| Ray Leone |
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The 2006 season will mark the sixth campaign of Arizona State University soccer with Ray Leone at the helm of the program as he and his young team look for a return trip to the NCAA tournament and an improvement upon their 9-8-3 record one year ago.
One of the most successful and well respected coaches in the NCAA, Leone carries a wealth of coaching experience, as well as an outstanding 15-year head coaching career record of 184-95-24 (.647 winning percentage). He ranks 24th among active head coaches in NCAA Division-I history with his 184 victories and has the third-highest win total for a coach with 15 years or less of head coaching experience. Among active head coaches, Leone currently also ranks 30th in winning percentage.
The team's 2005 season closed with a 9-8-3 overall record and a 4-4-1 mark in the Pac-10. ASU's seventh victory of the season, a 4-2 decision at Washington State, gave Leone the 50th of his tenure in Tempe, while the team's 3-0 blanking of Washington on the road made him the winningest coach in the young program. His Sun Devils also remained perfect against intrastate rival Arizona as ASU defeated UA, 2-1, in Tucson.
The team wrapped up its 2004 season tied for fourth in the Pac-10 Conference. Under the direction of Leone, the team broke into the nation's Top 10 for the first time in the program's nine-year history. After being narrowly defeated by eventual national champion Notre Dame, 2-1, the Sun Devils were awarded a No. 9 ranking in Soccer Buzz Magazine's September 14th poll. The team was also ranked No. 2 in the West region. On the field, four players were named to the Pac-10 All-Conference team.
Accomplishments from the 2003 season included advancing to the second round of the NCAA Championship for the second straight year, finishing the regular season ranked No. 14 (Soccer America) in the country -- then the team's highest ranking in school history -- and landing in the final Top 25 in all four major polls. Leone also led Arizona State to a second place finish in the very competitive Pac-10, the best finish in the school's young eight-year history.
Leone's first two seasons at Arizona State featured several accomplishments, including reaching as high as No. 17 in the national polls and ending the successful 2002 regular season ranked in the Top 25 by Soccer America. Leone's young (one senior) and aggressive team also made a successful run through the NCAA Tournament, advancing to the second round before falling to eventual NCAA runner-up Santa Clara.
Leone's recruiting presence is also getting attention on the national scene, earning two straight Top 10 recruiting classes, including a school-best No. 4 national ranking for the 2002 class by Soccer America and Soccer Buzz. Not only on the recruiting trail and playing fields has Leone's team excelled, but also in the classroom as all 22 members recorded at least a 3.00 grade-point average during the fall and spring semesters, while a school record six players earned Academic All-Pac-10 honors.
In his initial season at ASU, Leone's team set a then-school record for the largest home crowd at a single game against Stanford (1,142) and also took his young team nearly across the country where they won the Traditional Bank Soccer Tournament in Lexington, Kentucky, recording the biggest road win in ASU history by shutting out No. 12 Kentucky, 2-0.
Additionally, Leone's team finished the year with four straight overtime games, posting a 3-1-1 mark, including a shutout of then No. 2 Stanford, 1-0, for the highest nationally ranked win in school history.
Along with his accomplishments on the pitch, his Sun Devil squads also have done well in the classroom as the team earned its third ASU Sparky Award for the best GPA on campus among all varsity athletic teams (3.42). The team also set a program record as 11 of the members of the 2005 roster earned Academic All-Pac-10 honors, including four first-team selections. The 2004 season brought about the same as his team earned recognition for their excellence in the classroom. His team earned ASU's Sparky Award for the second straight year, posting a team GPA of 3.46, the highest of any varsity program at Arizona State.
It also marked the third straight year a soccer team member has earned Academic All-American honors, as senior Holly Azevedo was named to the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Women's Soccer Academic All-America first team. Of the 11 players selected as First-Team Academic All-Americans, Azevedo was one of five to post perfect 4.00 cumulative grade-point averages.
For Leone, the classroom was no different as the entire team continued to make strides in the academic field. The team set a standard of excellence in the classroom in 2002-03 with a team grade-point average of 3.46. They have been recognized with the No. 1 team GPA in the nation of all teams qualifying for the 64-team 2002 NCAA Division I women's soccer tournament. The 2003-04 team finished the Academic year with an astounding 3.44 team GPA, including landing a then-school-record eight players on the All-Pac-10 Academic teams.
The 2004 spring semester also saw an incredible six Sun Devil Soccer players receive perfect 4.00 GPAs (three of whom also had 4.00 GPAs in the fall semester) and all 22 members were also named Maroon and Gold Scholars Athletes for having posted GPAs of 3.00 or higher. This was the first time in Arizona State school history such a milestone had been accomplished. The team rounded out an excellent academic year as they were named the No. 1 academic team at Arizona State during the school's first Sparky Awards ceremony.
Prior to Arizona State, the Leone's (wife Tracey) built the Clemson University program into today's current powerhouse. The 2000 season at Clemson, Leone was named the Atlantic Coast Conference Coach of the Year after leading the Tigers to the school's first ACC regular-season title, finishing with a 5-1-1 record. The Clemson squad compiled a record of 16-1-1 in the regular season and earned a No. 1 seed in the ACC Championship. After reaching the Elite 8 for the third time in four years, Leone's team finished with a school record 19-3-1 overall record and a No. 5 national ranking.
Additionally, 2000 was an unprecedented year at Clemson. Leone led the Tigers to their first ACC regular season championship, began the season with a school-record 12 straight victories, while along the way breaking North Carolina's 37 game ACC winning streak. In doing so, Clemson became the first team in seven years to defeat UNC in the conference and peaked as high as No. 2 in the national rankings.
Under Leone's tutelage in 2000, his players were named the ACC Freshman of the Year, South Defender of the Year, ACC Goalkeeper of the Year and National Freshman of the Year. Since Clemson began its women soccer program 10 seasons ago, the team has never finished below No. 20 in the final national rankings.
Subsequently, when Leone and his wife, Tracey -- the team's head coach since its inception in 1994 and who will be at his side this season as an assistant coach -- arrived at Clemson in 1994, the Tigers made it to the NCAA Tournament each season, advancing three times to the quarterfinals in 1997, 1999, 2000 and twice to the ACC finals. Additionally, the Leone's 1994 Clemson squad was the first team in NCAA women's soccer history to make the NCAA Tournament in its first varsity season. During Clemson's NCAA Tournament runs from 1994-2000, only six other Division I programs advanced to the NCAA Tournament the same number of years (7) as the Tigers.
At every stop, Leone has had a successful career, having coached at NAIA power Berry College in Rome, Georgia, and at Creighton University in Nebraska. Leone started the Berry College program that is now considered the most successful program in NAIA history. In a three-year span at Berry, Leone took his teams to three straight Final Four appearances and won the NAIA National Championship in 1987. Leone is the only coach in collegiate soccer history to take a first-year varsity program (in his rookie year of coaching) to the national championship game.
While head coach at Creighton, Leone started his second program from scratch and within five years had the team among the Top 5 in the Midwest Region. In Leone's final year at Creighton, he led them to a 14-3-2 record, winning 11 of their last 12 games and still is Creighton's career leader in victories with 50 wins.
In October of 2003, Leone was proudly inducted into the first hall of fame class at Severna Park High School in Severna Park, Md.
