Don Tobin (1 November 1955) is an English retired footballer who played in leagues including the

English Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engl ...

, the

League of Ireland The League of Ireland ( ga, Sraith na hÉireann), together with the Football Association of Ireland, is one of the two main governing bodies responsible for organising association football in the Republic of Ireland. The term was originally use ...

, the American Soccer League, and Major Indoor Soccer League. Since 1995 he has coached at various levels in the

Tampa Bay Area The Tampa Bay area is a major populated area surrounding Tampa Bay on the west coast of Florida in the United States. It includes the main cities of Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Clearwater. It is the 18th largest metropolitan area in the United ...

, most often with women's teams.

Playing career

As a youth, Tobin spent a brief period with the

Everton Academy Everton Under-23s compete in Premier League 2 and play their home matches at Haig Avenue in Southport. On occasion, they are permitted to play at Goodison Park. Both the Under-23 and Under-18 players have been based at their Finch Farm traini ...

before catching on at age 16 with the First Division senior club, Everton in 1971. From there he moved to

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

of the Third Division for three years. He spent one season at Witton Albion and one in Ireland at

Sligo Rovers Sligo Rovers Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Ruagairí Shligigh) is an Irish professional football club playing in the Premier Division of the League of Ireland. The club is based in Sligo in the west of Ireland. The club was founded in 192 ...

before moving to the United States. While at Rovers he was part of the side that reached the 1977–78

FAI Cup The Football Association of Ireland Senior Challenge Cup (FAI Cup), known as the Extra.ie FAI Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out association football competition contested annually by teams from the Republic of Ireland (as well as Derry ...

finals. For many years he spent summers with outdoor teams and winters playing

indoor soccer Indoor soccer or arena soccer (known internationally as indoor football, fast football, or showball) is five-a-side version of minifootball, derived from association football and adapted to be played in walled hardcourt indoor arena. Indoor so ...

. From 1978 to 1980 he played for the California Sunshine and joined the indoor

Wichita Wings The Wichita Wings were a professional indoor soccer franchise based in Wichita, Kansas. The Wings were admitted to the Major Indoor Soccer League as an expansion team on August 21, 1979.

of MISL from 1980 to 1982. From 1981 to 1983 he played for the Carolina Lightnin' outdoors and from 1982 to 1984 with Los Angeles Lazers indoors. With a goal and an assist, Tobin was named MVP of the 1981 ASL finals, which Carolina won, 2–1. He would spend the next three indoor seasons with the American Indoor Soccer Association's

Canton Invaders The Canton Invaders was an indoor soccer club based in Canton, Ohio that competed in the National Professional Soccer League. After the 1995–96 season, the team relocated and became the Columbus Invaders. History The Canton Invaders were a pro ...

, winning AISA titles in 1984–85 and 1985–86. Tobin was an AISA all-star and league MVP in 1985–86 for the Invaders. He had brief hitches outdoors with the

Rochester Flash The Rochester Flash was an American soccer club based in Rochester, New York that was a member of the American Soccer League. History In 1981, the Rochester Flash entered the American Soccer League, playing its home games at Holleder Memorial S ...

and

Tulsa Tornados The Tulsa Tornados were a professional soccer team from Tulsa, Oklahoma. They played for one season (1985) in the USL. The 1985 season only lasted six games as the league folded halfway through. Established by David Fraser during the spring of 198 ...

of the short-lived,

United Soccer League United Soccer League (USL), formerly known as United Soccer Leagues, is a soccer league in the United States and Canada. It organizes several men's and women's leagues, both professional and amateur. Men's leagues currently organized are the ...

. In 1988, he found his way to the

Tampa Bay Rowdies The Tampa Bay Rowdies are an American professional soccer team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The club was founded in 2008 and first took the pitch in 2010. Since 2017, the Rowdies have been members of the USL Championship in the second tier ...

, who at the time were playing in the third incarnation of the

ASL American Sign Language (ASL) is a natural language that serves as the predominant sign language of Deaf communities in the United States of America and most of Anglophone Canada. ASL is a complete and organized visual language that is express ...

. Tobin was player-coach for the indoor

Memphis Rogues The Memphis Rogues were a professional soccer team in the former North American Soccer League. They operated in the 1978, 1979, and 1980 seasons and played their home games in Memphis' Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium. They also played indoor ...

at the start of the 1989–89 season and finished out his playing career with the

Orlando Lions The Orlando Lions were an American soccer team from Orlando, Florida which existed from 1985 to 1996. Over the years, the Lions competed at both the amateur and professional levels including some seasons as an independent team. The Lions is a ni ...

in 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. It ...

Coaching career

While still a player in Canton he also served as an assistant coach. In 1989–90 he was hired as the Head Coach of the

of the AISA. Beginning in 1995, Tobin spent 19 years as the Director of Coaching, Dunedin Stirling Soccer Club in

Dunedin, Florida Dunedin is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. The name comes from ''Dùn Èideann'', the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Dunedin is part of the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metropolitan area and ...

. While there he also created the Tobin's School of Soccer Science Academy Program. In 2000, he was the coach of the Tampa Bay Extreme of the W-League. He was an Assistant Coach/Technical Director at the

University of Tampa The University of Tampa (UT) is a private university in Tampa, Florida. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. UT offers more than 200 programs of study, including 22 master's degrees and a broad variety of majors, ...

from 2007 to 2014, and part of the staff of the 2007 NCAA Division II Women's National Championship team. During the 2010 season he was an interim assistant coach for FC Tampa Bay Rowdies of the

USSF Division 2 Professional League The USSF Division 2 Professional League (D2 Pro League) was a temporary professional soccer league created by the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) for the 2010 season. The twelve-team league was formed as a compromise between the feuding U ...

. Tobin is presently the Director of Coaching at Pinellas County United in St. Petersburg, Florida and is a coach with the National Training Center (NTC). Since 2012, he also serves as the head coach of the WPSL team Florida Tropics WSC and holds a USSF "B" License. He and his wife reside in St. Petersburg, Florida and have two children.

Honours

Player

runner-up: 1977–78 *

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major off ...

* ASL Western Division:

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

* ASL Freedom Conference:

* AISA: 1984–85, 1985–86; runner-up 1986–87 * AISA Regular Season: 1984–85, 1985–86 * AISA Northern Division: 1986–87 Individual * ASL First team All-Star:

* ASL Finals MVP:

* AISA League MVP: 1985–86 * AISA First team All-Star: 1985–86

Assistant coach

NCAA Division II Women's Soccer The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

: 2007

References

External links

Rochdale transfersUniversity of Tampa coaching profileDunedin Stirling Soccer ClubPinellas County United SC profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tobin, Don 1955 births National Professional Soccer League (1984–2001) coaches National Professional Soccer League (1984–2001) players American Professional Soccer League players American Soccer League (1933–1983) players American Soccer League (1988–89) players California Sunshine players Canton Invaders players Carolina Lightnin' players Everton F.C. players English Football League players English men's footballers English expatriate men's footballers League of Ireland players Los Angeles Lazers players Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) players Memphis Storm players Orlando Lions players Rochdale A.F.C. players Rochester Flash players Sligo Rovers F.C. players Tampa Bay Rowdies (1975–1993) players Tulsa Tornados players United Soccer League (1984–85) players USL W-League (1995–2015) coaches Wichita Wings (MISL) players Living people Men's association football midfielders English expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Florida Tropics SC English football managers English expatriate football managers Expatriate soccer coaches in the United States Tampa Bay Rowdies coaches Footballers from Liverpool