08/19/2026
Keep club jumping you will never find what you already lost.
Man a former player brought tears to my eyes:
The variety of ways Coach Bryan has positively affected me becomes harder to quantify as I age. Initially, I viewed Bryan solely as a soccer coach, I had no idea how much of an impact he would have on my life. When I met Coach Bryan I was a senior in high school. It was clear from the beginning that his philosophy, knowledge, and appreciation for the game was beyond anything Iād seen in the region at that time. He had the perfect combination of compassion and communication, with an uncanny ability to be very direct in a nonthreatening way. I learned more in that one season from Bryan than I had learned all of my life.
Coach Bryan improved us all by instilling such basic, but efficient concepts that he cut down our allowed goals by literally 13 goals per game. We were honestly the joke of the league. His understanding of our strengths, and how to use them within his tactical approach, gave us more of a chance to win that season than any prior. He led by example. He taught us how to communicate, how to appreciate one another, how to overcome adversity. He improved all of our soccer IQs, and skills dramatically. He instilled in us core values that extended far beyond the field, and he committed to us unlike any coach had before. At that time all I wanted to do was have enough to at least make a college roster, but I was beginning to accept that it would never happen. After that season Coach Bryan took me under his wing, and trained me as much as he could. The next season I was on the roster at Pfeiffer University.
Coach Bryan changed my entire approach to the game, and even changed my goals within it. When I met him all I wanted to do was play hard, out work people, out leg people, and go home. After I met Coach Bryan I still wanted to play in college, but I really began to chase the dream of coaching. When I spoke to him about it, after already giving me enough confidence to at least make Pfeiffer University, Coach Bryan took me under his wing again and mentored me from a coaching perspective.
Many coaches will say they care about the kids, itās all about the kids, they want nothing but the best for the kids, but I wonder how many of those coaches would dedicate as much of themselves, and their finances to as many players as Coach Bryan does annually.
Coach Bryan is who really taught me about giving back to the game in any way that I could. He mentored me, and became like a second father to me. He visited me in college, he visited me after college, he visited me when I was sick, he invited me over for dinners, he willingly taught me as much as he could about the game as he could, while being an outstanding role model.
I am who I am as a person, and as a coach because of Coach Bryan, and I would willingly work for him for free for the rest of my days, because it would honestly be an honor. What most coaches would need an entire hour to teach or explain, Bryan could break down to someone who has never played soccer in 5 minutes, and they would understand. Some of my best relationships with teams, players, my introduction to club soccer, my appreciation from the game, my willingness to give back to the sport, all come from Coach Bryan.
Itās been almost 8 years since I met Coach Bryan, and because of him I was able to play three years of collegiate soccer, coach from middle school, to club, to high school, and I am now the Varsity Head Coach of a 6A high school in Virginia, and I owe it all to Coach Bryan. I still look to him for advice, I still see all of the great work he puts in with the kids, I still see his commitment to the game, and his selflessness, and I look forward to coming back to North Carolina each summer and working camps with him until weāre both too old to coach.
Iād like to personally thank him for all heās done for my career, my confidence, and for helping me learn how to teach the game. Iād like to thank coach for teaching me how to be mentally tough, and how to overcome any obstacle. And, most importantly, Iād like to thank coach for never giving up on myself, or any player. For any parent who wants their child to improve, grow as a person and player, learn values that extend beyond the field, and always have a coach they can rely on, thereās no other coach I could recommend more than coach Bryan. The hardest working, most selfless, empathetic and elite soccer mind on the east coast.
