Looking back on 50 years of soccer: College of Charleston coaches recall birth, growth of program

A gleaming spotlight will be shining on a half century's worth of conference championships, deep NCAA tournament runs and individual player accolades this coming fall, when the College of Charleston Soccer Program celebrates its 50th anniversary from Sept. 6-8 at Ralph Lundy Field.

The humble beginnings and ongoing growth of the Cougars' soccer program were recently described in vivid detail by four of the five men who form the college's? coaching tree.

Coach Ted Miller recalled how he had no field to play on and poor equipment during the early days of the 1974-75 campaign that saw the first-year leader borrow goals from The Citadel. During one of his deliveries, Miller recounted stopping traffic with multiple goals attached to the back of his station wagon, as local cops came to his aid.

With little in the way of financial support from the school, Miller and his players took a proactive approach to make the best of a trying situation that saw the Cougars only play two home games in their inaugural season.

The makeshift squad had to pivot from playing at the downtown "Horse Lot" that was constantly under water and use Rivers High School facilities as their home field.

"We won a couple of games, but let's face it: When you start a program and you have no goalkeeper, you're in trouble," said Miller, who coached at CofC from 1974- 1978.

Coaching a group of young men who brought ample enthusiasm, but little skill at the outset proved challenging for the West Ashley resident. Drilling home the concept of a lead pass, for instance, was a bit more demanding than he initially anticipated.

The program started developing its sea legs in year three, although the burgundy-clad group couldn't solve Erskine College, a private Christian school led by future CofC legend-in-the-making, Ralph Lundy.

Lundy and Miller were both complimentary of each other's rosters in the mid-to-late 1970s and both communicated lucid recollections of the 1978 "Midnight" showdown. The Cougars had Lundy's boys beat with a 2-0 advantage, until Samad "Sammy" Nasrollahi of Iran scored two goals and recorded two assists in the 4-3 victory for Erskine.

By the time former Cougar player Colin Smoak took over head coaching duties in 1979, his guys were playing their home games at Porter Gaud, which had a considerably improved playing surface.

The school had progressed to a point where it was beginning to attract athletes as an NAIA institution. But though CofC was located in an alluring coastal city, it still couldn't compete with Clemson and the University of South Carolina in the recruiting game.

While USC was offering scholarships to entire junior college powerhouses, the Charleston-based college had to continually "build" their teams instead of "buying" them, added Miller.?

And though the '74 squad featured 27 South Carolinians and one kid from New York, CofC gradually gained benefit from an influx of foreigners, including athletes from Jamaica and Ghana.

By about 1980-1986, soccer really took off, according to Smoak, with 50-60 high schools playing soccer by that time compared to three a little over a decade before.

As a self-described "transitional" coach, Smoak gave way to another place holder of sorts in Cincinnati-born Roby Stahl in 1983. Stahl — who was once married to US Women's World Cup Champion Michelle Anne Akers — coached until 1986, as he moved on to serve as an international coach for men and women.

The mid-eighties were a period of grandiose dreams for the oldest university of South Carolina, when CofC President Dr. Harry McKinley Lightsey Jr. had designs on ushering the school's program from the NAIA to NCAA Division 1.

The man Lightsey targeted to pilot that journey was Lundy, who in his initial talks with the college administrator remembered being asked if he would be able to schedule games with the big boys — Duke, Wake Forest, North Carolina, et. al.

Coming off a season in which he had coached both men and women at Erskine College, Lundy was content to return to the Due West venue. But upon learning of the potential of CofC sports combined with the influence of his wife, Elizabeth, the Mount Pleasant-based father of three accepted Lightsey's offer to coach the Cougars, starting in 1987.

Lundy went on to commandeer the Cougars to unprecedented heights over a storied 33-year tenure, including 323 wins, 19 winning seasons, five conference championships and five appearances in the NCAA tournament.

"The key was the players; they made me a good coach," said the self-effacing Lundy, 73, who still conducts youth soccer camps in retirement. "I love this game. So, when I got here, I went even nuttier training these boys and when you do that, the word goes out to other players ... and I had amazing recruiting connections because I was on the US National staff."

