Jerry Yeagley (born January 10, 1940, in

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

) is an American former soccer player and coach. He was the coach of the

Indiana Hoosiers men's soccer The Indiana Hoosiers men's soccer team represents Indiana University Bloomington. The team is a member of the Big Ten Conference of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. Indiana is considered one of the most successful collegiate socce ...

team from 1973 to 2003. His teams won six

NCAA Championships The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and 1 in Canada. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges and helps ...

and a Division I record 544 games. He is considered the most successful collegiate men's soccer coach in the history of the sport. His overall career record was 544-101-45 (.828). He never had a losing season as a head coach. Yeagley was also an

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

Champion in

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 ...

as a player, winning the national championship with West Chester in 1961.

Coaching career

After earning a

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

from the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colle ...

in 1963, Yeagley went to Indiana University as a Physical Education instructor and men's soccer coach. The team had been a club since 1947, but Yeagley's goal was to develop it into a varsity program. For ten years, with no money from the University for Yeagley's salary, team travel expenses, recruiting or uniforms, Yeagley, his wife Marilyn and the players lined the field, hung signs on campus and washed the players' uniforms. Once the program gained varsity status and the full support of the university in 1973, Yeagley's teams quickly became a national power. Indiana reached the NCAA final in just its fourth season as a varsity program in 1976. In fact, through his 31-year career, Yeagley took every one of his four-year players to the NCAA College Cup, soccer's version of the Final Four. His teams made 28 NCAA tournament appearances, 16 appearances in the College Cup, and 12 appearances in the national final, while winning 10

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives in 1 ...

championships and 6 National championships — 1982, 1983, 1988, 1998,

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

, 2003 — the last one in his final season. From 1973 through 2003 no team won more NCAA Championships or appeared in more College Cups than Indiana. The Hoosiers' longest stint away from the national semifinal was three years (1985–87) and they followed that brief drought by winning the 1988 NCAA crown. Yeagley led the Hoosiers to 28 NCAA Tournament berths, the third-most in NCAA history, including one in each of his final 17 seasons. His Hoosier teams owned a 68-22 (.756) record in tournament play, the best winning percentage of any school. Yeagley's career came to a fitting and magical end in 2003 as his Hoosiers went unbeaten over their final 18 games and winning the NCAA Championship. The title was the sixth for the program under Yeagley and in the process, he became the all-time winningest coach in collegiate soccer history with 544 wins.

Legacy

Honors and recognition

Yeagley won NSCAA National Coach of the Year honors an unprecedented six times (1976, 1980, 1994, 1998,

, 2003). He was named Big Ten Coach of the Year an unmatched eight times (1993, 1994, 1997, 1998,

, 2001, 2002, 2003). In 1989, he earned the highest honor a college coach can receive when he was inducted into the United States Soccer Federation Hall of Fame. Yeagley received the prestigious Bill Jeffrey Award in 1987, given for his unique contributions to intercollegiate soccer. In 1997, he received the NSCAA's Honor Award, the organization's highest tribute. In 2008, he was inducted into the NSCAA Hall of Fame. Upon his retirement in 2003, the soccer field at Indiana was renamed "Jerry Yeagley Field at Bill Armstrong Stadium". In 2005, NSCAA honored him with an award in his namesake, the Jerry Yeagley Award.

Coaching tree

Yeagley has helped inspire a number of his players to become coaches. There are more than 20 former IU players or coaches in the collegiate coaching ranks, while professional coaches who played under Yeagley include

Caleb Porter Caleb Porter (born February 18, 1975) is an American soccer coach who is the head coach of Major League Soccer club New England Revolution. He was previously head coach of the Portland Timbers from 2013 until 2017. He won MLS Cup in 2015 with P ...

, Mike Anhaeuser,

Juergen Sommer Juergen Petersen Sommer (born February 27, 1969) is an American former professional soccer player and coach. He became the first American goalkeeper to play in the FA Premier League, when he signed to play for Queens Park Rangers in 1995. He has ...

and

Pat Noonan Patrick John Noonan (born August 2, 1980) is an American soccer coach and former player. He is the head coach of FC Cincinnati in Major League Soccer. Playing career College and amateur Noonan attended De Smet Jesuit High School, and played ...

. Yeagley's son

Todd Todd or Todds may refer to: Places Australia * Todd River, an ephemeral river United States * Todd Valley, California, also known as Todd, an unincorporated community * Todd, Missouri, a ghost town * Todd, North Carolina, an unincorporated c ...

played for him at Indiana from 1991 to 1994, winning the 1994

Hermann Trophy The Hermann Trophy is awarded annually by the Missouri Athletic Club to the United States's top men's and women's college soccer players. History In 1967, Bob Hermann, the president of the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) and th ...

from the

Missouri Athletic Club The Missouri Athletic Club (often referred to as the MAC), founded in 1903, is a private city and athletic club with two locations. The Downtown Clubhouse is in Downtown St. Louis, Missouri, USA and the West Clubhouse is located in the St. Lou ...

and being named a First-Team All-American. After playing for the

Columbus Crew The Columbus Crew are an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. The team began play in 1996 as one of the 10 cha ...

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 ...

from 1996 to 2002, Todd returned to Indiana as a volunteer assistant coach during his father's last season. On December 18, 2009, Todd Yeagley was named Head Coach at Indiana.

References

* ''Jerry Yeagley - Class of 1989''
National Soccer Hall of Fame
* ''Jerry Yeagley''
West Chester University Hall of Fame
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yeagley, Jerry 1940 births Living people American soccer coaches Indiana Hoosiers men's soccer coaches National Soccer Hall of Fame members University of Pittsburgh alumni West Chester University alumni Sportspeople from Lebanon, Pennsylvania West Chester Golden Rams men's soccer players