Exploring youth soccer in the US with the great Terry Michler

We sat down for an interview with legendary coach Terry Michler on our Raise The Ceiling Podcast to discuss his coaching philosophies and his continued efforts to democratize youth soccer in the US.

Who is Terry Michler?

For anyone that is a coach at the youth soccer level in the US, that question is likely perceived as rhetorical.  Coach Terry is the winningest soccer coach in U.S. history with over 1,000 wins.  He served as the head coach of CBC High School soccer team in St. Louis, Missouri for 52 years until last year.

In that time span, coach Terry accumulated 9 state titles, 7 National High School Coach of the Year awards, 7 Hall of Fame inductions, and 14 nationally ranked teams.  320 of his players went on to play college soccer, 33 became professional, 22 were selected as High School All-Americans and 8 went on to play for their respective national teams.

What Made Terry Michler So Prolific?

Quickly into our interview, two things about coach Terry became clear 1) Everyone, including himself had to abide by his coaching rules, and 2) he had a growth mindset as he continuously searched for new philosophies, opportunities, trainings that would give him and his team an edge.

Coach Terry developed “11 Points of Interest” while at CBC.  This is a list of 11 details he expected his players to keep in mind while on the pitch.  It all started with mentality.  As coach Terry explained,

 “Two of the biggest points are character and mentality. If you have that going for you, you can go a long way with those two things…A lot of players that are extremely talented have a fixed mindset position where [they say], ‘don't bother telling me anything, I already did it and know it and I'm good enough’…But the growth mindset says, no, you can be better. No matter where you are, you can be better in some way”.

The consistency in which he delivered his message over the decades allowed his players to easily buy in.  It was always clear from day one what coach Terry expected from them.

That is why when coach Terry evolved his coaching philosophy over the decades to include new strategies like when he embraced Totaalvoetbal (Dutch for Total Football) after a soccer symposium in the Netherlands, players had no issues adapting to new systems.

How Terry Michler views the state of youth soccer in the US?

Coach Terry has given his life to raising talented soccer players by developing them through his high school teams.  The talent he and all other high school soccer programs have access to has shifted significantly over the past decade plus.  With the grueling demands of playing ECNL and MLS NEXT soccer, a lot of skilled youth soccer players are forced to give up playing for their high school team to save themselves from burnout and increased injury risks.

With the exodus of this talent, interest in high school soccer has waned amongst scouts.  But that’s not to say there isn’t still talent at the high school level.  Unfortunately playing club soccer is a pay-to-play soccer model and not every family has the means to afford the costs of club soccer even if the player has the talent for it.

Coach Terry sees how this has raised the barriers to play soccer at a high level and is limiting access to youth soccer in the US for some players.  That’s why his latest mission has been to work with other key influencers in youth soccer to get more recognition for high school players by working with high school soccer coaches around the country to create localized champions leagues.  There are currently 4 metros in the US that have established a champions league.  To qualify, a high school must have either:

1.      Won their district championship; or

2.      Be ranked high enough in their state’s power rankings to qualify for the remaining spots in the league.

The local coaches determine how and when the tournament is to be played and how many teams are to participate.  The tournaments are fully sponsored, allowing the teams to participate for free.  At the end of the tournament, players that stand out are awarded for their play on the field, as well as players that stand out for their community service.

Coach Terry sees this as the beginning of a massive movement when it comes to youth soccer in the US,

“We're really excited about it! We have four cities involved right now…but we've got a total of 22 cities that are interested in considering the champions league... It's just a matter of working out some of the kinks in different areas to get it going.  It's a big movement. It's a big movement”.

With these localized champions leagues will come the return of a democratization of youth soccer in the US.  The players that make up these top high school teams, that have merited more recognition, will get to show their skills in front of larger audiences to improve their chances of playing the sport they love after high school.

And for that, they will always have Terry Michler to thank.