Mark Pulisic (born September 20, 1968) 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 and coach of Croatian descent. He played for the Harrisburg Heat for his entire professional career. He is the father of

Christian Pulisic Christian Mate Pulisic (born September 18, 1998) is an American professional Association football, soccer player who plays as a Midfielder#Winger, winger for club AC Milan and the United States men's national soccer team, United States natio ...

, who plays for

AC Milan (), commonly referred to as Milan or AC Milan () mainly outside of Italy, is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Founded in 1899, the club competes in the Serie A, the top tie ...

and the United States men's national team.

College

Pulisic attended George Mason University, where he played soccer from 1986 to 1989. He finished with thirty-five career goals in 73 appearances. In 2012, he was voted into the George Mason Men's Soccer Hall of Fame.

Harrisburg Heat

In 1991, Pulisic turned professional with the Harrisburg Heat of the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL). He remained with the Heat throughout his career, retiring from playing professionally in 1999. When he retired, the Heat honored him with a Mark Pulisic Night at the Farm Show Arena in

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Harrisburg ( ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the seat of Dauphin County. With a population of 50,099 as of 2020, Harrisburg is the ninth-most populous city in Pennsylvania. It is the larger of the two pr ...

. He was then inducted into the team's Hall of Fame, joining Bob Lilley,

Richard Chinapoo Richard Chinapoo (born 18 January 1957) is a former footballer from Trinidad who had an extensive career, primarily in the United States. Chinapoo spent two seasons in the North American Soccer League, eight in the National Professional Soccer L ...

, and Todd Smith.

Coaching

In 1993,

Lebanon Valley College Lebanon Valley College (LVC, Lebanon Valley, or The Valley) is a private university in Annville, Pennsylvania. History Lebanon Valley College was founded on February 23, 1866, with classes beginning May 7 of that year and its first class grad ...

hired Pulisic to begin a new chapter of the men's soccer program, where he coached until 2005, finishing with a record of 88-124-13. In 1996, Pulisic began coaching a new women's team program at the school as well. While with Lebanon Valley College, Pulisic also served as an assistant coach for the

Harrisburg City Islanders Harrisburg City Islanders, known as Penn FC in their final season, were an American professional soccer team based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 2003, the team most recently played in the USL Pro, the second tier of the ...

of the

USL USL may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Underground Sound of Lisbon, a Portuguese dance music project * Urban Strawberry Lunch, a band from Liverpool Companies * United Spirits Limited, India * Former United States Lines shipping company C ...

in 2003 and 2004. On April 19, 2006, the expansion

Detroit Ignition The Detroit Ignition were an American indoor soccer team that has played three seasons, most recently 2008–09. In April 2006, Greg Bibb, president of Hantz Group Sports and Entertainment, introduced the teams as a new Major Indoor Soccer Leagu ...

of the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) hired Pulisic as the team's first coach. In April 2007, he was named the MISL Coach of the Year. On November 6, 2007, former Heat teammate Bob Lilley replaced Pulisic as head coach of the Ignition, moving Pulisic to the front office as director of soccer operations. Pulisic relocated to Germany in 2015 after his son Christian was signed by

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

club

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, often known simply as Borussia Dortmund () or by its initialism BVB (), or just Dortmund by International fans, is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is ...

, and was hired as a coach for Dortmund's U10 academy team. In early 2017, Pulisic returned to the United States, joining second division club

Rochester Rhinos Rochester Rhinos, formerly known as the Rochester Raging Rhinos, was an American soccer team based in Rochester, New York, United States. The club won the 1999 U.S. Open Cup, marking the only time a non-MLS team has won the U.S. Open Cup sinc ...

as an assistant coach under his former teammate and colleague Bob Lilley.

Personal life

Mark Pulisic's father is originally from the island of

Olib Olib () is a Croatian island in northern Dalmatia, located north-west of Zadar, south-west of Pag, south-east of Lošinj and just east of Silba with an area of 26.14 km2. History Greek geographer Strabo mentions a settlement named Aloip, ...

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

. Mark Pulisic is the father of

and U.S. men's national team player

. In addition to Christian, he and his wife have two other children, a son and a daughter. His nephew Will Pulisic plays for

MLS Next Pro MLS Next Pro (MLSNP) is a men's professional association football, soccer league in the United States and Canada that is affiliated with Major League Soccer (MLS). It launched in 2022 with 21 teams and now comprises 27 reserve sides of MLS clu ...

club

Minnesota United FC 2 MNUFC2 is an American professional soccer team that is located in Saint Paul, Minnesota. It is the reserve team of Minnesota United FC and participates in MLS Next Pro. History On December 6, 2021, MNUFC2 were named as one of 21 clubs that wou ...

. In a 2023 interview for ESPN, his son Christian Pulisic added that his paternal grandmother Johanna DiStefano was Sicilian, noting that "My dad, her son, has an Italian flag tattooed on his forearm."

Honors

Individual *

MISL Major Indoor Soccer League has been the name of three different American professional indoor soccer leagues: *Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992), known in its final two seasons as the Major Soccer League *Major Indoor Soccer League (2001–2 ...

Coach of the Year: 2007

References

External links

"Mark Pulisic Named Assistant Coach"
(Pittsburgh Riverhounds, January 5, 2018) * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pulisic, Mark 1968 births Living people American men's soccer players National Professional Soccer League (1984–2001) players Harrisburg Heat players American people of Croatian descent American people of Italian descent American soccer coaches George Mason Patriots men's soccer players Major Indoor Soccer League (2001–2008) coaches Men's association football forwards Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC coaches Association football coaches 20th-century American sportsmen