Tribute to a coach who will never be a footnote
He has the disposition of a dog that wasn’t socialized as a pup. His bark is worse than his bite. His idea of taking time off is eating dinner while not talking soccer. He demands everything, because he gives it his everything. Wins are forgotten before he gets on the bus. Losses still sting him long after calendars have changed.
His stature isn’t imposing, his aura is. If you know nothing about soccer and watch him prowl the sidelines you understand he is in charge. He doesn’t care if you like him, but you undoubtedly will respect him. His face is usually singed from the sun except for the sunglass tan lines. The tan lines start to fade as another pair of glasses meet their fate being thrown to the ground.
He motivates his players like he is Tony Robbins in his prime. He knows which players need a pat on the back and which ones need to be pushed. Stanley “Tape Measures” should be his sponsor because every game, practice, and training sessions are measuring sticks. When a season ends the new one always starts the following Monday. Enjoy your weekend.
The day the season begins he says goodbye to his family. They know for the next few months it would be easier to get customer service on the phone than him. Every car ride he takes from February to June is over Bluetooth with somebody in his soccer orbit. Club coaches, high school coaches, college coaches, parents, athletic directors, volunteers and reporters are all on his speed dial. Can it really be a speed dial if there are hundreds of people on it?
He would tell you he has only had two successful seasons, Barrington’s two state championships. Never mind the numerous second-place state finishes, the third-place finishes, the long playoff runs, the conference championships, the soccer bowl victories. He has developed a National Player of the Year, All-Americans, Illinois Gatorade Player of the Year, All-State players year after year, too many All-Conference players to list, the MSL Player of the Year for at least the last four years, and so many of Barrington’s best and brightest people … anybody would be proud to have played a role in any of those, he has in all.
He is a co-writer in aspiring college athletes’ stories. At last count 26 of his players went on to play Division 1 soccer. Like a proud parent he is sad to see them leave, but excited for them to take on the world. He has given all of himself to ensure they can.
So as spring turns to summer, two things remain true. The Kennedy is either under construction, and the Fillies are once again making a run toward his third successful season.
He is everything I could have hoped my daughter would have in a coach. Sometimes people come and go through your life, becoming a footnote. While he is many things, a footnote isn’t one of them.
When I asked my daughter why she chose Marquette she said, “Of all the universities, it felt the most like Barrington, the most like Stengren’s team.”
This season may end with a third state championship or it may end in a bitter defeat, either way he we won — and we won for being a student in his grad level master class. Ryan Stengren is the best of coaches, and the best of Barrington.
One day years from now, when his cleats no longer are needed, he will have time to reflect. He will talk about the freight train that was Szczesny, the Dutch center back Roos who became Gatorade Player of the Year, the dynamo that was Spinell, the Sanchez sisters, or Lucier, the freshman who burst on the scene. Maybe then he will realize every team, every player and every family won because they were honored to call him coach.
Until then … practice tomorrow.
• Michael Lucier, of Barrington, is father of Piper Lucier, who will continue her soccer career at Marquette University.