During one of the national conventions he attended in 1988, Lundy met with Notre Dame soccer coach, Dennis Grace, on the South Bend campus and learned that his peer needed to keep his team busy during their upcoming fall break.

Lundy graciously offered to host Grace's team in Charleston for five days and four nights, all expenses paid except for air fare.

The only problem was "I didn't have a damn dollar," Lundy shared, as he was forced top scramble to locate funds.

Robbie Heffron Sr. of the Heffron, Ingle, McDowell & Cooper insurance firm, he noted, came to the rescue, as the prominent business man helped cobble together enough dollars with the help of his colleagues at the local chapter of the Ancient Order of Hibernians on Meeting Street.

The investment was a wise one in retrospect, as the friendly game between the Cougars and Notre Dame brought out numerous fans and generated extra revenue from merchandising opportunities. In addition, CofC won the match 3-2 and was seen as a turning point in the history of the soccer program.

The MVP of the game, per Lundy, was Peter Cox, whose father, Robert Cox, was the former publisher/editor of the Buenos Aires Herald (formerly owned by the Post and Courier). Due to his commitment to printing the truth, the elder Cox was reportedly forced to relocate his family out of Argentina, when the old dictatorial regime threatened the lives of the newsman and his kin.

Lundy would continue to promote CofC soccer during his free time by speaking at area Rotary meetings and similar functions.

"I didn't have a grand plan; I didn't have a master plan. All I said was, there was potential here and I got to make it happen, so I'll just do what I feel natural in doing — and that's asking people to get involved."

On the recruiting front, Lundy was securing his share of international players?— particularly from Trinidad?— and recruiting from states like Georgia, which had a much wider selection of athletes to choose from. But whereas Clemson and USC would be attracting the best four and five-star Americans, CofC would be left with two and three-star high school grads, which the coach considered to be an advantage.

Many of the lower-ranked athletes, he said, were generally less entitled and showed more fire in them to succeed.

West Columbia product Troy Lesesne was one of those players. The undersized baller, in fact, didn't meet the standards of his neighboring school, USC.?

"I recruited on ceilings. I saw what his attitude was and I saw where his ceiling was. And I felt like he could grow like crazy— the little short kid. He grew up four miles from South Carolina stadium, but he was little. The coach there thought he didn't have enough muscle. He had the most important muscle — he had heart. He played all the time, he never quit," continued Lundy.

Lesesne — the current coach of DC United in the MLS after a pro playing career — was a key member of a special 17-6-1 2004 team, along with Mount Pleasant native son, Ben Hollingsworth, another overlooked prospect who spent his first year at SMU.

The 5-foot-11 striker would end up scoring goals in five of the Cougars' last six games during the '04 run which ended with Lundy's squad being eliminated in the second round of the NCAA tournament. Hollingsworth would go on to play for the Charleston Battery before a succumbing to a foot injury, which cast a pall on a once promising pro career.?

That team also featured a formidable goalkeeper from Athens, Georgia, Keith Wiggans, who played for five years before serving as Lundy's assistant for an additional 12 seasons and ultimately rising to head coach of the team in 2000.

Four years into the job, Wiggans still leans on Lundy and Smoak, who commented that the program's current leader is refining CofC soccer to a point where it is now consistently competing at a higher level.

When asked what has stuck with him from his years under Lundy's tutelage, Wiggans relayed that the iconic coach's care for the individual beyond the soccer pitch has helped him develop as a guide and mentor of young men.

"We spoke earlier about guys who want to go pro and everybody has those aspirations, which is great. It helps push them hard and training and that sort of thing. But at the end of the day, one percent is going to make it, so you try to grow the person, trying to help them succeed in life. You know, whether it be pro soccer or whether it be in business ... that is my objective. I had a few guys graduate this past spring and they've been with me since I started. And it was awesome to see them walk across the stage and graduate and to go on to what's next for them," Wiggans observed.