Strangers have known the name Yeagley since he was young. That’s life when your father is known as the “Godfather of college soccer.” But he was looking to make a name for himself, looking to prove himself as the coach of the same program his father started 30 years ago.
He was preparing to start as the third coach in program history, replacing Mike Freitag whose contract was not renewed after the 2009 season, five seasons after he was hired and won a national championship in 2004.
Freitag was upset about leaving Bloomington, and was making his opinion known to anyone who would listen. In a private press conference he made known his animosity for the way he was leaving the IU program.
But the new coach didn’t hear any of that. He learned to keep outside opinions on the outside and do his job. He went to work instilling the same principles his father employed as the head coach.
“I was just focused on the huge responsibility of the job, not to make others feel good or prove people wrong if they had a doubt,” he said six years later. “It just consumes you, and it’s negative energy.”
Now, in his sixth season as IU’s head coach, Todd Yeagley has a chance to win the program’s 700th match.
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There’s no denying IU’s place among collegiate soccer royalty. Its eight national championships rank second all-time behind St. Louis’ 10. The Billikens’ last title came in 1973, the year IU started playing.
Since IU played its first collegiate soccer match, no team has a higher winning percentage in regular season or postseason play, played in more College Cups or won more matches.
Jerry Yeagley, Todd’s father, needed only nine years to turn a club team into an NCAA program and win his first national title in 1982. The next year the Hoosiers won again, the first of three times IU would win back-to-back national titles.
“It speaks to our tradition of excellence that we’ve been consistently strong among the nation’s best teams,” Jerry said.
Perhaps one of the most important things Jerry did when he started the program was instill a set of guiding principles.
Practices were hard, and Jerry was demanding. Every play was meant to be won, and everything was a competition. If a player was not willing to put in the hard work and was not disciplined enough, that player was not a Hoosier.
IU has always recruited a certain type of player - a player who is not only talented but has a desire to constantly improve and make the team better. Players needed to be more interested in the good of the program than how they performed individually.
Jerry also focused on making the team a family. Not only were players growing and improving on the field, but they were also in the process of becoming adults, and Jerry did not neglect that.
The IU soccer family is vast. Anyone who has worn the uniform is a member.
“It’s not a four-year commitment, it’s a life commitment,” Associate Head Coach Brian Maisonneuve said. “To be a part of this program is really special, even when you leave Bloomington.”
In addition to Todd, both Maisonneuve and Assistant Coach Brian Robson played for IU in college.
Of 695 all-time wins for IU soccer, 609 have come under the instruction of one name — Yeagley.
“It’s not surprising at all because they’re such fantastic coaches,” Maisonneuve said.
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From the time he could kick a ball, Todd loved soccer. He tried basketball; he even played some hockey as a kid, but nothing could compete with soccer in his mind.
Anytime he could be, Todd was at practice, watching, observing and soaking up whatever soccer he could from the Hoosier team.
“I couldn’t get enough of it,” Todd said. “Anytime I could watch and be around the team I would try to do so.”
He was born in September of 1972, the fall before the inaugural Hoosier soccer season. Todd and the program grew together.
Todd looked up to whatever the current version of the Hoosiers was, and they treated him like a little brother.
On an away trip when Todd was around 10 years old, the team thought they might have some fun with the coach’s son like they often did. So they tied Todd to a chair, stuck him in the hotel elevator and sent him down to the lobby.
“He loved it and came back for more,” Jerry said. “Even though they picked on him, they loved him.”
Todd was one of the top youth players in Indiana. He played some with the United States Youth National Team. Add the talent he had with his knowledge of the game, and it made sense why Todd was a special player.
“You could always tell he had a soccer IQ that was higher than most, if not all,” Maisonneuve said. “Just the way he saw the game, the way he talked about the game.”
So when it came time to choose a college, Todd had a simple choice ahead of him. Of course he was going to stay in the family.
And years later, he returned to Bloomington in 2009 to become head coach.
***
The noise has always been there. Todd still remembers some of the things he would hear at his soccer games as a child.
Oh it’s the coach’s kid. Is he going to be good or is he on this team because of his name?
Todd wasn’t always as good as he is now at dealing with the speculation. Sometimes the doubt would get to him, he said.
