New Chapter For Kerr

Former Harvard Coach Talks With SNE About His Move to Duke

February 5, 2008

By Nick Williams

After nine years coaching at Harvard, where he developed the men’s program into a perennial contender while making his mark on the area’s youth scene with his self-entitled soccer camps and his work with F.C. Greater Boston, there was only one way John Kerr was leaving the comforts of Cambridge: if his alma mater came calling.

So when legendary Duke coach John Rennie retired this offseason and the school reached out to Kerr, the former Blue Devil’s path was paved to return to the university he once attended to replace the coach he once called his own.

“I always thought one day I would have an opportunity to go back there and coach, and that is the only school that I was ever going to listen to,” Kerr said in a recent interview with Soccer New England. “I loved Harvard. I loved all the people there. I loved what we accomplished. Things were going fantastic, so I had no real desire to leave. The future was only going to get better there, but Duke is the only place that could have lured me away.

Former Harvard coach John Kerr talked to SNE about his move to Duke.

“Duke is my alma mater. They're currently in top 20. They have a tremendous amount of resources. I have strong feelings for them.”

Kerr graduated from Duke in 1987, capping a year in which he led the Blue Devils to an 18-5-1 record and the 1986 national championship, the school’s first, while winning national player of the year honors. He was a two-time All-ACC and All-American selection and finished his playing career with 42 goals and 43 assists for 127 points, totals that place him fifth, second and third, respectively, in the Duke annals.

Clearly, there’s some history there.

But as much as Kerr’s decision was based on competitiveness and nostalgia, it was also a move he made for his family.

“It was a family decision as well as a professional decision,” he said. “One of the biggest attractions was that Duke has tuition remission for my children. Two of my children are allowed to go to college with that tuition remission program. I thought about that and in the long run it was one of the biggest factors [in the decision] -- thinking about the future of my family.”

Still, it wasn’t easy for Kerr to up and leave Harvard, where he spent the better part of 10 years building a program that has made back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances, produced 18 All-Ivy First Team selections and captured the Ivy League title in 2006, a year it led the entire nation in scoring.

“It was a great place to work,” Kerr said of Harvard, where he compiled an 81-57-13 record, including three trips to the NCAA Tournament and three seasons of 10 wins or more. “It’s a great day to be a Harvard soccer player and every day was a great day to coach there.”

Kerr leaves behind a Crimson team that went 14-4-2 last year and was ranked as high as No. 6 in the country before getting upset in the first round of the tournament by Central Connecticut State.

Most of that team will return next year, including underclassmen scoring machines and All-American second-teamers Andre Akpan and Michael Fucito, who notched 14 and 11 goals, respectively.

Because the players were on winter break when Kerr took the job at Duke this December, he first had to notify each by phone. And despite his hectic schedule, which involved setting up his new office, tying up loose ends with F.C. Greater Boston and Kerr Camps and coordinating a move down the east coast, Kerr made sure he meet with his Harvard team collectively before he settled in down in North Carolina.

“It was a very sad for me and maybe for them too,” Kerr said of the meeting. “Winning the Ivy League title at home [in 2006] in front of our own fans was easily the highlight of my time there, of my career.”

Now Kerr begins the next chapter of his career. He’ll have some big cleats to fill replacing Rennie, who led the Blue Devils to a 410-161-34 record during his time there, including the championship run he had with Kerr has his striker.

Kerr said he’s honored to take over his old coach’s team and looking forward to coaching players he once recruited like sophomore defenders Josh Bienenfeld and Matt Thomas and some he used to coach against, like striker Mike Grella, who Kerr had to game plan for during his coaching days with the Greater Boston Bolts.

Although he’s not looking to get back into the club business, Kerr said he’s kept contact with the Bolts and is helping them find a new coaching director, a position he’s held with the club since 2002.

“I’m not in a hurry to get back into the club business in North Carolina, but the Bolts are a very strong part of my history here in Boston,” Kerr said. “They just got ranked in the top 10 in the country, so it’s flattering the kind of recognition we’ve got for the hard work of a lot of people, from the players to the coaches, to the administrators and parents. I want to continue to make sure the club is on the right foot going forward.”

And as Kerr goes forward, he said he won’t soon forget his time in Boston and he’ll make sure to keep tabs on his old teams.

“I leave with a heavy, heavy heart and there so many wonderful memories,” he said. “I'm happy that myself and Tracy made a positive impact on soccer in this area and we’ll be following the progress of Harvard and the Bolts very closely while in North Carolina.”

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