“The Bradley soccer program has roots and they run deep,” new Bradley soccer head coach Tim Regan said during a press conference held at the Nick and Nancy Owens atrium at Renaissance Coliseum Friday afternoon.
After 28 seasons at the helm of the Bradley soccer program, retiring head coach Jim DeRose has decided to call it a career. With seven NCAA tournament appearances, four Missouri Valley Conference regular season championships and three MVC titles to his name.
“He built the program from scratch,” Bradley Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Chris Reynolds said. “Early mornings, late nights, weekends, you [DeRose] put a lot [in]to the soccer program to reach the level it has today.”
A leader as both a player and coach, DeRose leaves Bradley the way he came, caring deeply about others and the program.
“Because he has always taken a leadership role, he’s not a person who just stands to the side, he rolls up his sleeves and he gets involved,” Reynolds said.
Leaving as the winningest coach in program history, DeRose had many people to thank.
“But you do got to recognize some people, and for 28 years my wife has been a single mom, and has lived through everything in the program…and she has allowed me to take this path,” DeRose said.
Two coaches that DeRose recognized were his son, JR DeRose, and his daughter Raleigh DeRose. JR is currently the assistant coach at Mercer while Raleigh is the associate head coach at Brown.
“As children of a coach, how difficult that is for them,” DeRose said. “They’ve had to do a lot for themselves and so many people around this community have helped raise them.”
DeRose departs Bradley as the second-winningest coach in MVC soccer history and was even voted the Soccer America National Coach of the Year after his 2007 season with the Braves, one that saw them reach the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament.
Despite all of the accolades received as both a coach and a player, there is one thing that DeRose will always miss the most.
“What you miss is the interaction with the players,” DeRose said. “I’m not going to say I miss all of the bus rides but when you sit on a bus for six to eight hours, hearing the interactions, hearing a junior help out a freshman, to see those interactions is something that makes you feel good.”
“Seeing these young men grow as people, in their relationships, and quite honestly soccer is the last thing,” DeRose added. “I look at the guys at the back of the room and like I told them last night, they just represent all the people that have come through the program. The names change but they’re the same young men that come to campus with hopes and dreams.”
After leading the program through its infancy, DeRose helped develop 12 All-Americans who went on to play at the highest level of American soccer. DeRose leaves the program in good hands, as a former student-athlete takes the reins.
“This is simply a passing of the baton and we need you to hold that baton real tight,” Reynolds said. “And represent this program in a manner in which Jim DeRose did, if you do it half as well as Jim did we’ll be very proud of you.”
After being just the third coach in program history, DeRose hands the baton to his longtime assistant coach Tim Regan.
“It’s not the Jim DeRose program, it’s the Bradley program because it’s the Bradley people that make it so special,” DeRose said. “To be able to have him take over this program is so incredible for me…and I’m one of the happiest people that can be here today.”
Regan started as a student-athlete from 1999-2002, joining just three years after DeRose took over as head coach. Helping the team to their first two NCAA tournament appearances in program history, Regan anchored the defense during his four years.
“All these details and endless stories that we could tell about the program come back to one common ground in the last 28 years and that’s Jim DeRose,” Regan said.
After Bradley, Regan was the 17th overall pick at the MLS SuperDraft, where he was picked up by the MetroStars. Making his way through the pinnacle of American soccer, Regan didn’t stop on the pitch. His administrative roles range from positions with Major League Soccer and the United States Soccer Federation.
Now, Regan faces a new but familiar task after getting his first head coach position with USL League 2 side Peoria City soccer this past summer.
“As we go forward I have to put my own stamp on it, take all the experiences, the people I worked with, the players I know,” Regan said. “That part will come.”
“We’ll continue to make those roots strong, we’ll make the tree higher and we’ll do the best we can as always to represent Bradley University, our soccer program, our athletic department and everyone that has touched it,” Regan added.
