Director of Coaching John McGeown, Illinois Youth Soccer
Coach of the Year in 2005. Staff coach for Illinois Olympic
Development Program and Team Evanston’s Director of
Coaching

Coaching: Started coaching in 1981 with Mt. Prospect coaching the Mt. Prospect Select
team 1981-1982. McGeown was the AYSO field/coaching coordinator in Chicago 1983-86.
McGeown continued his club coaching from 1990 to ’94 at British American Club in
Sacramento CA while also coaching the Victory Christian High School Boys varsity team.
From 1997 to February 2004 coached at the Trevian Soccer Club. John is a Staff coach with
Illinois Olympic Development Program from 2003 to the present. John served as director
of coaching for Glenview Youth Soccer for 2 years leading to his Team Evanston role.

John is married to wife Lynn and has 3 children and 2 grand children.

Read more about team Evanston’s director of coaching.
“The success of any soccer club begins with the coaching staff,” said Team
Evanston’s director of coaching, John McGeown.

And with success in mind, McGeown has come up with several goals he’d like to
see accomplished this year, ranging from making sure the players have fun to enhancing
the coaches’ education to serving the Evanston community.

One of his top priorities, however, is hiring the best coaches for his teams. “It’s
important to find the right people,” he said. “I don’t want kids to get turned off from
Evanston and leave the Club because they think they are going to a better place.”

In addition to being positive role models and responsible members of the
community, McGeown said he wants his coaches to be willing to learn new ideas and
concepts. He plans to make sure they get the education and training they need to develop
their players to their fullest potential.

Throughout the season, McGeown said he will emphasize parent-coach
communication. “I’m not saying that the coaches should meet with the parents every week,” he
explained. “But, I think most of life’s problems come from a lack of communication, and I
want my coaches to communicate often by giving parents quick updates on what’s going
on with the team.”

Currently McGeown (pronounced Mic-guon) is working on a curriculum
consisting of what skills will be taught to what age group. “There should be a continuum
of drills and education from U9 and U10 to U11 and U12 to U13 and U14 and onto high
school,” he explained. “For example, if I take on a team of U11’s, then I should know what
they’ve already been through so I can move them forward.”

Although new to Team Evanston, McGeown is not new to hiring and working
with coaches. Until this June, he served in a similar capacity in Glenview. Before that, he
spent 20 years coaching various club teams and high school teams. He is also a staff coach
for IYSA Olympic Development Program. Last year, John was voted the Illinois boys
coach of the year.

So far, McGeown is impressed with Team Evanston – its board, its coaches and its
players. Unlike many clubs that spend months making simple decisions, McGeown said
Team Evanston “is moving along at a steadier clip.”

“What impresses me about Team Evanston is that there seems to be a system and a
mission in place, but at the same time, the club seems willing to change with the times,”
he said.

His goals for the players are simple, McGeown said. He wants to share his love of
soccer.

For example, he wants all players to have the opportunity to play in a nurturing
environment that promotes improved skills and a greater appreciation and understanding
of the game. He stressed the need for soccer clinics and summer camps for everyone
regardless of the player’s financial status.

McGeown started playing soccer as soon as he could walk while living in an
impoverished neighborhood of Glasgow, Scotland. One of his “biggest thrills” was
getting signed by the Glasgow Celtic Football Club where he played stopper in their
youth system for about five years .

“It was one of those local boy does well type of things,” he remembered.
He also played in Ontario, Canada for a year in 1975. That year abroad is what
caused him to move to Chicago in 1977, where he met his wife, Lynn.

“I realized I like North American living,” he said.
McGeown and his wife now have three children, Christina, John and Catherine
and two grandchildren Ethan and Ella.

Even though McGeown has lived in Chicago for much of his adult life, first
working for Proctor & Gamble and now Kraft Foods, he did spend a few years in
California and Glasgow where he worked in Christian ministry.

While in Glasgow, which has one of the largest drug problems in Europe per
capita, McGeown helped turn an ancient bar into a soup kitchen/stopping off house for
those less fortunate.

Serving the community where he lives and works is important to McGeown, and
he hopes that each team will consider taking on a cause here in Evanston.

“I know this is a giant task, but if each team does one thing each season, can you
imagine the impact this would have?” he asked. “And in addition to that, our players
will be streets ahead in the game of life.”