4 dream jobs and a homecoming to boot | Tell Your Story

August 1971. I was standing on El Camino Real in my hometown of Belmont, my thumb out, my green Goodwill army duffle bag on the road beside me, stuffed with everything I owned: my soccer boots, school clothes, my JC State Championship wool blanket, and a couple family photos. I was a JC transfer student and headed for Chico State hoping to make the soccer team. Four rides and five hours later I was dropped off in downtown Chico asking for directions to the Nord Garden Apartments.

A week later ,after six days of Rookie Camp and two-a-day tryouts in 105 degree heat, I wiped the sweat from my eyes to locate my name towards the bottom of the posted final roster. I made the team!

After two regional championship seasons, four of us (my college coaches, Don Batie, Bob Russ, Ed Walser and myself) started youth soccer in Chico (now CYSL). I also founded and was player/coach of the Chico Challengers, Chico’s first adult soccer team. We competed (and won) against several cities throughout Northern California.

I would’ve loved to stay in Chico, but I knew I would have to make my mark elsewhere if I ever wanted to move back. I was ready to move on.

In the early summer of ’76 I was asked to be the assistant coach for UC Davis, where we had the best finish in program’s history. That success propelled me to Dream Job No. 1, head coach at the University of Washington! We turned a struggling program into a squad that earned national rankings within three years. A few of my players were drafted into the pro ranks and I was offered Dream Job No. 2: assistant professional coach of the Cleveland Force, a cellar-dweller team with the worst attendance in the Major Indoor Soccer League.

Back then, very few Americans played or coached the game at the professional level. I was one of only four Americans coaching pro soccer in the U.S.

I was in heaven — if that’s possible in Cleveland.

The Browns were horrible, the Indians sucked and the Cavs were the joke of the NBA. We were the only winning team in town and the sports fans loved us! We led the league in attendance and won our first game of the playoffs at home in front of a record breaking 19,000 fans. But a month later, the head coach told me he felt he could run the team without an assistant. The next year he coached solo and they failed to make the playoffs.

In 1986, I moved back to God’s country as a part time assistant for Chico State Soccer for a couple years before transitioning into medical sales full time. In 1993, the Sacramento Kings/Arco Arena ownership decided to purchase a professional indoor soccer franchise in the Continental Indoor Soccer League. I was hired as the head coach of the Sacramento Knights in their inaugural season. Dream Job No. 3. These were fun times! However, the fun didn’t last long as we had the disappointing start of 1-8.

We had the youngest team in the league, so I told the players and the media that we were getting better game by game and we would turn things around. And we did. We started winning games and making a run for the playoffs with fans filling Arco Arena. We set a record for overtime wins and led the league in attendance. Soccer’s leading national magazine, Soccer America, named me as their choice for CISL coach of the year. I thought that would be good enough to extend my contract. It wasn’t.

I moved back to Chico, and in 1995 the job I always wanted finally opened up. Dream job No. 4 didn’t pay as much as the pros but it was a heck of a lot more stable and fun. Chico State was where I belonged.

My commute was a five-minute bike ride to the most beautiful campus in California. I embraced the fact that I might be able to help influence players lives off the pitch as well as on.

I especially loved move-in day, watching and helping as parents dropped off their kids. I kept looking for the one with the army duffle bag.

I was able to coach sons of my former Chico State teammates and alumni buddies. I coached some great players and even better people. Most notable was Chris Wondolowski, who holds several MLS scoring records. For his 17 year pro career, “Wondo watch” parties brought our alumni and the Chico soccer community together in revelry and fun.

Today, I love watching the hundreds of kids chasing the ball on Saturday mornings at Community Park with their parents going wild. Pick-up soccer is thriving on any patch of green grass that allows. Adult soccer is alive and competitive year-round out at DeGarmo Park. Once in a while, I still get to play with the Challengers who are still winning championships. Many folks in town refer to me as “Coach” whether they played for me or not. A moniker that means a lot to me.

I don’t have that duffle bag anymore and most of my soccer boots have holes in them. But I’m honored that I played a significant part in the development and history of this beautiful game in Chico.

Mike O’Malley can be reached at momalley@csuchico.edu