Meridy Glenn’s passion for soccer is sincerely instinctual.
Growing up in Virginia and then Rhode Island during the 1960s and 70s, a time when soccer was just becoming fashionable among American boys, her love for the world’s most popular game blossomed despite a scarcity of influences. She simply wanted to kick a ball.
“I loved kicking a ball, and I have no idea why,” said Glenn. “There were no influences, there was no mentor, there was no big brother, and my sister barely played sports.”
Attending high school in Barrington, R.I., she was forced to play in various local soccer clubs where she worked on her game.
Before her senior year, Glenn spent a summer at Cornell University running cross country. During her runs she would invariably veer from her track and onto the soccer field to play with the men.
“They laughed a lot at me,” mused Glenn, but such was her desire to continue playing the game she loved. Narrowing her college choices down to Cornell and Brown University, Glenn used that desire to make a decision.
“I just remember going back and forth between the two schools,” said Glenn. “I finally just thought: Brown has soccer, and I want to play.”
Women’s soccer, compared to the men’s game when Glenn enrolled at Brown in 1976, was still an insignificant island in the world of collegiate athletics. None of the women received scholarships, and just competing for practice time on the same field with the men was a chore.
“You have to understand that Title IX was just three years old when I enrolled in `76,” she said. “The men grudgingly allowed us to play on their varsity field.”
Nonetheless, Glenn helped the Bears compile a 39-11-3 record and two Ivy League runner-up finishes in her four years at Brown.
Graduating in 1980 with a biology degree, Glenn immediately began coaching high school soccer in Arlington, Mass. She returned to Brown as an assistant coach and by 1983 arrived at the University of Cincinnati. Nearly 18 years later, it’s the only head coaching job she has ever had.
“It’s just flown by,” she said. “I can’t believe it. But that’s good because it’s gone well. It’s been very rewarding.”
Taking over in 1983, Glenn has guided the Bearcats to the NCAA tournament four times: 1983 (first time in UC history), 1986, 1994 and 1997. She has also led her teams to four conference championships in the past six years. Her overall record as head coach, 177-113-24, ranks her among the coaching elite.
But if you ask her to pick a favorite memory, a favorite moment that has defined her 18-year career as head coach, she only speaks of the future.
“This is my hope,” Glenn said, pausing to think. “I’m still creating the best memories. That’s the way you have to go into every year.”
Glenn mentions names from the past-names such as Nicole Thorn, Vicki Englehart (who in 1997 became the only women’s soccer player to be inducted into the UC Athletic Hall of Fame), Kerrie Glenn (who is the coach’s sister-in-law), and even current UC goalkeeper Christy Hoffman. But she will not try to pinpoint any single player as her favorite.
“Oh gosh, there are your favorite players and there are your favorite people,” Glenn said without mentioning a specific name. Then she continued by adding, “It’s hilarious because I look back, and I’ve told this to them, if I knew then what I know now about coaching, we would have been in the Final Four. They were so good and I was so naive about the game.”
But Glenn traversed the globe, touring Europe and China watching and learning about the game. While such travels have proven to be invaluable learning experiences, Glenn has also come to realize that her players’ personalities are just as important.
“I think I keep getting better tactically on the field,” said Glenn, who holds a U.S. Soccer Federation “A” coaching license-the highest rank a coach can have. “But team management and player management is just a different angle every year.”
As for this season, Glenn is excited about her team. Anything less than a NCAA tournament appearance would be a disappointment to both the coach and her players.
“(An NCAA tournament bid) is very realistic,” she said.
Glenn still plays soccer, but not with her players because “they are incredible athletes.” And while the girls continue to get better every year, the success of Glenn’s coaching career rests on her ability to instill into her players the concept of “team.”
“Everyone was successful in high school,” she said. “But you have to make sure they are buying into `team.’ They have to sacrifice their own personal pride.”
This is a philosophy that Glenn has carried with her from her office in Laurence Hall to Meyers field for 18 years. It is a principle she hopes to discuss with many more Bearcat teams to come.
“As long as (UC Athletic Director) Bob (Goin) lets me,” smiled the coach.
After all these years, she still loves the game. Those same instinctual passions that drove her to kick a soccer ball long ago as a player still drive Meridy Glenn as a coach today.
