Thank You Coach

Tom Lang retires as Southern’s winningest men’s soccer coach — a 25-year stop in his lifelong love affair with the beautiful game.

By John Rosengren

BEFORE SOCCER FOUND ITS FOOTING IN THE UNITED STATES, THE BEAUTIFUL GAME FOUND TOM LANG. Born in Ireland and raised in England, he watched “football on the telly,” attended professional matches, and played every day in the streets. By the time his family moved to the United States in 1969 when he was 12 years old, soccer had become part of who he was. “I grew up in a soccer culture,” he says, “and found my love for the game.”

After an All-American career at Adelphi University in New York and four years playing professionally, Lang carried that love of the game through a 46-year coaching career, the past 25 at Southern, where he experienced extraordinary success. Lang led the Owls to two NCAA Division II National Championships, in 1998 and 1999. They were undefeated throughout the 1999 season. His Owls made 13 NCAA Division II tournament appearances and topped the Northeast-10 (NE10) regular-season competition five times, winning the NE10 championship in 2007.

The National Soccer Coaches Association of America named Lang the Division II Coach of the Year twice, in 1998 and 1999. He retired in May as the all-time winningest coach in Southern’s men’s soccer history, amassing a 307-117-55 win, loss, tie record, which translates to a sparkling winning percentage of .698. What’s more, he is the only person to have won an NCAA Division II title as both a player and a coach.

A four-year star at Adelphi, Lang captained the team for three years. Throughout his collegiate career, the forward scored 41 goals and amassed 105 points. He led his Panthers to four straight NCAA tournaments, and they won the 1974 NCAA Division II Championship. Adelphi inducted him into its Athletics Hall of Fame in 1994.

In his first year as a professional, 1977, his teammates on the New York Cosmos included Pelé, Carlos Alberto, Franz Beckenbauer, and Giorgio Chinaglia. They made an impression on him. So did a man with a lower profile, assistant coach Joe Mallett. Lang observed the humble, genuine way Mallett interacted with players and admired his deep knowledge of the game. “That has stayed with me over the years,” Lang says. “I had great respect for him.”

Lang played three seasons total in the North American Soccer League with three different teams and another year in the American Soccer League with the New Jersey Americans. He continued to play nonprofessionally with the Lynbrook Steuben in the Long Island Soccer Football League (LISFL), a senior men’s conference. In the LISFL, he was a gentleman on the pitch, never receiving a single yellow or red card for infractions. In 2016, the league inducted him into its Hall of Fame.

Looking to the day when his professional career ended, Lang had thought he’d teach physical education and coach soccer at a high school. But when his alma mater gave him the chance to be an assistant coach for the team he’d played for, the course of his life changed. “I knew the first day I stepped out on the field for practice I wanted to coach at the college level,” he says. “I know it sounds cliché and corny, but it’s true.”

In 1982, Lang earned his first men’s head coaching job at Hofstra University, then returned to Adelphi to lead the women’s team in 1987. He transferred to Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey for seven years before landing at Southern in 1997. “When the position [at Southern] opened up, I was excited about the opportunity to be part of one of the best programs in the country, at an institution that valued soccer,” he says. Under former coaches Ray Reid, '84, M.S. '86, M.S. '90, and then, Bob Dikranian, Southern had become a Div. II soccer dynasty with men’s national team titles in 1987, 1990, 1992, and 1995.

Lang quickly put his mark on the program, enhancing its legacy of excellence with back-to-back national championships in his second and third seasons. He’s also turned out 25 All-Americans, an average of one a year. While the success has been rewarding, it has been equally gratifying, he says, to develop student-athletes as people. “I’ve always been honest with the players and tried to make sure they understood I came from a place where I cared about them as people, not just players,” he says. “The opportunity to see them grow, develop as young men, get their degrees, and move on — that’s been very satisfying.”

The thought of retirement percolated during the pandemic, when Lang worked from home and enjoyed having more time for himself. He’s planning a trip to Europe with his wife, Doreen, and trips to visit his daughters, Kelly in Boston, and Megan, a Southern graduate from the Class of 2010, in Chicago. Megan has two sons, ages 4 and 7, and the older one plays soccer. Lang’s fall coaching duties have prevented him from getting to family games. “I’m excited to see my grandson play,” he says.

After tackling some items on his wife’s honey-do list — “She has a list for me of all those things I’ve ignored over the years,” Lang jokes — he’d like to find a way to stay involved with soccer and give back to the game, though he’s uncertain at this point if it will be as a coach, administrator, or scout.

Wherever he ends up, Lang leaves Southern with a smile on his face. “I’ve been blessed. I’m very fortunate to be someone who’s had the ability to go through life doing something I love and have a great passion for,” he says. “Not everyone gets the chance to do that.” ■

Southern Grad Leading Men’s Soccer

Kevin Anderson, ’94

On March 20, Kevin Anderson, ’94, was named head coach of the men’s soccer team — the fourth person to hold the position. Anderson comes to Southern from Columbia University, where he was head coach for 14 years. First hired as an assistant coach at Columbia in 1994, he later returned to Southern as an assistant under then head coach Tom Lang, helping to guide the Owls to back-to-back NCAA Div. II national championships in 1998 and 1999.

“To return to the alma mater of both my brother and I, and to build upon the legacy known as Southern Connecticut soccer, is one that I take on with tremendous responsibility and pride,” says Anderson, who played with the Owls for two years after transferring from George Mason University. As a Southern student-athlete, Anderson helped the Owls to the 1992 NCAA Div. II National Championship and was a 1992 First Team All-American.

Following his playing career at Southern, Anderson was with the Long Island Rough Riders of the USL League Two from 1993 to 1997, winning a national championship in 1995. He went on to play on numerous U.S. professional teams, including the Minnesota Thunder, which he captained, as well as the Colorado Rapids, the Tampa Bay Mutiny, and the Charleston Battery, winning the league championship in 2002. He concluded his playing career in 2003 with the Thunder, serving once again as team captain; the team won the league championship and finished as a runner-up to the national champions.

“Kevin’s success at Columbia in building a competitive program focused on academics, athletics, and social awareness aligns with ‘The Owl Way,’” says Chris Barker, director of athletics and recreation at Southern. “I’m thrilled to welcome him home.” ■