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| The Week's 10 Most Popular Stories |
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| OC's 50 Most Influential: Nos. 6-10 |
By: XK Staff
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Posted: Friday, October 2, 2009 10:28 am
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Click here for XK OC Soccer News' homepage!
XK OC Soccer News combed the county, spoke to all the movers and shakers, and whittled down OC's most important and recognizable soccer names to the 50 Most Influential Soccer People around. To learn more about the list, click here!
We've hit the Top 10 of our list--below are Nos. 6-10. We'll continue unveiling five new people every Friday until we get to Number 1. If you've got some thoughts or comments, let us know.
Nos. 46-50
Nos. 41-45
Nos. 36-40
Nos. 31-35
Nos. 26-30
Nos. 21-25
Nos. 15-20
Nos. 11-15
See the schedule
10
Billy McNicol
Mission Viejo SC Program Director
Billy McNicol
 McNicol is an Orange County soccer legend. He's taken his years of soccer knowledge from the fields of the fabled Glasgow Rangers (who signed him out of high school) to the fields of OC. And many have benefited.
The fully-credentialed coach (from USSF, NSCAA and A.C.E.P.) has seen it all through 25-some-years of coaching. His accomplishments include being a member of U.S. Soccer's U.S. Coaching Staff and being a technical director for three different State Youth Associations (Cal South, Utah and Montanta).
When is playing career ended, McNicol coached in Utah. He sent five boys' high school teams to the State Championship podium in six years and followed up with eight straight State Championships with prep girls' teams. He spent nine years as the Region IV ODP Boys' head coach and trained players that would go on to huge careers (including Eric Wynalda, Cobi Jones and Joe-Max Moore). Professionally, he's coached on the L.A. Galaxy staff and helped form the Utah Blitzz of the Untied Soccer League.
In 1996 he took over the U.S. U-16 National team (helping to foster the growth of players such as Landon Donovan) and in 1999 Mission Viejo SC scored McNicol's servies as program director, helping to bring the South County club to power.
9
Larry Draluck
So Cal Blues Coach, Program Director
Along with Tad Bobak, Draluck is known as the face of the So Cal Blues, and for that matter, girls' soccer in OC altogether. The Blues' history dates back to the early 1990s, when the all-girls club was born from a single team, the San Juan Rip Curl, and grew by three teams at a time for every CSL season. Today, the Blues are ranked No. 3 in the county on Soccer America's Top 40 girls' rankings.
Larry Draluck
.jpg) The So Cal Blues of today has 19 teams competing in CSL play--the vast majority of which are in Silver Elite brackets or higher. After three weeks of CSL play this season, the club as a whole boasts a more-than-respectable 44-19-14 record. Of Draluck's three teams (GU-11, GU-12 and GU-15) he's only been beaten once so far in '09.
Along with being with the Blues since the beginning, Draluck boasts a USSF "A" Coaching Licence, which he used to nab 2005-06 CYSA-South Nike Girls Coach of the Year honors. He coached at the men's and women's Division I college level after being a dominant player in his own right. Draluck was the MVP of his Cal State Los Angeles team in his senior year there, when they won the NCAA championship. After that he played professionally in Guadalajara, Mexico, and in the U.S.
In Draluck's early coaching days he led ODPs, coached high school (South Pasadena High) and was Cal South's first ever U-16 coach. Notable club teams of his include the U-19 So Cal Nitemares (1986-88) and San Diego Villa Bratz (1989-92).
8
Eddie Carrillo
Chapman University Head Coach/Director of Soccer; Canyon PSA Director of Coaching
Carrillo founded Canyon PSA in 1998 and today brings with him 22 years of coaching experience, a competitive club on the upswing and the mission of heading up the Chapman University soccer program. In and around the City and County of Orange, Carrillo is soccer.
