CHRIS COFFEY

BRISTOL — The new Mount Abraham Union High School boys’ soccer coach is a 1997 graduate who wore Eagle maroon while playing for storied coach Mike Corey and has extensive youth soccer coaching experience.

Chris Coffey, a Monkton resident, semi-retired triathlete, experienced youth soccer coach, and father of two Mount Abe students, takes over from his friend and fellow Mount Abe graduate Rider MacCrellish. MacCrellish stepped down after the 2023 season after three years to devote more time to his construction business.

Coffey said he was at first not sure about applying, but as the months wore on and the job remained vacant, he began to consider it seriously.

He decided to apply in the spring when he knew the school still hadn’t found a replacement. He consulted with his dad, Peter Coffey, the former longtime successful Champlain Valley Union High School boys’ soccer coach, about the time commitment; got the go-ahead from his wife, Kylee, also a 1997 Mount Abe graduate; and spoke to Mount Abe Athletic Director Devin Wendel about scheduling practices later in the afternoon to accommodate his work schedule and got another green light — and the job.

“So I applied for it and came down and interviewed,” Coffey said. “I wanted to make sure these boys had continuity in the summer and clarity on who their coach was going to be.”

Wendel said he was happy Coffey stepped forward.

“Chris brings with him an abundance of energy and passion for the sport, in addition to his drive to provide the best experience possible for student-athletes,” he said.

Coffey said after he got the position, he quickly took steps to ensure he and the team could hit the ground running when the group gathered this fall.

“Cal Hopwood, the JV coach, and I connected right away, and we’ve been having the boys train one night a week this summer … and sending them out little things to work on all summer, just get touches on the ball and show up a little more prepared,” he said.

Coffey works mostly out of his Monkton home for his job — he is a dealer.com tech support team leader — and said he can easily make most of the late-afternoon practices. But he has an insurance policy: His father is on board as an assistant.

“I couldn’t do it without him,” Coffey said. “He lives right in town here, and if I’m ever running late because of work, he definitely has to tools to run a practice.”

It’s not unprecedented to see Peter Coffey on the Eagle sidelines. He coached JV for a season a decade ago, and a year ago helped out MacCrellish. Beyond the practical and tactical support, Chris Coffey said working with his father will be rewarding.

“I’m super grateful. It’s going to be a gift to do this with him after all through my childhood being a ballboy at CVU, going to preseason when he was the coach there, watching them win titles,” he said.

The younger Coffey’s coaching experience comes from mentoring his sons and other youth players in the Monkton recreation programs, and then from 2019 until now coaching Addison United club teams. He is now the club’s vice president.

As far as formations and tactics, Coffey said he and his co-coaches would evaluate the players before choosing a formation in which to best deploy them.

“I’m going to tailor it,” he said. “I’ve got a lot of people to consult with and help me with what we can get out of this group. We’ve got a lot of talent on this team … We’ve got to figure out the puzzle pieces.”

One thing Coffey will favor is getting the Eagles fit enough to allow them to run hard and get after their opponents in the other team’s defensive end of the field.

“We want to get in really good shape and put pressure on the ball and not let them get out of the backfield too easily when they’re in the final third,” he said.

Coffey added he doesn’t want to burn the Eagles out in the early going before they achieve peak fitness.

“We’ve got to pace this thing right and be at our best in October,” he said.

Coffey also sees the job as entailing more than teaching soccer skills and formations.

“My goal is to have an impact on these kids when they look back on this experience,” he said. “So my goal is to bring growth.”

For example, he said when student-athletes are older, they should look back at their soccer career as a learning experience.

“What does it mean to be on a team? That applies to work, or the success that it brings them in their career or wherever they end up,” he said.

“That, to me, is the goal at the end of the day. Soccer, I don’t want to say it’s secondary. But in one of my first convos with the team I said family comes first, school, and then soccer. Then we outlined what each one of those things mean. And when we came to soccer, then we roll into respect, accountability, and holding each other to a standard as a team. I want them to feel a culture. I want to bring a culture to this program. Ryder definitely had a culture going, and I want to keep it going.”