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Soccer's ultimate pitch man
Yeagley put Hoosiers, sport on map
Yeagley put Hoosiers, sport on map
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By Greg Johnson
The NCAA News
The NCAA News
Jerry Yeagley put a professional lifetime of work into the Indiana University, Bloomington, men’s soccer program.
Though it might seem hard to believe now since the program is synonymous with excellence on the pitch, it took 10 years of lobbying from Yeagley back then just to convince the university that the team should compete at the varsity level. Until then, Yeagley lined the field himself, his wife washed the uniforms and the players traveled to road matches in a caravan of cars.
“If I had known it was going to take that long, I might not have come,” Yeagley said. “But looking back, those are some of my fondest memories. It made me a better coach down the line, because I learned not to take anything for granted. I learned all the details.”
His patience was tested a few times during those club years when he entertained the thought of leaving the Bloomington campus, but finally in 1973, Yeagley’s club team was granted varsity status. The rest of the Division I soccer community didn’t know it, but one of the most dominant programs in men’s soccer was in the making.
Over the next 31 years, the Hoosiers established themselves as perennial contenders for the national championship. Yeagley, who won 544 varsity matches, guided Indiana to a record 16 NCAA College Cups, where the Hoosiers captured six national titles. Every four-year player who wore a Hoosiers uniform during Yeagley’s tenure made at least one trip to the College Cup, where the national semifinals and finals are conducted.
All of those accomplishments are defining moments in their own right. But while Yeagley’s 41 years of work are still stamped on the program, the players on his last team gave him one more special memory during his final season in 2003 that truly defines the tradition-rich Indiana men’s soccer team.
Nightmare start
Yeagley announced before the year began that the 2003 edition of the Hoosiers would be his last. Former all-American and then-assistant coach Mike Freitag was tabbed to become the new head coach. Yeagley’s son Todd, a four-time all-American at Indiana, would be on the staff, too.
The program appeared to be in a seamless transition. Everything lined up perfectly ... until the Hoosiers suddenly had trouble winning.
In their first nine matches, the Hoosiers posted a 2-3-4 mark — the worst start in the three-decade history of the program.
Julian Dieterle, who was a freshman defender on that team, was one of several new faces in the 2003 lineup. The lack of early success shook everyone’s confidence.
“I didn’t want to lose my starting spot,” Dieterle said. “I wanted to prove they made the right choice by bringing me in. Expectations are part of the reason you come to Indiana. You don’t have this situation anywhere else in the country. You are expected to compete for the national championship every year, and that is exciting.”
Yeagley wasn’t happy, and he tried to calm everyone’s fears. But even his coaching friends from around the nation doubted whether his last team could live up to the program’s lofty standards.
“They were telling me, ‘Don’t worry about this year. Think about the good times from the past,’ ” Yeagley said. “Everyone was feeling sorry for me in my last year.”
He knew he had to figure out a way for this group of student-athletes to realize its potential.
While there weren’t too many victories early on, Yeagley wasn’t disappointed in the way his team played.
“We were just finding ways not to win,” he said. “The biggest battle was keeping the guys’ heads up and making them realize they were a worthy group that could have success.”
Turning point
The Hoosiers righted their season when the Big Ten portion of the schedule commenced.
A road match at the University of Michigan may have been the cure. The 2-1 overtime win over the Wolverines sparked an improbable 15-0-1 run the rest of the season.
“That’s when the team came together and realized it could win,” Yeagley said.“It was a good morale boost for us,” Dieterle added. “The Michigan game got our mojo going.”
Indiana allowed only one goal over its next seven matches. With each victory, the confidence continued to grow.
“When the personality of the group came through and when the players took accountability in the second half of the season, that’s when you know as a coach that things are OK,” said Yeagley, who finished his coaching career with a 544-101-45 record. “You could tell they got the IU swagger going. The pride of wearing the uniform was evident.”
Dieterle said the steady presence of their coach was a big reason why the team was able to rebound from a tough first half of the season.
“(Yeagley) reminded you of your grandfather,” Dieterle said. “He was always joking around, and he genuinely cared about you. He was very passionate about what he did. It was inspiring to see someone have that much passion about what he did.”
After winning the Big Ten championship, the Hoosiers were ready to add to the national titles the program won in 1982, 1983, 1988, 1998 and 1999.
Title No. 6
Indiana began the NCAA tournament with a double-overtime 2-1 win over the University of Kentucky and then posted a 5-0 victory over Virginia Commonwealth University, which made Yeagley the all-time winningest coach in Division I men’s soccer.
Then, it was off to play a road match at top-ranked University of California, Los Angeles, in the regional finals.
