Thomas Tanner is a retired American

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 ...

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

who played professionally in the

USL A-League The USL First Division (USL-1) was a professional men's soccer league in the second tier of the United States league system. It was organized by the United Soccer League as its premier league for men from 1996 to 2010, above the USL Second Di ...

, Major Indoor Soccer League and National Professional Soccer League. He was the 1992 MISL Rookie of the Year. Tanner is the owner and currently the general manager of

Utica City FC Utica City FC is an American professional indoor soccer team based in Utica, New York, that competes in the Major Arena Soccer League (MASL). History The team formed in 2011 as the Syracuse Silver Knights with the intention of playing in the n ...

of the

Major Arena Soccer League The Major Arena Soccer League (MASL) is a professional indoor soccer league in North America. The MASL features teams playing coast-to-coast in the United States and Mexico. The league is the highest level of arena soccer in North America. The le ...

Youth

Tanner graduated from

Henninger High School Anthony A. Henninger High School is a high school in the Syracuse City School District. Henninger is the largest of the four high schools in the district with an enrollment of approximately 1800 students. History Henninger High School was bui ...

where he was a 1984 third team and 1985 fourth team NSCAA High School All American and a 1985 Parade Magazine High School All American soccer player. He attended

North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State, North Carolina State, NC State University, or NCSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1887 and p ...

, playing on the men's soccer team from 1986 to 1990. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in business management in 1991.

Professional

In 1991, 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 Major Indoor Soccer League selected Tanner in the second round of the MISL Draft. On June 29, 1991, Tanner made his debut and scored his first goal for the Crunch in a rare outdoor exhibition game against

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional association football, football department, which has pla ...

. He was the 1992 MISL Rookie of the Year. The MISL collapsed in 1992 and the Crunch moved to the National Professional Soccer League. Tanner and his teammates went on to win the 1994, 1996, and 1999 championships. In 2000, the Crunch lost in the finals to the

Milwaukee Wave The Milwaukee Wave are an American professional indoor soccer team based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, that competes in the Major Arena Soccer League (MASL). Founded in 1984, they have been the oldest continuously operating professional indoor footbal ...

. Tanner retired from the Crunch in 2001. In 1996, Tanner joined the

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 ...

of the

USISL A-League The USL First Division (USL-1) was a professional men's soccer league in the second tier of the United States league system. It was organized by the United Soccer League as its premier league for men from 1996 to 2010, above the USL Second Di ...

. He spent each summer for the next six years playing for the Rhinos, serving as team captain from 1998 to 2001. In 1996, Rochester went to the finals of both the league championship and the

Open Cup The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, commonly known as the U.S. Open Cup (USOC), is a knockout cup competition in men's soccer in the United States. It is the country's oldest ongoing national soccer competition. The competition was first held duri ...

. In 1999, Rochester won the 1999 U.S. Open Cup. It also won league titles in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

and

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 ...

. In 2003, Tanner moved to the

Syracuse Salty Dogs The Syracuse Salty Dogs (formally Syracuse Football Club) were a professional men's soccer team based in Syracuse, New York. The name of the club originates from "Salty Dog" which is nautical slang for an experienced sailor who has spent much ...

as a player-assistant coach. In August 2003, he added

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

to his list of team duties. The Salty Dogs withdrew from the league following the 2004 season and folded. Tanner earned the nickname "The Architect" after leading Utica City FC to the Regular Season Eastern Division Championship during the team's inaugural season in 2018–19.

Coach

In 2001, Tanner became the director of coaching with the Syracuse Soccer Academy, a position he held until 2003. In 2003, Tanner became an assistant coach with the

of the

. In 2004, he founded and coached the Syracuse Youth Football Club. In 2011, he became the head coach and owner of the

Syracuse Silver Knights Syracuse most commonly refers to: * Syracuse, Sicily, Italy; in the province of Syracuse * Syracuse, New York, USA; in the Syracuse metropolitan area Syracuse may also refer to: Places * Syracuse railway station (disambiguation) Italy * Provi ...

. In 2017, Tanner changed roles from head coach of the Silver Knights to general manager.https://www.facebook.com/silverknightfoundation/videos/1104627652925421/?video_source=pages_finch_main_video

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tanner, Tommy Living people 1968 births American soccer coaches American men's soccer players Des Moines Menace players Cleveland Crunch (NPSL) players Cleveland Crunch (original MISL) players Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) players National Professional Soccer League (1984–2001) players NC State Wolfpack men's soccer players Rochester New York FC players Syracuse Salty Dogs players USL First Division players Men's association football midfielders Player-coaches Soccer players from New York (state) Sportspeople from Syracuse, New York 20th-century American sportsmen