COACH RODNEY KENNEY E-mail - ckenney@stetson.edu     Rodney’s soccer coaching experience began in 1978 coaching a youth team his son played on. From 1978 until 1990 he coached many boys’ teams from age 8 to 19. In 1991 he became the head coach of the KAOS women’s amateur team and the Orange Park High School women’s team in Florida. Rodney led the Orange Park High School women to 7 district championships, 10 regional appearances, two regional championships, and two final four appearances. His record in eleven years at Orange Park is 245 wins and 48 losses. As the head coach of the amateur women’s team KAOS form 1990 to 1998 he had a record of 112 wins and 26 loses, including a Sunshine Games championship, four Low country tournament championships, three time State Cup finalist, and numerous 7 aside championships. In 1997 he was named the interim head coach of the University of North Florida women’s soccer team, and under his direction the second year team won 12 and lost 7. He served as the assistant coach of the UNF women’s team from 1998 until 2001, which played twice in the Quarter Finals of the Division 2 National Championship. He served as the Assistant Women’s Soccer coach at the division one, Stetson University from 2002 until 2009. Rodney received many coaching awards among them, the Charles E. Madox sportsmanship award, and 9-time winner of the Florida Star Conference coach of the year, the 6A Florida High School women’s soccer coach of the year, and the 1996 Florida High School women’s soccer coach of the year. He served as the head coach for the Florida High School State All-stars twice, head coach of the Florida Women’s Amateur Select team and administrator for the Florida State Select Men’s team for two years and the Director of Player Personal for the Jacksonville Jade, a W-League team in Jacksonville, Florida.

THINGS FOR COACHES TO THINK ABOUT  By Rodney Kenney   1. Being able to manage people, not knowledge of the game makes a great coach.   2.    A successful coach has compassion for their player’s feelings.   3.    Being able to relate to the player’s frustrations gives a coach the edge.   4.    Motivation comes from within, if a player doesn’t have it, a coach can’t give it to them, but a coach can inspire a player to play over their head if they are motivated.    5.    There is no athlete alive who won’t work for positive strokes from a coach.   6.    Coach the heart, because that’s where the game is won or lost.   7.   Coaches who believe that to be a great player all you need is great physical ability, will be disappointed by those natural athletes who don’t have the heart for the game. And will be presently surprised by lesser athletes with and insatiable love for the game.   8.    Coaches who teach their players to love “the game” and not about the need to win “the game”, will find themselves with a team of winners who will make the winning happen because it’s fun.   9.   When the fun is gone the consistent winning is over.   10. It is the rare player who can endure the mental and physical rigors of year round training. Give them a break.   11. A team is only as good as the weakest player on the bench, so train every player on the roster as if they were starting the next game.   12. Never blame a player for causing the team to lose a game, blame the coach for improper preparation.   13. Attention to detail will make the team a winner.   14. A winning tradition is worth more then super-stars to any team.   15. Start with the players when building a system, don’t start with a system and try to make the players fit.   16.  Use every game as the basis for the next practice.   17. Discipline is the foundation a good team is built on.   18. Don’t let your need to win overcome your requirement to be ethical.   19. Players don’t care what you think until they think you care. 20. Failure is like fertilizer, it may stink, but it will help you grow.