The Hoosiers had to play that match without the services of their top offensive threat Ned Grabavoy and their top defender Drew Moor. Both were selected to play in an international tournament with the U.S. Under-20 national team.
That situation is typical in soccer.
“We had a meeting wishing them well before they left,” Yeagley said. “I remember them saying, ‘We will be back to play in the NCAA championship game if you can get us there.’ ”
The Hoosiers assembled a makeshift lineup and found themselves ahead of the No. 1 Bruins, 2-1, in the second half. UCLA desperately tried to tie the match against the Indiana defense.
“We were absorbing pressure, and they were flying at us,” Dieterle said.
At one point, one of the Bruins hit a shot from just inside the penalty box that looked like trouble.
“It was a laser,” said Dieterle, who graduated in May with a journalism degree. “It nicked the outside of the post. For a second, everyone just stopped. It just felt like it was meant to be after that.”
After surviving at UCLA, Indiana made its way to the College Cup for the 16th time where it defeated Santa Clara University, 1-0, in double overtime during a snowstorm in Columbus, Ohio.
Grabavoy and Moor, who currently play for the Columbus Crew and FC Dallas of Major League Soccer, returned from their U.S. national team duties to put Indiana at full strength.
Grabavoy scored Indiana’s first goal in a 2-1 victory over St. John’s University (New York). When the final whistle blew to give the Hoosiers their sixth national title, Yeagley had a flood of memories enter his brain.
“I was a bit numb, and not from the cold,” Yeagley said. “It didn’t really sink in at the time that it was all over. There were a lot of alums there who had played over the years. You can’t put into words how I felt at the time.”
While all of the current Hoosiers were proud to send their coach out with another NCAA championship, the entire situation didn’t seem real until months later.
“I was an 18-year-old at the time, and I didn’t know the scope of it all,” Dieterle said. “In the spring, we had a banquet and a send-off. It really felt like you were part of something special. You feel privileged to be part of something like that.”
Yeagley watched Freitag lead the Hoosiers to NCAA title No. 7 in 2004.
The former coach is still present at Indiana’s soccer matches. He rarely misses a home or away match. Rather than teach from the sideline, though, he watches with pride as the program continues to build its legacy.
“I remember when we were striving for varsity status and then next hoping to get into the NCAA tournament,” Yeagley said. “To reach the pinnacle of success to where the program is the standard-bearer or the yardstick in the sport is very satisfying.
“The most important thing for me is the relationships with the young men who played for me. The real reward is to see how successful the players have become in their life endeavors.”
Though it might seem hard to believe now since the program is synonymous with excellence on the pitch, it took 10 years of lobbying from Yeagley back then just to convince the university that the team should compete at the varsity level. Until then, Yeagley lined the field himself, his wife washed the uniforms and the players traveled to road matches in a caravan of cars.
“If I had known it was going to take that long, I might not have come,” Yeagley said. “But looking back, those are some of my fondest memories. It made me a better coach down the line, because I learned not to take anything for granted. I learned all the details.”
His patience was tested a few times during those club years when he entertained the thought of leaving the Bloomington campus, but finally in 1973, Yeagley’s club team was granted varsity status. The rest of the Division I soccer community didn’t know it, but one of the most dominant programs in men’s soccer was in the making.
Over the next 31 years, the Hoosiers established themselves as perennial contenders for the national championship. Yeagley, who won 544 varsity matches, guided Indiana to a record 16 NCAA College Cups, where the Hoosiers captured six national titles. Every four-year player who wore a Hoosiers uniform during Yeagley’s tenure made at least one trip to the College Cup, where the national semifinals and finals are conducted.
All of those accomplishments are defining moments in their own right. But while Yeagley’s 41 years of work are still stamped on the program, the players on his last team gave him one more special memory during his final season in 2003 that truly defines the tradition-rich Indiana men’s soccer team.
Nightmare start
Yeagley announced before the year began that the 2003 edition of the Hoosiers would be his last. Former all-American and then-assistant coach Mike Freitag was tabbed to become the new head coach. Yeagley’s son Todd, a four-time all-American at Indiana, would be on the staff, too.
The program appeared to be in a seamless transition. Everything lined up perfectly ... until the Hoosiers suddenly had trouble winning.
In their first nine matches, the Hoosiers posted a 2-3-4 mark — the worst start in the three-decade history of the program.
Julian Dieterle, who was a freshman defender on that team, was one of several new faces in the 2003 lineup. The lack of early success shook everyone’s confidence.
“I didn’t want to lose my starting spot,” Dieterle said. “I wanted to prove they made the right choice by bringing me in. Expectations are part of the reason you come to Indiana. You don’t have this situation anywhere else in the country. You are expected to compete for the national championship every year, and that is exciting.”
