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Mike Tucker University of Dayton Women's Head Soccer Coach 
Alma Mater: Cincinnati ’69
Career Record: 154-55-5 (.731) - 10 years
Entering his 11th season in 2005, University of Dayton head coach Mike Tucker has built the Flyers into the Atlantic 10 Conference’s premier program. The two-time A-10 Coach of the Year has won nearly 75 percent of his games and ranks among the nation’s elite coaches.
On the heels of the winningest season in school history, the 2004 A-10 Coach of the Year has his team primed for a repeat performance in 2005. Last year, Dayton made its fifth NCAA Championship appearance, won its eighth A-10 regular season crown and its fifth A-10 tournament title. UD, which was ranked 20th in the final top 25 poll, set a school record with its 20-2 mark. The Flyers also took the nation’s longest winning streak -- a team-record straight 20 games -- into the Big Dance.
The team honors in 2004 don’t outweigh what Tucker helped his student-athletes accomplish individually. Jen Simonetti was not only named the A-10 Defensive Player of the Year, but became the fourth Flyer to earn All-America recognition (Second Team from Soccer Buzz and Third Team from the NSCAA). Reba Sedlacek was tabbed the A-10 Offensive Player of the Year while Courtney Sirmans was honored on the Soccer Buzz Freshman All-America Team. Five Flyers were named to the A-10 First Team and two to the All-Rookie squad.
A conference-record eight Atlantic 10 regular season championship banners and five tournament championship banners hang at Baujan Field. UD has made five NCAA Championship appearances in the last six seasons. All of these team accolades have come since joining the conference in 1995 -- Tucker’s first year at the helm.
But Tucker is not about just team successes. He has a long tradition of molding his student-athletes into winners both on the field, and more importantly in the classroom. Under Tucker, the Flyers have captured seven straight Team Academic Awards (team GPA of 3.0 or higher) from the NSCAA, while six Flyers have earned Academic All-District recognition and three have been named Academic All-America. Former Flyer Shannon Kuhl, who graduated in 2003, was selected First Team Academic All-America in back-to-back seasons. The team has had nine selected to the A-10 All-Academic Team, with Stephanie Weisenfeld (2002) and Megan McKnight (2001) being chosen as the Atlantic 10’s Student-Athlete of the Year. In addition, 20 players have appeared on the A-10 Commissioner’s Honor Roll in the last two years.
As the program rolls into its 21st season, the wins have been many, the losses few and the national exposure growing rapidly. Tucker’s .731 winning percentage (154-55-5) ranks among the best in the NCAA for active coaches. His 154 victories rank among the national leaders.
A career that began with a 9-9-1 campaign in 1995, the talent he has inked in his 10-year tenure has completely rewritten the UD record books. Ten of Tucker’s recruits have recorded either single-season or career top 10 performances. Additionally, of the top 10 scoring performances by a freshman since 1988, nine of them have been achieved by a player he recruited.
Tucker took the helm in 1995, the same year the University of Dayton entered the Atlantic 10 Conference. Although he endured an up-and-down first season, he began laying the groundwork for the future. Tucker saw sophomore forward Julie Wilde lead the team in scoring with 20 points. His squad recorded conference victories over Duquesne, La Salle and Virginia Tech on the way to a 3-2 A-10 mark. In the spring of 1995, Tucker went to work on his first recruiting class. Among the signees were defenders Jen Davin and Wes Oxley, forward Danielle Gillespie and goalkeeper Damian Gold.
The 1996 campaign came as a surprise to many. The Flyers finished 13-9-0 overall, winning the A-10 West Division Regular Season title. UD shocked the conference again by beating nationally-ranked and perennial conference power Massachusetts for the A-10 Tournament title. Tucker’s accomplishments in ’96 were even more impressive when you consider his top two goalkeepers (sophomore Amy Kemmer and freshman Damian Gold) were hurt down the stretch. So he turned to freshman defender Tiffany King to be the keeper, and she responded with back-to-back victories in the tournament. His efforts earned him All-Ohio Coach of the Year honors.
Another season and another berth in the A-10 Tournament had once again opened the eyes of the opposition. Tucker’s ’97 squad tied a school record with 16 victories. UD started the season with eight straight wins, but it ended with a heartbreaking 1-0 loss to UMass in the A-10 Tournament Semifinal. Freshman forward Melissa Buck tied seniors Angie Beecoft and Julie Wilde for the team lead with 21 points.
In 1998, Tucker assembled one of the toughest schedules in team history, playing the likes of Michigan, Kentucky and Wisconsin-Milwaukee. UD surfaced with a 14-5-2 overall record and its second A-10 Regular Season title with a 9-1-1 mark. The season was highlighted by a 1-0 overtime win over Xavier and a 2-1 defeat of George Washington. UD avenged 1997’s semifinal loss to UMass by blanking them 1-0 at Baujan Field in the conference semifinal. The season ended though, when Xavier scored a goal with five seconds remaining in regulation time to tie the A-10 title match at 1-1. XU went on to win the championship with a 4-3 victory in penalty kicks after the teams played a marathon of scoreless overtimes.
