Mike Avery (born September 19, 1968) is an American athletic director, soccer coach, and former player who played as a midfielder or forward.
He spent three years as the director of soccer at Cal State San Bernardino, coaching both the men's and women's teams at times during that spell.
He is the all-time winningest head coach in Crusader history, spending 13 years in the position before the program was discontinued by the university.
After leaving Valpo, Avery moved to the senior level for the first time and was named as the inaugural head coach in Fort Wayne FC history.
Born on September 19, 1968, in San Jose, California,[1] Avery began playing soccer at the age of four with his neighborhood team, Las Pulgas.
[7][6] As a junior, he tallied four goals and six assists from 23 games and was again named all-GSAC as Westmont won their third consecutive conference title.
[8][6] He put up eight goals and 11 assists in 24 games as a senior, with the Warriors winning another GSAC title and making a run to the semifinals of the NAIA Tournament.
[3] In later years, he also spent time in the Premier Development League with Indiana Invaders, playing as well as serving in an undisclosed coaching role with the club.
[21] Following the 1999 season, Avery was offered an assistant coaching position at the University of Notre Dame, on the staff of Mike Berticelli.
Nearly two months later, on March 17, 2000, new Irish head coach Chris Apple officially confirmed that Avery would still be joining the staff at Notre Dame.
[1] As a recruiter, Avery helped bring 11 All-Americans to Notre Dame, as well as 2006 Hermann Trophy winner Joseph Lapira.
In his lone season with the Cardinals, Louisville qualified for the Big East Conference Men's Soccer Tournament for the first time in the program's history.
[22][25] Avery's first match in charge ended in a 2–1 defeat to North Carolina State on August 31;[26] one week later, he earned his first win with Valpo with a 3–0 victory over IPFW.
[38] Earlier that season, the men's soccer team had played Valparaiso's first game as a member of the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC), tallying a 2–1 victory over Loyola on September 1.
[47] Before he took charge of a game, the 2020 NPSL season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and on October 29 the club announced a move to USL League Two.
[51] On August 31, the club announced that Avery signed a contract extension as head coach through the 2022 USL League Two season and also appointed him as sporting director.
[57] On August 31, 2021, Avery stepped down from his position at CCSJ in order to accept a promotion to sporting director and head coach at Fort Wayne FC.
[51] When he was hired at Calumet College, Avery agreed with the school and the soccer club that the sides would sit down at the end of the 2021 USL League Two season and discuss his future path.
[22] The couple have two sons: Alex, who was born the day before the Mid-Continent Conference volleyball tournament in 2003,[22] and Kasongo, who was adopted from Africa.