Hall of Fame: Dave McLeish -- Vanguard University

Richard Dunn

Celebrating all things soccer, Vanguard University men’s soccer

coach Dave McLeish has covered the spectrum in coaching what is widely

considered the world’s No. 1 sport.

But for McLeish, this year’s head coach of the Southern California

Seahorses of the Premier Development League, some of his greatest rewards

come from his own flesh and blood.

McLeish, a longtime coach with glowing credentials, coached his son,

Joshua, for three years at Vanguard.

“That’s been a real highlight,” said McLeish, whose son twice earned

NAIA All-American honorable mention accolades and last season was a

two-time Athlete of the Week at the Costa Mesa-based Christian school.

“(Josh) is already a tremendous young coach with the club teams and as

an assistant at Esperanza under Kino Oaxaco, who has had tons of success

over there,” added McLeish, who has had over 200 of his former soccer

players become coaches, something McLeish puts at the top of his

highlight list.

A high school boys soccer coach for 21 years at Edison, Dana Hills and

Marina and a collegiate men’s coach for 23 years, McLeish was inducted

into the Biola University Soccer Hall of Fame last fall, an honor he

cherishes.

McLeish, a Spanish teacher at Marina, was the head coach at Biola for

five years, but, following the 1985 season, the school wanted a full-time

staffer coaching the men’s soccer team, so Biola added soccer to

wrestling coach Matt Orr’s duties and McLeish landed at Southern

California College (now Vanguard U.).

“I felt we just started building something up there,” McLeish said.

“For them to come back and ask me many years later (to be in the Hall of

Fame) was really an exciting thing for me.”

In 1981, his first year at Biola, McLeish led the Eagles to their

first NAIA National Tournament and their highest national ranking (No. 8)

to that point. Biola won the NAIA District III title and McLeish was the

Coach of the Year.

Two years later, Biola made it back to the District III title match

and finished second. In five seasons, the Eagles made the playoffs four

times.

Biola’s loss was SoCal College’s gain in 1986, when McLeish took over

the men’s soccer program in Costa Mesa.

SCC, a member of the Golden State Athletic Conference, finished second

in the GSAC in 1987, ‘89, ‘93, ’96 and 2000 and has qualified for the

playoffs nine times since his arrival.

In 1990, the National Soccer Coaches Association of America voted

McLeish as the College Division Coach of the Year for the Far West

Region.

In 1999, the first year of the Vanguard Lions after the school changed

its name, McLeish led the squad to a 10-5 record (6-3 in GSAC), but the

Lions didn’t make a Region II playoff berth. His son, Josh, was one of

two All-Americans.

In 2000, Vanguard finished 10-5-1 (7-1-1 in GSAC) and made the

playoffs, losing to Point Loma in the first round.

McLeish, who also coaches his 11-year-old son Jacob’s Pacific Coast

Soccer Club team in San Clemente, is 107-130-10 at SCC/Vanguard.

McLeish began his collegiate coaching career at Cerritos College in

1978, and, in his second year, the Falcons won the South Coast Conference

championship and advanced to the state semifinals with an 11-6-1 mark.

“I joke with people, because I enjoy teaching and coaching so much,

that one of these days I’m going to get a real job,” he said. “But it

might be too late for that. It’s very fun. Both teaching and coaching

become easy when you enjoy doing something like this.”

In addition, McLeish has served as coach of the U.S. Olympic

Development Program. Most recently, he was coach of the Region IV boys in

the ODP, which includes the western 14 states.

He has also served with the Los Angeles Olympic Committee in 1984 and

the World Cup Organizing Committee in 1994.

Over the years, McLeish has won over 480 games in high school and

college and many of his players have advanced to national and

professional teams.

McLeish, the latest honoree in the Daily Pilot Sports Hall of Fame,

lives in San Clemente with his wife of 33 years, Becky. They have three

children: Jessica, 26, who works for a Newport Beach public relations

firm; Joshua, 22; and Jacob, the family’s next generation.