Stephen Negoesco

Stephen Negoesco or Stephen Negoescu (September 12, 1925-) is a Romanian-American former soccer player and coach.

Born in New Jersey, Negoesco returned with his father to Romania after his mother's death. While living with relatives, he discovered and took up soccer. His skills would help Negoesco survive and escape imprisonment by the Nazis during their occupation of Romania in World War II, and after the war, he played briefly in the Romanian Football League before returning to the United States.

Settling in California, Negoesco enrolled at the University of San Francisco in 1947 where he studied biology. He also resumed playing soccer, coached by Gus Donoghue. Negoesco led the Dons to the 1949 California collegiate title and the 1950 NCAA co-championship with Penn State, and he also earned two All-American honors during this period.

After graduating in 1951, Negoesco taught in the San Francisco Unified School District for a decade. He then was hired as USF's men's soccer coach in 1962, a post he would hold until his retirement in 2000. During that period, Negoesco would coach the Dons to 544 victories, 22 conference titles, and four NCAA titles (1966, 1975, 1976, and 1980).

Among the players he mentored were former All-Americans John Doyle and Andy Atuegbu, as well as former Peruvian president Alejandro Toledo.

After his retirement from coaching men's soccer, Negoesco was inducted to the National Soccer Coaches Association of America hall of fame in 2003, joining his former coach, Gus Donoghue. Negoesco Stadium on the USF campus was named in his honor.

External links

* [http://usfdons.cstv.com/trads/soccer_trad.html Negoesco's legacy at USFDons.com]
* [http://www.nscaa.com/subpages/20060403190718317.php Negoesco named to NSCAA hall of fame]