Yeagley wasn’t happy, and he tried to calm everyone’s fears. But even his coaching friends from around the nation doubted whether his last team could live up to the program’s lofty standards.
“They were telling me, ‘Don’t worry about this year. Think about the good times from the past,’ ” Yeagley said. “Everyone was feeling sorry for me in my last year.”
He knew he had to figure out a way for this group of student-athletes to realize its potential.
While there weren’t too many victories early on, Yeagley wasn’t disappointed in the way his team played.
“We were just finding ways not to win,” he said. “The biggest battle was keeping the guys’ heads up and making them realize they were a worthy group that could have success.”
Turning point
The Hoosiers righted their season when the Big Ten portion of the schedule commenced.
A road match at the University of Michigan may have been the cure. The 2-1 overtime win over the Wolverines sparked an improbable 15-0-1 run the rest of the season.
“That’s when the team came together and realized it could win,” Yeagley said.“It was a good morale boost for us,” Dieterle added. “The Michigan game got our mojo going.”
Indiana allowed only one goal over its next seven matches. With each victory, the confidence continued to grow.
“When the personality of the group came through and when the players took accountability in the second half of the season, that’s when you know as a coach that things are OK,” said Yeagley, who finished his coaching career with a 544-101-45 record. “You could tell they got the IU swagger going. The pride of wearing the uniform was evident.”
Dieterle said the steady presence of their coach was a big reason why the team was able to rebound from a tough first half of the season.
“(Yeagley) reminded you of your grandfather,” Dieterle said. “He was always joking around, and he genuinely cared about you. He was very passionate about what he did. It was inspiring to see someone have that much passion about what he did.”
After winning the Big Ten championship, the Hoosiers were ready to add to the national titles the program won in 1982, 1983, 1988, 1998 and 1999.
Title No. 6
Indiana began the NCAA tournament with a double-overtime 2-1 win over the University of Kentucky and then posted a 5-0 victory over Virginia Commonwealth University, which made Yeagley the all-time winningest coach in Division I men’s soccer.
Then, it was off to play a road match at top-ranked University of California, Los Angeles, in the regional finals.
The Hoosiers had to play that match without the services of their top offensive threat Ned Grabavoy and their top defender Drew Moor. Both were selected to play in an international tournament with the U.S. Under-20 national team.
That situation is typical in soccer.
“We had a meeting wishing them well before they left,” Yeagley said. “I remember them saying, ‘We will be back to play in the NCAA championship game if you can get us there.’ ”
The Hoosiers assembled a makeshift lineup and found themselves ahead of the No. 1 Bruins, 2-1, in the second half. UCLA desperately tried to tie the match against the Indiana defense.
“We were absorbing pressure, and they were flying at us,” Dieterle said.
At one point, one of the Bruins hit a shot from just inside the penalty box that looked like trouble.
“It was a laser,” said Dieterle, who graduated in May with a journalism degree. “It nicked the outside of the post. For a second, everyone just stopped. It just felt like it was meant to be after that.”
After surviving at UCLA, Indiana made its way to the College Cup for the 16th time where it defeated Santa Clara University, 1-0, in double overtime during a snowstorm in Columbus, Ohio.
Grabavoy and Moor, who currently play for the Columbus Crew and FC Dallas of Major League Soccer, returned from their U.S. national team duties to put Indiana at full strength.
Grabavoy scored Indiana’s first goal in a 2-1 victory over St. John’s University (New York). When the final whistle blew to give the Hoosiers their sixth national title, Yeagley had a flood of memories enter his brain.
“I was a bit numb, and not from the cold,” Yeagley said. “It didn’t really sink in at the time that it was all over. There were a lot of alums there who had played over the years. You can’t put into words how I felt at the time.”
While all of the current Hoosiers were proud to send their coach out with another NCAA championship, the entire situation didn’t seem real until months later.
“I was an 18-year-old at the time, and I didn’t know the scope of it all,” Dieterle said. “In the spring, we had a banquet and a send-off. It really felt like you were part of something special. You feel privileged to be part of something like that.”
Yeagley watched Freitag lead the Hoosiers to NCAA title No. 7 in 2004.
The former coach is still present at Indiana’s soccer matches. He rarely misses a home or away match. Rather than teach from the sideline, though, he watches with pride as the program continues to build its legacy.
“I remember when we were striving for varsity status and then next hoping to get into the NCAA tournament,” Yeagley said. “To reach the pinnacle of success to where the program is the standard-bearer or the yardstick in the sport is very satisfying.
“The most important thing for me is the relationships with the young men who played for me. The real reward is to see how successful the players have become in their life endeavors.”
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