Tucker put the heartbreaker to Xavier far back in the minds of Flyer fans when he announced the signing of two-time All-American and local star Missy Gregg in the spring of 1999. Gregg, who was a top 25 prospect by Soccer America, picked the Flyers over Notre Dame and North Carolina, helping to establish UD on the soccer map. Gregg and the Flyers did not disappoint. Tucker’s `99 squad turned in what was then the most successful season in team history, winning a then-record 18 games and earning a berth in the NCAA Tournament. The ’99 Flyers were named the All-Ohio Division I Team of the Year, Tucker was named the All-Ohio Coach of the Year and Gregg was tabbed the All-Ohio Player of the Year. Record crowds turned out all season to watch the Flyers at Baujan Field, including the top two most-attended games in UD history: 1,154 (August 27 vs. Purdue) and 1,517 (November 14 -- NCAA First Round vs. Evansville). UD averaged 778 in attendance, an increase of almost 200 from 1998.
In 2000, the Flyers captured their fourth A-10 Regular Season title with a 9-1-0 mark in conference and 16-5-0 overall. Gregg again did the offensive damage for UD, scoring 50 points on 22 goals and six assists while earning MVP honors for the A-10. Tucker’s other prized recruit, sophomore goalkeeper Stephanie Weisenfeld, led the A-10 for the second consecutive season with her UD single-season record 0.80 GAA. She yielded just 15 goals in 20 games and pulled in 112 saves with eight shutouts. Again, Tucker saw the talent he assembled on the field draw huge crowds. Just under 9,000 fans flocked to Baujan Field in 2000 -- an average of 805 per game which ranked 17th nationally.
The 2001 campaign came as a shock to many and a surprise to most. After the transfer of Gregg and a rocky 2-5 start, the Flyers rallied off an electrifying and then-school record 15-straight wins, carrying them all the way to the Sweet 16 of the Women’s College Cup. UD swept its conference slate, going a perfect 11-0-0. Dayton thumped Xavier, 5-1, in the A-10 semis and downed Richmond in the finals to reach the Big Dance, but the Flyers did not stop there. UD blanked its first and second round opponents in the NCAA Tournament -- Maryland, 1-0, and Miami, 2-0, to reach round three. The Cinderella Flyers finally met their match, falling 3-1 to #3 UCLA in Los Angeles in the Sweet 16. UD ended with a No. 16 national ranking. Tucker’s efforts earned him his first A-10 Coach of the Year honor as Erin Showalter was named A-10 Defensive Player of the Year and Tesia Kozlowski earned Rookie of the Year honors. In all, nine Flyers earned a total of 35 postseason awards -- the most in team history.
Although the 2002 Flyers missed an opportunity to capture the A-10 Tournament crown on their home soil, UD’s 17-3 record against a very difficult schedule was rewarded with an at-large NCAA berth. Tucker saw senior Liz Brown have a breakout final season and lead the team in scoring with 30 points and five game-winning goals. UD placed five on the All-Conference First Team and saw departing senior goalkeeper Stephanie Weisenfeld earn both A-10 Defensive Player of Year and A-10 Student-Athlete of the Year honors. Shannon Kuhl became just the second Flyer in history to be named an Academic All-American, earning a spot on the CoSIDA First Team.
After playing an incredibly aggressive, top 25 schedule in 2003, UD went 14-6-2 (5-0-1 at home) and saw a myriad of team and individual accolades roll in. UD won both the Atlantic 10 regular season and tournament championships -- winning both in the same season for the fourth time. The Flyers made their third straight NCAA appearance and fourth in five years. Dayton finished the season ranked No. 22, scored an impressive tie with No. 6 Virginia, 1-1, at home and also battled No. 10 California, No. 19 Clemson and No. 23 Ohio State -- all away from Baujan Field. Individually, Kuhl, who ended the season tied for the team lead in scoring with sophomore Reba Sedlacek, was tabbed First Team All-Atlantic 10, named the Most Outstanding Player of the A-10 Championship and also received a wealth of academic awards. Senior sweeper Erin Showalter was selected the A-10’s Defensive Player of the Year, which headlined six all-conference selections. In all, the Flyers earned 32 postseason awards.
Tucker goes back to the roots of the UD women’s soccer program. His daughter Lori played for, while Tucker was an assistant for, UD’s first women’s soccer head coach, Tom Schindler. When Schindler was succeeded by Bill Glisson, Tucker remained with the program as the top assistant. Tucker followed Glisson to become the school’s third women’s head coach and the sport’s first full-time head coach.
Tucker, a 1969 graduate of the University of Cincinnati, coached the Cincinnati Cardinals club team for nine years (1983-1991), compiling a record of 310-52-34. The Cardinals were the Ohio South state champions twice and runners-up on three occasions. They were league champions eight times and won 27 major tournament championships in the nine-year span that Tucker was coach. For the past 12 years, Tucker has been a state Olympic Development coach for the Ohio South Youth Soccer Association, currently coaching the U-17 age group.
Tucker and his wife Chris live in Cincinnati and have two daughters -- Traci, who graduated from UD in 1995 with a degree in Biology, and Lori, a former UD women’s soccer player who played for the Flyers from 1989 to 1991.
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