2022 Northwest Herald Boys Soccer Coach of the Year: Crystal Lake South’s Brian Allen

Brian Allen knew it would be hard to replace Crystal Lake South’s seniors who helped lead the program to an 18-4-2 record and a sectional final appearance in 2021.

But the Gators’ coach believed his players and the system he built at South could overcome the graduation of some of the best players in the area. South came back to win the Fox Valley Conference on the last day of the regular season and went on to its fifth straight regional title.

For the Gators’ success, Allen is the 2022 Northwest Herald Boys Soccer Coach of the Year, selected by the sports staff with input from area coaches. Allen also won the award in 2019.

South seemed like it lost its path to winning a FVC title when it lost in overtime to Dundee-Crown. Allen kept the players motivated to take care of what they could, so when the Chargers lost and tied toward the end of the season, the Gators were ready to win their final two conference matches to win an outright title.

Allen answered a few questions from Northwest Herald sports reporter Michal Dwojak about the season, what he’ll remember the most and how he’s changed as a coach.

What are you most proud of that this season’s team accomplished?

Allen: I think it was just the way that they handled themselves as people and a little bit of defying expectations with a lot of what we lost to graduation. This group always had a belief in them since the summer that they started to realize that they were going to be able to do more than what people thought. They held true to that throughout the whole year and conducted themselves to our culture, they upheld the culture we established over the last however many years of hardworking, hard-nose soccer and stayed true to that throughout the whole and got some success because of that.

Which one of your players did you find the most inspiring this year?

Allen: Can I name them all? It’s kind of cliché, but it depends on the situation or scenario that really always bring some inspiration to be. If I had to be selfish, I would choose Andrew Smart, and it doesn’t really have anything to do with soccer but has to do with the impact he’s had on my own children. My oldest [child] plays soccer, and he looks up to all the guys, but Smart has been extra special to him. He looks up to him, and he’s done little things, whether it’s a fist bump afterwards or saying hi that’s really made their days. So for me, that’s inspiring just to see the good they are willing to spread to people outside of the community.

How do you think your coaching style has changed over the years?

Allen: I think the passion is still there from my competitive nature, but I still think the emphasis on big picture and what’s more important, I gained more perspective. For me, it’s about the relationships with the players a lot more than wins and losses. Those are obviously great, but the reality is that now that I’ve been doing this for 16 years, having gone to former players’ weddings and having them tell me stories, just maintaining those relationships has given be a broader perspective more than wins and losses. I think that’s translated maybe into my demeanor on the sideline, where maybe stuff that got me fired up back in the day now isn’t as important as how are we going to learn from this, can we use this as a learning point in soccer and life?

What is your proudest moment as a coach?

Allen: It’s hard not to say the state championship. That’s one of those things that sets the bar that future teams strive for, whether fairly or unfairly. It’s become a way to get kids to buy in and hopefully see it’s bigger than just soccer.

What is your most prized possession?

Allen: I’ve got my grandfather’s Big Ten coin, he was the commissioner of the Big Ten, and so I’ve got that from one of the coin tosses. From my coaching days, John Collins, who the field is named after him, he was a former player before my time, but when they went through the ceremony, I got a challenge coin from the Marines from his family. That meant a lot.

Which player on this season’s team made you laugh the most?

Allen: Kevin Cardoso, and Garret Hess was a close second. Kevin just seemed to always know when to lighten the mood, and he would ask for something to be clarified in a way that I knew he kind of understood it but wanted to see how I would react. Garret was just always smiling. If you were in a bad mood, he would pick you up and put you in a good mood.

What will you remember the most about this season’s team?

Allen: It’s kind of cliché, but I think the seniors for sure. We only had five, and the impact and power those five seniors and their leadership did in carrying this team through the season. A lot of times you think successful teams will be senior laden, and this group showed that doesn’t have to be the case. They’re high-character people, great leaders, and those five seniors, they’re remarkable people who led in different ways. The success we had was more on them than me. I was just fortunate enough to oversee everything, but they’re the ones that kept the culture going from the last several years.