PEORIA, IL – After a successful inaugural season, Peoria City Soccer is kicking off the 2023 season with a new Head Coach, but one who is very familiar to the team.
General Manager Tim Regan will lead the team in Peoria City’s 2nd season in the USL League Two Heartland Division. Regan takes over the head coaching duties after a decorated playing career and extensive coaching experience in the highest levels of soccer in the United States. Prior to appearing in six seasons as an Major League Soccer player, Regan was also a Division I collegiate all-American at Bradley University. He spent time as a scout for the Toronto FC of MLS and for the U.S. Soccer Federation’s youth national teams. More recently, he was an assistant coach and interim head coach for the now USL Championship club Indy Eleven, head coach of St. Louis Scott Gallagher’s U.S. Soccer development academy team, and he currently serves as the associate head coach at Bradley University.
“I am grateful for the opportunity offered to me by Peoria City. The club had a fantastic first season in 2022 with Ruben Resendes leading the team to the play-offs, and I look forward to working on the field with the group this season.” Regan says.
“We are so excited to have Bradley University and local soccer legend to lead Peoria City Soccer this season. I have known Tim since he was a youth player in Chicago and his breadth of playing, coaching, scouting and management experience at the highest levels of soccer with a local connection are just a fantastic combo for the club and the community. Ruben did a superb job for us establishing Peoria City in our inaugural season as a top club right from the start. Qualifying us for the playoffs in our first campaign was a great success. We are so happy for him in his great opportunity at Bryant University becoming an NCAA Division 1 Head Coach and can’t thank him enough for getting the ball rolling. And now we are thrilled for Peoria’s own Tim Regan to become our next head coach of Peoria City,” said John Dorn, Managing Partner of Peoria City Soccer.
“Throughout the process of trying to identify our new Head Coach, it became evident that the success Ruben and Tim had last summer working in collaboration as Head Coach and General Manager was something to be built upon,” said Peoria City Soccer Director of Business Operations Jim DeRose. “Tim’s intimate and extensive knowledge of the USL, college, and professional academy development schemes domestically and abroad, give Tim the ability to cast a broad net in identifying some of the top talent to play in Peoria. With the new teams making up the Heartland Division, Peoria City is now in a league that is very regional from a travel perspective allowing Tim to assume this role without sacrificing the duties in his current position.”
BACKGROUND: Under the leadership of Head Coach Ruben Resendes and Assistant Coach Brendan Pacheco, Peoria City burst onto the USL 2 scene last season with an exciting style of play led by some of the league’s most dynamic and talented players in the Summer of 2022. The success continued on into the fall, as Resendes and his staff won the Division II National Championship at Franklin Pierce College. As one of the top young college coaches in the country, Resendes was named the new Head Coach at DI Bryant College this winter.
“Resendes remains one of Peoria City’s greatest supporters and fans, and we will be forever indebted to Ruben and Brendan for their incredible contribution to our franchise. While his current new job responsibilities at Bryant did not allow him to return to Peoria this summer, the successes Ruben and his staff attained are a great starting point in 2023. It most definitely will be a challenge to build upon that success, yet we look forward to what is ahead this summer,” DeRoses said.
About USL League Two
A part of United Soccer Leagues, LLC, which also operates the USL Championship, USL League One, Super Y League and the new USL Academy, USL League Two is the top pre-professional soccer league in North America, offering a summer platform for aspiring professionals across the United States and Canada. League Two is the defined and proven pathway for players to progress to the ranks of professional soccer, while its clubs become fixtures in the communities where they operate. More than 70 percent of all MLS SuperDraft selections since 2010 have League Two experience, including 66 alumni chosen in 2018 and 61 in 2019. Werder Bremen’s Josh Sargent, Newcastle United’s DeAndre Yedlin, and Atlanta United’s Brad Guzan are among the many U.S. National Team players to have competed in USL League Two before making their professional debuts.
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