PEORIA, Ill. -- Former Bradley Soccer star Preston Good (Newark, Calif./Moreau Catholic H.S.) has returned to the Braves as an assistant coach, 11th-year head coach Jim DeRose announced today.
“I'm extremely excited about returning to my alma mater and having the opportunity to begin my collegiate coaching career at a nationally-respected program,” said Good. “Coach DeRose, Coach (Brad) Ruzzo and the Bradley administration are dedicated to our student-athletes, and I look forward to contributing to the continued success of Bradley soccer, both on and off the field.”
Good played for the Braves from 2000 through 2004 and helped Bradley to NCAA Tournament appearances as a freshman in 2000 and again as a redshirt sophomore in 2002. He remains third in program history with 31 career goals and nine game-winning goals and fourth with 77 career points. He scored on 19.9 percent of his shots, the second-best scoring percentage in program history, and he put 91 of his 156 career shots on frame for the best shots-on-goal percentage (.583) in school history.
“Having Preston join our staff automatically makes us a better program,” said DeRose. “Like Thando (Dzowa), who is finishing his master's degree and getting married this spring, he has intimate knowledge of not only our program but the institution as well. Being a soccer player at Bradley University is secondary to being a student-athlete, and Preston understands the responsibilities that come along with representing Bradley.
“In all of my years of coaching I perhaps have had no player that got more out of his ability than Preston,” added DeRose. “His work ethic, attentiveness to detail, and his ability to score, defend or assist in the games must critical moments made Preston the ultimate ?big-game' player. There is no doubt that with our young group of attacking players on the roster and those recently committing, they will have a coach that has lived the moment and can provide them with the insights and expertise it takes to be successful. His California and West Coast recruiting contacts should also prove beneficial, as he has stayed in touch with many of the club, junior college, and ODP coaches who knew him as a Region IV and California North ODP starter. We look forward to Preston being on our staff for years to come while he prepares himself to be a head coach.”
Good twice led Bradley in scoring, finishing with eight goals and 18 points during the 2002 NCAA Tournament season and 13 goals and 32 points during his junior season in 2003. He was a second-team All-Missouri Valley Conference pick and a third-team selection to the NSCAA All-Midwest Region team following the 2003 campaign. Good went on to earn honorable mention All-MVC honors following his senior season in 2004, when he finished second on the team with seven goals and 18 points. In addition, he was twice named to the All-MVC Tournament Team (2003, 2004). Internally, Good was chosen for Bradley's Most Valuable Offensive Player Award in 2002 and 2003 and he shared the 2004 Bradley Coaches Award with Cody Kother.
Good replaces a former teammate, Thando Dzowa, on Bradley's staff, which was awarded the Missouri Valley Conference Coaching Staff of the Year award in 2006. Despite enduring heavy graduation losses from the 2005 Valley regular-season champion and NCAA Tournament squad, the 2006 Braves shared the MVC regular-season crown with Creighton and once again advanced to the championship game of the State Farm MVC Tournament. Bradley will try for its third straight Valley title in 2007 with a squad that lost only three seniors -- Zach Bell, James Hedges and Mark Wallace -- to graduation.
