An hour before the last game of Bradley’s 2023 season, former head coach Jim DeRose revealed to his players that his storied career was ending.
Despite the news, the players settled their emotions and played their hearts out one last time for their coach.
“I don’t think any of us knew that whole season that he was leaving,” senior captain Charlie Dickerson said. “We all took it on the chin. We knew it was sad news, but we used it as motivation going into that game.”
“Western Michigan had great players last year,” Dickerson added. “Charlie Sharp and Dylan Sing went on to sign pro contracts. We held them off for 70 minutes before they scored their goals. That was a performance for DeRose.”
DeRose was Bradley’s head soccer coach for 28 years and, by many accounts, the epitome of what it meant to be a Brave.
In his stead, the Bradley Athletics Department promoted assistant coach and former Brave Tim Regan as the new head coach.
New roles, familiar faces
Regan attended Bradley from 1999 to 2002. After his collegiate career, he was selected 17th in the MLS SuperDraft and had a successful career as a player, administrator and coach.
Now, Regan embarks on a new journey and looks to follow in the footsteps of his former coach.
“He could handle anything,” Regan said. “I’d be happy to be able to handle a fraction of what he was able to handle over his 28 years.”
Stepping into the head coaching position is difficult, but following a legendary coach is strenuous. Luckily for Regan, familiarity is on his side.
“The transition has been much simpler than if I was going to another school and trying to adapt to a new set of players,” Regan said. “We have all the identity in place for our culture on and off the field; therefore, I can continue to be a similar voice.”
“As an assistant coach, you are given the ability to interact more with the players on a more personal level,” Regan added. “As the head coach, you have to make more difficult decisions.”
In addition to having a familiar face as head coach, the Braves have 21 returning players, who went unbeaten through the first eight games of the season last year before two players suffered critical injuries.
Mejias is back for more
Kevin Mejias’ knee injury was arguably the worst of all the Braves’ injuries last season. Despite missing the final 10 games of the season, the forward led the team in goals (3) and points (7).
“It was a really difficult recovery process, both physically and mentally,” Mejias said. “I wasn’t able to help the team. I just wanted to stop everything. I didn’t want to go to school. I didn’t want to study, but you can’t give up when things don’t go your way.”
Mejias’ return to the field will help Bradley’s offense immensely. The Braves finished the season at the bottom of the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) in shots, goals, points and assists.
Off-season improvements and additions
During the offseason, attacking was a big emphasis for Bradley.
“On the attacking side, our starting point was to increase the possessions by 10 to 20 percent in any given game,” Regan said. “We want to control the ball a lot more so we can defend a little bit less.”
Defensively, the Braves were among the best teams in the MVC, landing in the top five in saves and goals allowed. However, there is still work to be done.
“We have to improve the ability to defend in one versus one situation by our own goal,” Regan said. “It’s the hardest thing to do on the defensive side, and we continue to push that in our daily training.”
Regan brought in five additions to the team this season: three first-year students and two juniors.
“Juniors Dominic and Jaime, just based on their previous schools, are ready to step on the field and compete at a high level,” Regan said. “The freshmen have to make a big transition from high school to the Division I level, and so we are trying to keep our expectations realistic and give them quick experiences to build their confidence.”
Because of the vast number of returners and the added talent from recruitment, Regan hopes to build on last season’s early-season success.
“We went eight games unbeaten to start the 2023 season and entered the conference season with real positive energy,” Regan said. “We came up against really strong opponents in conference play that were tough to score against. It was a challenge we weren’t able to succeed in. This year, the concentration is to carry our success from the non-conference play into our conference schedule.”
The Braves have started the year off 2-1 in non-conference play, with a 1-0 win against Chicago, a 3-2 loss to Milwaukee and a 4-0 win against Western Illinois. Bradley will be back in action Saturday versus Purdue Fort Wayne.
