DM Register Lisa Colonno reports on the Menace and their new coach - Greg Petersen who replaces Laurie Caloway who left for the A League. See: http://www.dmregister.com/sports/stories/c6902891/20599997.html The paper adds that he is 40, went to Cal State Hayward, has a wife Tatiana, and speaks English, German, Dutch, Spanish, and a little Serbian. The multilingual ability will come in handy in Des Moines. Good luck, Greg.
And congrats to a fellow CSUH alum. Wonder if he also went to university there, too, back when the Pioneers were busy winning Division II NCAA titles, or at least contending for them. If that's the case, then that makes for a good coaching pedigree...
I'd never heard of CSUH. However, if he's 40, then that would put him there in the 81-85 time period.
That would have been the start of the Pioneers' dynasty there, yes. Lasted until around 1988-89, and as my luck would have it, I started attending classes and doing my degree work there around 1990. I'll see if I can dig up a URL link to the university tomorrow-- getting close to my bedtime over here overseas... BTW, does anyone know offhand what A-League team Lawrie Calloway's coaching at, now that he's left Des Moines?
congrats Greg Petersen I have done some soccer clinics with Greg in the past. I played for Hayward State back in 1989 when we went to the final four. Craig was there before me. By the way, whoever asked what Laurie Calloway is doing now.......he has just taken over the head coaching job of the new expansion A league team in Syracuse New York. Greg is a nice guy with tons of coaching experience, but if he ever starts telling jokes in an English accent, run for the hills!!!! Tiki Tsakiris
Ah, the last year of Pioneer glory... then I showed up on campus. How is Greg as a coach, and as a tactician? *cringes at the "Hayward State", reference, however* Sorry about that, I used to work in the university's PR department, while I was on work-study there, a long time ago... That was me, Tiki-- and thanks for that. Good move for Calloway, all things considered. Yes, tell us more!! Thanks for the insight, Tiki... much appreciated.
Greg is a really good guy here is the story since you guys want to know. Way back in those glory days at CSUH, Colin Lindores (who is a fantastic coach as well) was the head coach of our program before moving across the bay to Stanford. Anyhow, Colin speaks with a bit of a british accent, and at the time a younger greg peterson was learning as much coaching as he could and became friends with Colin. Colin, greg, some college players (including myself, my brother Mike, and our friend Shaun Blakeman) were all coach at John Kowalski's star striker camps. Every evening the coaches would get together and go over administative stuff and talk about the next days training sessions and the regular BS that goes on at the coaches meetings. Colin told us this really good joke, with his british accent, and we all had a great laugh. Well, you know when you hang out with a brit long enough, you get the accent in your vocab every once ina while AKA Brad Friedel. Anyhow, Greg followed up Colins hillarious joke with one of his own......It started off with "there were two priests and a horse" but he said it with the thickest british accent...... and just then we all started to laugh and one of the coaches stood up and told him to sit the F*** down with the britsh accent. That got even more of a laugh than Colin's original joke. I guess you had to be there. but to this day whenever we see Greg or hear about his fantastic accomplishments as a coach (and he has many)......we always think back to that night!!!! that was it boys, no big deal but always something I will remember BTW, keep an eye on Syracuse this year in the A league!!!!
I like Petersen's resume but I really hope he takes the D in PDL to heart and puts player development over winning. Winning is great, but the point of the PDL is to develop players for a higher level and that purpose isn't served by using players 24-25 and older and former pros who can't cut it anymore. That kind of defeats the purpose. I know winning is nice but if that's how you want to win, join the D-3 or the A-League.
I'm not sure where they A League talk is but the new stadium status and highlights on Greg Petersen can be found at dmmenace.com. << The Menace, in conjunction with the Stadium Foundation, is currently developing plans for one of the only soccer-specific stadiums in the nation! The facility will meet the most stringent soccer regulations, allowing it to play host to soccer teams competing at the national -- and even international -- level. Plans call for Liberty Bank Stadium to open in May of 2005. Currently, the Des Moines Menace play at Cara McGrane Stadium on the campus of Hoover High School. McGrane has been the team's home since it moved from Dowling during its second season in 1995.>>
sandon not sure if this is the thread for it. do we know each other?? If you are referring to my youngest brother Shaun Tsakiris, he was picked up by the revolution last year. Played in their pre season and two games into the regular season, got hurt, and then was released by Revs. He has been training in Los Angeles and played in two friendly with the quakes last year 9including the game against club america at 3COM) he is looking to sign with an a league team this year thanks for inquiring