“I wouldn’t say I was perfect at dealing with it as a young kid,” Todd said. “Eyes were always there and expectations were high whether it was as a player or as a coach.”
Very quickly, however, Todd learned to cope with the extra attention connected with being his father’s son.
He said the attention hardened him when he was young, and oftentimes he felt like the attention served as a challenge to play well. But he said he also had to learn to understand those on the fringes don’t know everything about him and his ability. Who are they to judge?
“You better quickly get a thick skin and know what you know and know what the people around you and the people inside understand,” Todd said. “I learned very quickly that you can’t let the outside affect you.”
In some aspects, he has learned to block it out. In others, he has learned to help the expectations drive him forward.
He’s never not wanted to be a coach’s son.
“I’ve always seen it as a positive,” Todd said. “Just given me an insight and perspective that very few have into the sport, but at the same time you know the eyes are very glued in. It makes you stronger, it pushes you.”
But even if the doubt sometimes did drive him forward, Todd said he was never trying to prove anyone wrong.
If he was, that would take away from the love he had for the game.
He also accepted doubts will be there. But if coaches are still playing him that should answer all the questions anyone could have.
Once Todd realized he wasn’t getting favors from coaches because of his last name, he grew in confidence, he said. He began to realize that he is just a good soccer player lucky enough to grow up immersed with the game.
From a teammate’s perspective, it appeared as if Todd simply didn’t care what outsiders thought of how he played.
“He just went out there and played,” Maisonneuve said.
***
With Todd’s hiring at IU in 2009, he continued teaching the tradition of the program to the team.
“So many things were done before this group was able to experience being a part of such a great program, and that came with a lot of investment and a lot of hard work,” Todd said.
Todd also made sure to keep another part of IU soccer legend around, the man that started the program. At practice, Jerry will be there watching.
In many ways, the two are similar.
The way they coach, Maisonneuve said, is what unites the father and son as coaches. They both instill a certain amount of competitiveness and demand a level of respect amongst the team, not for themselves, but for each other.
Todd coaches like his father. It’s all he knows.
“I’d been around the game for so long I was a very experienced young coach, if that makes sense,” Todd said. “My life experiences have prepared me for situations that some coaches might have learned later.”
Jerry’s continued presence among the program is important, Todd said. For the players, he can tell stories from when he was a coach and draw on an experience from 20 years ago to help the team today.
For many players, a compliment or piece of advice from the Godfather can mean a lot. For Todd, he is still teaching him the game he grew up learning to love.
“I’m still learning and still trying to fine-tune my craft,” Todd said. “And if you don’t have someone else looking at a big picture, it’s hard to fine-tune your own performance.”
Jerry keeps hanging around practices, sitting in the press box during games and being involved anyway he can in the program for one thing.
He doesn’t want to leave the family he created.
“That’s my fix,” he said. “Go out there and rub up against the guys, a stealth in the shadows I stay off in the sides and still feel connected.”
TOP MATCHUPS
at Maryland
7:30 p.m., Oct. 16, Ludwig Field, College Park, Maryland
Maryland should be the best team in the Big Ten. After winning both the regular season and conference tournament titles last season, the Terrapins are once again one of the top teams in the country. But, the Terrapins currently sit in second place in the Big Ten despite being picked to win the conference in the preseason. IU has also struggled to open conference play, dropping its first two matches. Realistically, both these teams should turn it around by this game, likely making it a key fixture in how the final Big Ten Standings will look.
vs Wisconsin
7 p.m., Oct. 31, Bill Armstrong Stadium, Bloomington
This is the final home game of the season for the Hoosiers, and could be the last time Hoosier fans have the chance to watch the IU seniors take the field at Bill Armstrong Stadium. This year’s team boasts four seniors who receive regular playing time, including leading-scorer Femi Hollinger-Janzen. IU will also most likely need to take all three points against Wisconsin, who regularly are featured near the bottom of the conference standings.
at Michigan state
3 p.m., Nov. 4, DeMartin Soccer Stadium, East Lansing, Michigan
This is the final game of the season and could have massive implications not only on where both teams finish in the conference standings, but where they fit into the NCAA Tournament if at all. Both IU and Michigan State are typically top teams in the conference and the country, so this match will most likely affect seedings for the conference tournament and NCAA Tournament.
michhugh@indiana.edu | @MichaelHughes94
