Gene Chyzowych

Who is Gene Chyzowych?

Gene Chyzowych is a former professional soccer player and coach, who is now the coach of the Columbia High School soccer team in Maplewood, New Jersey, US. He has the second most wins of any active scholastic soccer coaches in the United States, and has compiled a 730-188-70 record in 46 years at Columbia High School through 2009. He directed his teams to four New Jersey state championships and 24 conference titles. His squads have also captured 16 state sectional crowns, and have produced numerous All-America, All-State and All-Conference players in high school and college, several of whom have gone on to become college and high school soccer coaches themselves. He is a two-time NSCAA Boys High School National Coach of the Year, and received the association’s Robert W. Robinson Award for long-time service to interscholastic soccer in 1999. Chyzowych also coached the Columbia girls volleyball team, compiling a 227-0 career record, a 10-year winning streak and likewise producing numerous championship and lauded athletes.

Chyzowych was born in the Ukraine and moved with his family across war torn Europe to eventually settle in Philadelphia after World War II. He grew up in Philadelphia and attended North Catholic High School where he was part of a team that won the City Championship in 1952. He then went on to a four year College Career at Temple University graduating in 1958, and became the head soccer coach at Columbia High School in 1963. He was one of the first coaches in the U.S. to set up a recreational-to-club-to-high school feeder program, and to provide opportunities for players to play year-round. That model was copied by other coaches and schools nationwide in an effort to approximate his success.