Forward follows father to IU soccer squad

The winning tradition began in 1982 with a coach, a forward and a national title.

Almost 30 years later, that winning tradition is still growing with the sons of the 1982 coach and forward.

Senior defender Tommy Meyer smiled as he stretched on the grass of the practice field after a two-hour practice. It’s the same grass he used to kick a ball across as a kid when he came with his dad, Keith, to watch IU play.

Sometimes Tommy’s soccer ball would roll across that grass to the kick wall for the entire match.

“I don’t even think I watched games when I came here,” he said. “I was always over here playing.”

His time around IU soccer started well before that kick wall and those trips with his dad.

It started in his backyard — knocking the ball around with Keith, a two-time IU national champion forward on the men’s soccer team and one of two former IU players who have played in four national championships.

“When we were coming to trips here, he’d always bring me along,” Tommy Meyer said. “So, I was around this environment a lot when I was younger. All my uncles, they played soccer too, so I just grew up with soccer.”

Before Tommy wore the cream and crimson, IU Coach Todd Yeagley saw him with his dad at alumni events and games, where he met IU soccer players and fans through the years.

He’s learned from those who treat the seven stars with honor.

“Tommy has been around stories,” Todd Yeagley said. “He’s been around these people his whole life. I think that’s what allowed Tommy to come into this program and have a real sense of pride, to help continue the tradition and put his own legacy on it.”

The Tommy Meyer legacy includes 64 starts in 66 career games and a current 5-0-2 team. It doesn’t include any rings, yet.

But he’s in search of a championship. He’s got one season left to get that eighth star.
“It all starts with the team,” Keith said. “He’s got to be a team player. He’s got to be a leader. From a winning standpoint, it’s a team environment. You’ve got to come to play every day and enjoy it and have the confidence that when he and the team go on the field, they’re not going to lose ... So far, so good.”

To be a team player, to have pride in the jersey — it’s all the teaching of 1982 coach Jerry Yeagley. He, too, has watched Tommy grow as a man, a player and a fierce competitor.

“Tommy has lived IU soccer all his life, and he is now enjoying it at the level I hoped he would,” Jerry Yeagley said while watching afternoon practice from his car. “You can’t win championships and you can’t be a championship-caliber team without defending.

“The old saying is defense wins championships and very honestly, since Tommy was a freshman, sophomore, and even last year, defending was not a consistent part of the team, both individually and collectively. So far, this year it has been, without question, the strength.”

Eleven games remain before the road to that next title, and until then, Tommy and his Hoosier teammates are going to keep doing what they’re doing to reach that eighth star.

“We’re working on it,” he said. “I think we’re off to a good start.”