in Pasadena, California) is an American former soccer Defender (association football), defender who spent one season in the Western Soccer League, one in the Continental Indoor Soccer League, one in the USISL ...

and first round pick in 1996 College Draft. He was a solid starter for the Clash until, in August 1997, he suffered a violent collision snapping his head backwards. Troy's neck was already aggravated due to two previous neck injuries, and he was very close to becoming paralyzed. Troy was told that he would never play again. Nonetheless, in October 1997, he underwent surgery that fused a piece of bone from Troy's hip onto his 5th and 6th vertebrae. After a long march to recovery, he rejoined the Clash in 1998, going on loan to the San Francisco Bay Seals for one game, only to be waived at the end of the season. In 1999 Dayak signed with the San Francisco Bay Seals of the A-League. Early in the 1999 season, Dayak suffered a major knee injury damaging his

medial collateral ligament The medial collateral ligament (MCL), also called the superficial medial collateral ligament (sMCL) or tibial collateral ligament (TCL), is one of the major ligaments of the knee. It is on the medial (inner) side of the knee joint and occurs in ...

(MCF) and

posterior cruciate ligament The posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) is a ligament in each knee of humans and various other animals. It works as a counterpart to the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). It connects the posterior intercondylar area of the tibia to the Medial condyl ...

(PCL). After a difficult recovery complicated by infection, Troy rejoined the Seals for the 2000 campaign as a player and coach. He was honored that season when he made the A League all stars. In 2001 Troy was signed by

Frank Yallop Frank Walter Yallop (born 4 April 1964) is a British-Canadian professional soccer coach and former player. He played 13 years in England for Ipswich Town, including the club's first three seasons in the Premier League. He also played in Major ...

, new head coach of the San Jose Earthquakes. When not suffering from a multitude of injuries (upper back sprain, shoulder sprain, neck sprain, abdominal strain, sports hernia, food poisoning), Troy has been a solid starter for the Quakes, helping lead the team to two

MLS Cup MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Playoffs. The game is held in November or December and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Confere ...

s in 2001 and 2003. Dayak earned the

MLS Comeback Player of the Year Award MLS Comeback Player of the Year is a Major League Soccer award established in 2000. The award is voted on by media, MLS players and club management. It is presented to a player who showed impressive improvement after overcoming a serious injury ...

in 2001. Dayak has scored eight goals and added seven assists in his seven years in the league.

International career

Dayak had a notable youth soccer career playing in the U-16, U-20 and U-23 United States national soccer teams. He was part of the U-20 team to place fourth in the World Youth Championship in

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

. He also represented the U.S. in 1992 Olympics in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

. He also earned 9

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for the senior national team. His earned his first cap on September 15, 1990, in a 3–0 win over

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago, officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean, comprising the main islands of Trinidad and Tobago, along with several List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, smaller i ...

. He entered the game in the 65th minute for Steve Pittman. His last game came on March 16, 1991, in the 1991 NAFC Championship, a 2–0 victory over

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Coaching

Troy has announced that he would retire after the 2005 MLS season. Even before his retirement became official, he was named

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

for the MISL expansion franchise, the

California Cougars The California Cougars were an indoor soccer team, founded in 2004. The team was a charter member of the Professional Arena Soccer League (PASL-Pro), the first division of arena (indoor) soccer in North America. They played their home matches a ...

, who are based in

Stockton, California Stockton is a city in and the county seat of San Joaquin County, California, San Joaquin County in the Central Valley (California), Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. It is the most populous city in the county, the List of municipal ...

Post-retirement

June 2, 2005, Dayak was the Technical Director of the Livermore Youth Soccer League in Livermore, California. He is now the Founder and Director of Coaching for West Coast Soccer Club which is rapidly becoming one of the most dominant youth soccer clubs in the country. He holds a National "A" coaching license and in 2007 earned his NSCAA Director of Coaching Certification. Troy owns a retail soccer store in

Tracy, California Tracy is the second most populated city in San Joaquin County, California, San Joaquin County, California, United States. The population was 93,000 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Tracy is located inside a geographic triangle form ...

, as well as an

alfalfa Alfalfa () (''Medicago sativa''), also called lucerne, is a perennial plant, perennial flowering plant in the legume family Fabaceae. It is cultivated as an important forage crop in many countries around the world. It is used for grazing, hay, ...

farm. Married to wife Karen, they have two children, daughter Adaurie and son T.J. He also provided color analysis for CSN Bay Area and CSN California broadcasts of

San Jose Earthquakes The San Jose Earthquakes are an American professional association football, soccer club based in San Jose, California. The Earthquakes compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. Origin ...

games for the 2008 and 2009

seasons.

Honors

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

References

External links

Troy Dayak's soccer shop
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dayak, Troy 1971 births Living people American Professional Soccer League players American soccer coaches American men's soccer players Cleveland Crunch (NPSL) players Continental Indoor Soccer League players American soccer commentators Men's association football defenders Footballers at the 1992 Summer Olympics National Professional Soccer League (1984–2001) players Olympic soccer players for the United States Sportspeople from Walnut Creek, California Soccer players from Contra Costa County, California San Francisco Bay Blackhawks players San Francisco Seals (soccer) players San Jose Earthquakes players San Jose Grizzlies players San Jose Hawks players San Francisco Soccer Football League players United States men's international soccer players A-League (1995–2004) players USISL players Western Soccer League players Sportspeople from Tracy, California Major League Soccer players Major League Soccer All-Stars United States men's youth international soccer players United States men's under-20 international soccer players United States men's under-23 international soccer players American people of Croatian descent 20th-century American sportsmen