|
The staff of the Notre Dame Soccer Camp is carefully selected and oriented to provide boys with individual
attention, while giving them the opportunity to grow, both as individuals and as team players. Our coaching staff
includes many of the finest high school and college coaches in America, assisted by collegiate players from Notre
Dame and other top college programs.
Director, Mike Berticelli
|
Twenty years of collegiate coaching experience and 250 victories. Success has followed Notre Dame men's soccer
coach Mike Berticelli wherever he has been.
Since becoming the head coach at Notre Dame six years ago, Berticelli has been instrumental in the success the Irish
have experienced over the last several years. This past season, Notre Dame, in its first season as a member of the
Big East Conference, achieved its highest national ranking in school history - sixth.
Berticelli has guided Notre Dame to two NCAA tournament appearances (1993 and 1994) after leading his squad to
back-to-back Midwestern Collegiate Conference championship crowns. Under Berticelli, Notre Dame has won 10-plus games
in four of the six seasons he has been at the Irish helm.
After taking over the Notre Dame program in 1990, Berticelli improved the Irish by nine wins after just one season.
The success of the last few years foretells the future of Irish soccer Ð a program soon to be contending for the
national championship.
From humble beginnings to top-level programs, Berticelli has built Notre Dame from scratch. It is a path Berticelli
has blazed often in his 17 years of head coaching experience. The University of Maine graduate has built national
contending teams at three schools, never suffering a losing season until 1990. Prior to taking over the helm of the
Irish, Berticelli charted the fortunes of the Old Dominion soccer team for six years. He won two NCAA Division III
national championships during a four-year stint at North Carolina-Greensboro and began his career at Thomas College.
In six years at Old Dominion, Berticelli's teams compiled a 76-27-16 (.706) record to go along with a 70-9-5 (.863)
mark in four years (1980-83) at North Carolina-Greensboro and a 44-18-2 (.703) record in four years (1976-79) at
Thomas College (Maine). His 20-year career record stands at 250-104-32.
Berticelli, who has received assorted coach-of-the-year honors in nine different seasons, drew national attention
for leading UNC-Greensboro to back-to-back NCAA Division III national titles in 1982 and 1983. Prior to his arrival
in 1980, the Spartans had losing seasons in seven of their first nine seasons.
When he arrived at Old Dominion in 1984, Berticelli inherited a program that had just one winning season in its
previous three years and a team that had lost eight starters. The Monarchs overcame those obstacles and posted a
12-9-1 record and Berticelli earned Sun Belt Conference coach-of-the year honors. The following season ODU posted
a school record for wins with a 16-1-3 record, including a victory over nationally ranked Virginia to end the
Cavaliers' 44-game home winning streak. That ODU squad established 16 school records and produced a pair of
All-Americans and three players who were selected in the professional soccer draft.
In 1986, Berticelli's squad, which consisted of 11 freshmen, 10 sophomores, 3 juniors and no seniors, went 13-5-3
and was ranked 10th nationally. The season was highlighted by a 1-0 upset of top-ranked Evansville, a member of
the Midwestern Collegiate Conference, on the Purple Aces' home field.
Old Dominion continued its growth in 1987, capturing the tough Sun Belt Conference championship en route to a
14-3-2 record. Berticelli's 1988 squad posted an 11-5-3 record. In 1989, the Monarchs made their first appearance
in the NCAA tournament after winning the Sun Belt championship. Old Dominion, ranked 19th nationally, fell at
fourth-ranked Wake Forest 2-1 in a first-round contest and finished the season 10-4-4.
Berticelli began his collegiate coaching career at Thomas College in Waterville, Maine. He guided the team to NAIA
district championships in '78 and '79.
A native of Lewiston, Maine, Berticelli earned his Bachelor of Science degree in English in 1973 from the University
of Maine at Farmington where he also played as a goalkeeper on the soccer squad. He obtained his Master of Science
degree in physical education from the University of Maine at Orono in 1976.
Berticelli's resume is chock-full of coaching accolades, highlighted by being named the NCAA Division III coach of
the year in 1982 following his first national title at UNC-Greensboro. He was the New England coach of the year in
1977, '78 and '79 and was awarded the same distinction in the Dixie Conference in 1980, '81 and '83. In 1981 he was
also named the Collegiate Coach of the Year for the southern region and was tabbed the collegiate coach of the year
for the Southern United States in both '82 and '83. He picked up Sun Belt Conference coach-of-the-year honors in '84
and '89.
Berticelli has served as the National Director of Coaching for the National Soccer Coaches Association of America
and is very active in youth soccer both in the South Bend area and nationally. Berticelli and his wife, Cinda, have
two sons, Nino, 18, and Anthony, 16.
Assistant Director, Mike Parsons
|
Hard work and perseverance are the trademarks of Notre Dame assistant coach Mike Parsons. Since joining the Irish
soccer program, Parsons has been a key factor in Mike Berticelli's recruitment of top-flight players into the Notre
Dame program. And that talent he has helped bring to Notre Dame has paid great dividends for the Irish over the past
several seasons with two NCAA tournament berths and two conference championships.
Parsons has been instrumental in recruiting some of the nation's best players, including Bill Lanza, a member of the
Under-23 National and 1996 Olympic teams and one of the top collegians. No doubt that this year, Notre Dame's incoming
class will once again be highly touted.
Parsons' experience includes recent work as the director of coaching and player development for the highly rated
Virginia Beach Soccer Club and the Norfolk Youth Soccer League in Virginia, a post he held from 1989-91 and now
serves in the same capacity for the Michiana area. He has also served as a national staff instructor for the National
Soccer Coaches Association of America Coaching Academy and is assistant director of the Notre Dame Soccer Camps.
Parsons has spent time in the collegiate ranks at Old Dominion, working as an assistant coach under Berticelli in
1987 and 1989. He also assisted Berticelli in 1982 at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro, helping the
Spartans to their first of five national titles. His head coaching experience began at Florida's Stetson University
from 1983-84, and continued at Methodist College in North Carolina from 1984-87. Parsons also has extensive state
and regional team coaching experience. He is a 1977 graduate of the University of Massachusetts.
| | | | | |