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Mike Russo |
Head Men's Soccer Coach T.Michael.Russo@williams.edu 413-597-3329 |
Mike Russo will enter his 34th season at Williams in 2012 having posted 29 consecutive winning seasons. In 27 of those 33 campaigns Russo's booters have won at least 10 games in a regular season that contains but 14 contests.
Russo is the first collegiate coach on any level to win
back-to-back National Coach of the Year honors accomplishing the
feat in 1987 and 1988, before his Ephs were allowed to participate
in NCAA post season tournaments. Russo has been named the national
Div. III Coach of the Year four times, garnering the honor again in
1993 and 1995.
In the fall of 1993 NESCAC allowed NCAA team tournament play and
Russo guided his Ephs to the championship contest where they lost
to UC San Diego int a title match played on Cole Field.
Russo's 1995 Ephs won the NCAA title when they defeated previously
undefeated Methodist College 2-1 on Cole Field. Under russo the
ephs have advanced to four NCAA Final Fours: 1993, 1995, 1998 and
2009.
Four of Russo's Ephs have been selected to their national team and
have earned international caps – Mike Masters '89 and Dan
Calichman '90 with the U.S., Peter Lyn '91 with Puerto Rico and
Khari Stephenson '04 with Jamaica.
Four of Russo's players have been named the national Div. III
Player of the Year: Terry Kaufmann (1995), Brad Murray (1996), Alex
Blake (2001) and Dana Leary (2006).
Forty-seven Ephs coached by Russo have been named to All-America
teams and 66 have earned All-New England honors through 2011.
In the first seven years that NESCAC selected a conference Player
of the Year every one was an Eph:
Alex
Blake '03 -- (2000 & 2001)
Khari
Stephenson '04 -- (2002 & 2003)
Josh
Bolton '06 -- (2004 & 2005)
Patrick
Huffer '07 -- (2006)
In 2006 senior captain Patrick Huffer, an All-American midfielder
and an ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American, was the first Eph
to be named the National Soccer Coaches Association of America
National Scholar-Athlete (for all divisions).
Mike and his wife Angela live in Williamstown and their son Derek now lives and works in the eastern Massachusetts.
399-101-54 (.769)
Vs. Div I: 8-11-0 = (.421)
Vs. Div II: 11-3-2 = (.750)
Vs. Div III: 371-83-49=
(.786)
National Div III Coach of the
Year:
1987, 1988*, 1993, 1995
*First Coach in any division
to win back-to-back awards
New England Coach of the
Year:
1984, 1987, 1988, 1993, 1995
NESCAC Coach of the Year:
2000 & 2003
NCAA Div III Tournament Record: 27-11-6 (.682)
1995 -- NCAA Champions
1993 – 2nd Place
1998 – 3rd Place
2009 -- 3rd Place
|
Tom Demeo |
Assistant Men's Soccer Coach 413-597-3329 |
Tom Demeo joined the Williams staff in 1993 and is entering his
16th season as an assistant under Mike Russo.
After graduating from North Adams State in 1988 with a BA in
history, Demeo joined the staff at UMass-Amherst and earned a
Master's degree in instructional leadership before returning to
North Adams State to serve as an assistant during the 1991 and 1992
seasons.
In Demeo's first season at Williams the Ephs advanced to the 1993
NCAA Championship game losing to UC San Diego. Two years later the
Ephs won the NCAA title on Cole Field with a 2-1 win over
previously undefeated Methodist College.
Technically and tactically proficient, Demeo's commitment to the
Ephs training regimen and training sessions is highly valued by the
entire Eph family.
Tom teaches at the Adams (MA) Middle School.
Tom and his wife Kristen and their two sons Dominick and Patrick
reside in Adams.
|
Jeff Huffman |
Assistant Coach Men's Soccer 413-597-3329 |
After an eight year hiatus, 34 year old Jeff Huffman finds himself back in an official capacity at Williams as the team’s second assistant. His main on field responsibilities will be training the goalkeepers and be the co-head coach of the men’s junior varsity program.
Huffman’s off field responsibilities will include him handling a large majority of the logistical and administrative responsibilities in the men’s soccer office, while being in charge of video filming and editing.
Huffman started his coaching career in 2000 as a staff instructor for Dan Gaspar’s Connecticut based Start Goalkeeper Academy, an organization specializing in the education of goalkeepers. Huffman continued his association with SGA in 2001 and became the Assistant Goalkeeper Coach for the W-League and U-18 Super Y League Northern Virginia Majestics. That season, the U-18 team won the the U-18 Super Y League national championship, while the W-League squad had on it the W-League Goalkeeper of the Year.
Huffman then came to Williams in 2002 and 2003, serving as Men’s Junior Varsity Head Coach in 2002 and being the goalkeeper coach for the men’s and women’s programs in both 2002 and 2003. It was during this time that Coach Huffman oversaw the development of a young Nick Armington- who went on to become the only NCAA Division III goalkeeper to ever be part of an MLS roster (Real Salt Lake-Summer 2006).
Coach Huffman then left Williams and became the Head Men’s and Women’s Soccer Coach at Garden City Community College (Kansas) from 2004-2006. He was the Director of Soccer Operations and Head Women’s Soccer Coach from 2007-2009. He had a winning percentage of .625 in his two seasons of being the head men’s soccer coach, while seeing 6 of his players move on to NCAA Division 1 institutions.
On the women’s side, his team made the region tournament 4 out of the 5 seasons he was in charge, having one player tabbed All Region in each of his season’s in charge. In the classroom, Coach Huffman saw his women’s teams consistently near the top in the region when it came to cumulative team GPA---3 of whom became Academic All Americans.
Last season, Coach Huffman was the men’s goalkeeper coach
at NCAA Division 1 University at Albany-overseeing two goalkeepers
that represented their countries at the youth international level.
He is a licensed coach through the United States Soccer Federation
and has his Advanced National Diploma through the NSCAA.
