NEW YORK – After guiding the Davidson men’s soccer team to a national ranking during the 2009 season, Major League Soccer has selected head coach
Matt Spear to guide one of four teams at the 2010 adidas MLS Player Combine, which will be held at Central Broward Regional Park in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. Jan. 8-12, 2010.
The coaching and management staffs of all 16 MLS teams will be in attendance to scout talent at the MLS Player Combine, which concludes two days before the 2010 MLS SuperDraft. The SuperDraft will be held on Thursday, Jan. 14, 2010 in Philadelphia.
The 2010 adidas MLS Player Combine will separate all players into four teams and feature two games per day at Central Brower Regional Park on Jan. 9, 10 and 12. Each team will be led by an experienced Division I coach, who will be assisted by an experienced soccer professional. Spear has been selected to coach Team Predator X, along with Executive Director of the South Charlotte Soccer Association, Brad Wylde. Michael Noonan, head coach at Brown University will coach Team Condivo along with Leigh Cowlishaw, head coach of the Richmond Kickers of USL-2. UCLA head coach Jorge Salcedo will lead Team Jabulani along with Placer United Soccer Club Coach Nathan Williams. Todd Yeagley, recently named head coach at Indiana after serving in the same capacity at Wisconsin, will lead Team F50i along with Larry Sunderland, Director of Player Personnel for the Chicago Fire.
Spear guided the Wildcats to an 11-7 record during the 2009 season, including 4-1 wins over No. 25 South Carolina and No. 6 Duke. Soccer America ranked the ‘Cats as high as 21st in the nation following the victory over the Blue Devils.
Under Spear’s tutelage, senior Charlie Reiter emerged as one of the top offensive players in the country en route to garnering Southern Conference Player of the Year and first-team All-South Region honors. Reiter scored 12 goals and eight assists to total 32 points in 18 games, ranking him sixth in the nation in points per game. Reiter also became the fourth ESPN the Magazine Academic All-American to play under Spear. Junior Alex Caskey earned a place on the All-Southern Conference team for the second consecutive season and was named to the All-South Region second team.
Spear ranks second only to 1992 National Coach of the Year and Davidson Hall of Famer Charlie Slagle in career victories (85) at the helm of the Wildcats. Spear was in fact an All-Southern Conference First Team honoree and tri-captain of Slagle’s 1992 College Cup team as a player. He returned to his alma mater as the head coach in 2001. In his nine years on the sidelines, Spear has coached 14 All-SoCon performers, six All-South Region performers, and one All-American honoree (John Latting, 2005). After guiding the ‘Cats to a SoCon Championship in 2003, Spear was named the SoCon Coach of the Year, the NSCAA South Region Coach of the Year and a National Coach of the Year finalist.
The initial player list for the combine was determined by a select panel of Division I college coaches representing all conferences who nominated and voted for players in conjunction with MLS coaches. Youth players from the Generation adidas program will join additional collegiate players from NCAA Division II and III schools, NAIA schools and Division I alternates to finalize the 2010 adidas MLS Player Combine. The final player list and team assignments will be announced in the coming weeks.