Eddie Carrillo
 He's been the director of soccer at Chapman since 1996 and has helped guide the program to becoming one of the top in Division III. Two years since taking over he created the university's soccer academy, Canyon PSA (Panther Soccer Academy) to compete as a competitive club. At PSA, Carrillo has created a club of 18 current CSL teams that carries with it a family-type vibe. Carrillo, with the help of coaches including Luis Balboa, encourages all of his teams to act as one being. Canyon PSA hammers this point down by hosting huge club-wide events such as family picnics and its one-of-a-kind Soccer-Thon--and all-night soccer tournament inside the Chapman U gym.
Carrillo is Chapman's all-time winningest coach. He notched his 100th career victory back in 2007 and then added a 2008 campaign ending with an impressive 12-4-2 record. Carrillo is a Chapman alumnus (he played for the Panthers from 1984-85) and later led the team to three consecutive NCAA tournament appearances in his first three years as head coach.
Carrillo adds prep coaching credentials, as well, having coached at Orange High and once being named OC's Coach of the Year.
7
Abner Rogers
LA Sol Head Coach; Laguna Hills Eclipse Founder/President/Technical Director
What's Rogers better known for: helming one of the top-rated girls' club programs in the country, or helming the first-ever women's professional soccer league? Well, Rogers really only runs the sideline on one of the WPS's teams, the L.A. Sol, but he was the league's All-Star game coach this summer as he helped bring women's pro ball into the So Cal spotlight.
Abner Rogers
.jpg) The Laguna Hills Eclipse recently were counted among the Top 20 Girls Soccer Clubs for four straight years, according to Soccer America. The Eclipse's reputation already ingrained, it was with the LA Sol where Rogers cemented a national name for himself. Along with being on the frontlines of the WPS's first year, in August Rogers was named WPS Advocare Coach of the Year for 2009. He also accomplished this with the help of fellow LH Eclipse coach Neil Powell as an assistant on the Sol sidelines. With the guidance of Rogers, the WPL should flourish in seasons to come.
Rogers founded the Laguna Hills Eclipse in 2001 and began directing college showcases for Elite teams from the U.S., ages U-15 through U-18. Starting in 1996 he spent eight years as the head coach of Region IV's gold medal-winning Women's ODP team.
His coaching highlights include two national club championships with the Eclipse in 2002 and 2005.
6
George Kuntz
UC Irvine Men's Coach
Orange County is more and more becoming known as a major hotbed for soccer in the U.S., and the strides Kuntz is making with his UC Irvine men's team is a big reason.
George Kuntz
 Recent success result in the Anteater men boasting a consistent Top 25 presence in the NCAA Division I polls. But more important than anything, Kuntz & Co. are creating a soccer buzz in OC on a level different from what the clubs and rec leagues can provide. UCI's trip to the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16 in 2008 put the Anteaters, and OC soccer in general, on another level. The team finished with the Big West Conference title and first ever trip to the NCAA Tournament. The team finished with a 15-2-6 record and a No. 14 national ranking.
The NCAA pollsters aren't the only ones impressed with the 'Eaters, either. Kuntz's squad is waking up the UCI student body, as well as younger soccer fans across OC. The Anteater men's team set attendance records in 2008 during its big NCAA Tournament run, posting record crowds--including sellouts--at their last two home games. With the student body and younger people including club and rec players coming out to the games, the Anteaters' success is doing wonders for soccer in OC, not to mention local college soccer in general.
Kuntz's big '08 netted him Big West Conference Coach of the Year honors, as well as National Soccer Coaches Association of America Far West Coach of the Year. His accolades march down an impressive list through his 14 seasons as UCI's head coach. Kuntz also was the head coach for the Pepperdine women's team (1993-94), the head men's coach for the Cal Lutheran University team (1988-1992) and the head women's coach for Cal Lutheran (1989-92).
Click here for more on OC's 50 Most Influential! |
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| Tags: Abner Rogers, Billy McNicol, Canyon PSA, Chapman University, Eddie Carrillo, George Kuntz, Laguna Hills Eclipse, Larry Draluck, Mission Viejo SC, So Cal Blues, UC Irvine |
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