Rennie to step down after 29 years at Duke

• by Soccer America , Aug 29, 2007

Duke head men's coach John Rennie has announced that the 2007 season will be his last.

Rennie built Duke into one of the elite programs in the country, earning the school's first national championship in any sport in 1986 and leading his squad to five Men's College Cups (1982, 1986, 1992, 1995 and 2004). Rennie's Blue Devils have won five ACC titles, including back-to-back titles in 2005 and 2006.

Rennie enters the 2007 season with 399 wins at Duke and 443 overall. Duke has been to the NCAA Tournament 19 times under Rennie. Prior to his arrival, Duke had played in just one NCAA Tournament contest.

In his fourth season at Duke, Rennie took an undefeated team to the 1982 championship match before losing to Indiana, 2-1, in eight overtimes. It was the longest match in NCAA history up to that point. Rennie and the Blue Devils stopped Akron, 1-0, to win the 1986 NCAA championship.

Six players have been named the national collegiate player of the year, including Joe Ulrich (1982), Mike Jeffries (1983), Tom Kain (1985), John Kerr (1986), Jay Heaps (1998) and Ali Curtis (2000). Another former Rennie player is Jason Kreis, the first player to score 100 goals in MLS.

"My decision to make the 2007 season my last at Duke was finalized over the last several weeks," said Rennie. "I absolutely love my job. However, it is time to move onto a new chapter in my career."

Duke Director of Athletics Joe Alleva has announced there will be a national search conducted to find the next head men's soccer coach. That search will not begin until the 2007 men's soccer season concludes.

Jeffries, the current Duke associate coach and a former MLS head coach, is the favorite to replace Rennie.

FURTHER READING:
Click here to read "Rennie: Dean of College Coaches," Executive Editor Mike Woitalla's profile from the August 2006 issue of Soccer America.