With the women’s soccer team off to a promising start in their 2014 campaign, head coach Gerry Lucey looks to make this a year to remember for the program.
Since taking over as head coach in 2007, Lucey has become the all-time winningest coach for the program with 140 wins.
Lucey has dedicated a majority of his life towards the beautiful game and has played soccer professionally in the United States as well as Denmark. Lucey has become a staple part of the UT community and the Minaret sat down with the legendary coach for a one-on-one.
Minaret: Coach, you have been coaching soccer for over a decade and played professionally for years before hanging up your boots. Why did soccer resonate so strongly in you growing up?
Coach Lucey: Soccer has always been a part of my life growing up in Ireland, then moving to Denmark and finally to the US.
My father was a very good player and had the chance to become a professional but had to make the tough decision to support his family instead with a regular job.
He spent many hours teaching me the game and gave me the foundation to become the person I am today.
My first photographs have me pictured with a ball and I can remember carrying around a ball throughout my childhood. When I was in school, I day dreamed about being a professional soccer player and playing for my favorite team, Liverpool.
As I continued through my teens this goal and dream never faded nor did my love for the game.
It’s still as strong today as it was many years ago in Ireland and Denmark.
M: How did this dream evolve into you choosing soccer as a career?
L: I came to the US in 1990 on a soccer scholarship to New York and had planned on staying the four years and returning to Denmark.
Once I was done with college, I was offered the opportunity to be an assistant coach with the men’s team at Long Island University-CW Post for a couple of seasons before the chance arose to coach the women’s team. Pretty much from that point I’ve been coaching exclusively on the women’s side of the game.
M: Did you try other professions before coaching or was it soccer all the way?
L: It was pretty much soccer all the way. I had a brief spell working for a marketing company on Long Island for a year but still was able to coach at the college level simultaneously.
Soccer has been my life from a very young age and I’ve been fortunate to be able to continue into my adult years.
M: Your pedigree goes beyond most, coach. You’ve had a 40 goal/40 assist performance over your four years of college.
A handful of Coach of the Year honors. Even a Division II Final Four appearance during your spell at West Chester. How did UT become lucky enough to have you at the helm of its women’s soccer program?
L: I moved down to the Tampa area after finishing my Masters at LIU-CW Post and retiring from the pro game. I was working with a local club in Countryside and met the UT head coach, Jay Entlich.
After being out of the college game for a couple of years, I wanted to get back into it and became the women’s assistant with Bobby Johnston back in 2004.
After working with Bobby for a couple of years, I successfully applied for a position at West Chester University in Pennsylvania.
I stayed there for a year and the UT head position became available. This was a dream job in a great location and I was fortunate enough to take over the position in June of 2007.
UT had tremendous success and I had strong ties to the area. I’ve been living down here for 13 years now and love UT.
M: Thank you for your time.
The women’s soccer team is off to a strong start to the season as Coach Lucey and the rest of his squad look to capture the Sunshine State Conference (SSC) title.
They will be going on the road for the next few games but will have a home stretch in late October.
Marcus Mitchell can be reached at marcus.mitchell@spartans.ut.edu