PEORIA, IL – The mantra of the Bradley Soccer program for the last 28 seasons has been, "Leave a Legacy."  Veteran head coach Jim DeRose personified that message throughout his tenure as the winningest coach in the program's history and now he will hand the reigns to one of Bradley Soccer's brightest stars.
 
With his 28th season as Bradley head coach in the books, DeRose, 56, has announced his retirement and Vice President of Intercollegiate Athletics Dr. Chris Reynolds has named former Bradley All-American and veteran assistant coach Tim Regan as his successor.

Press Conference to be held at Bradley's Renaissance Coliseum tomorrow at 12 p.m.
Click here for press conference live stream 
 
Just the third head coach in Bradley Soccer history, DeRose was the youngest coach in NCAA Division I men's soccer when he took over the program in 1996 and he quickly made his mark by knocking off perennial Missouri Valley Conference power Creighton to win the 1998 regular-season league title.  Two years later, with a defense anchored by Regan, DeRose's Braves would beat two of that year's four NCAA College Cup qualifiers on the way to earning the program's first NCAA Tournament appearance in 2000. He would go on to lead the Braves to seven Valley regular-season or tournament titles and seven NCAA Tournament appearances, highlighted by a sweep of both league championships and a magical run to the NCAA Tourney Elite Eight in 2007, while compiling a final 267-227-66 (.536) record.  DeRose's seven NCAA Tournament appearances are the most for any coach of any sport in Bradley Athletics history.
 
Among the many highlights during DeRose's tenure at Bradley:
 

• DeRose is not just the winningest coach in Bradley history, but his 267 victories represent 84.0 percent of the program's 318 wins all time and his 85 Valley victories represent 96.6 percent of the program's 88 all-time regular-season league wins.
• He is the second-winningest coach in Missouri Valley Conference men's or women's soccer history.
• Following the 2007 season, he was named the Soccer America National Coach of the Year, to go along with three United Soccer Coaches Region Coach-of-the-Year and four MVC Coach/Staff-of-the-Year Awards.
• Now with changes to playing rules that end regular-season games after 90 minutes of regulation play, DeRose's Braves set a NCAA record that will never be broken by stringing together a 24-game unbeaten streak (10-0-14) in overtime games, spanning six seasons (2001-06).
• He guided the Braves to national top-25 poll rankings during eight different campaigns.
• DeRose coached the only four-year All-American (Gavin Glinton) in Bradley Athletics and Missouri Valley Conference Men's Soccer history, as well as the only four-time All-MVC goalkeeper in league history.
• He coached nine student-athletes who went on to be selected in the Major League Soccer SuperDraft, including eventual MLS Cup champions Bryan Gaul, Glinton and Bryan Namoff.
• DeRose's Braves advanced to at least the semifinal round of the MVC Men's Soccer Championship in 11 consecutive years from 1998-2008.
• His teams earned 22 wins versus nationally-ranked opponents, including a 1-0 victory at No. 1 Connecticut Sept. 14, 2013, which remains just the second victory ever by any Bradley squad against the nation's top-ranked team (1960 men's basketball versus Cincinnati).
• Not only did he recruit and develop 12 All-Americans, he mentored 16 scholastic All-Americans.
• DeRose's rosters included student-athletes who earned 110 All-Missouri Valley Conference awards, 77 MVC Scholar-Athlete awards, 51 United Soccer Coaches All-Region honors and 32 scholastic all-region/district accolades.

 
Perhaps the most tangible legacy of DeRose's Bradley career, however, is the home of the Braves, Shea Stadium.  Throughout the early years of the Bradley Soccer program, the Braves had a nomadic home-field experience, hosting games at then Peoria Bergen High School (now Peoria Notre Dame), Peoria Richwoods High School, the Peoria Park District's Becker Park, where DeRose's first five teams played their home games, and Morton's McClallen Park.
 
While the team was forced to move from Becker Park due to the construction of Pleasant Valley Middle School, the program's success and growing fan base led the University to work with longtime supporter Tim Shea for the reconfiguration of the former Pete Vonachen Stadium at Meinen Field baseball venue into the soccer-specific Shea Stadium.   Featuring one of the finest natural-grass playing surfaces in the Midwest, Shea Stadium has been the home of Bradley Soccer since 2003, while playing host to some of the largest college soccer crowds in the region, as well as two Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup matches featuring MLS squads Chicago Fire, Columbus Crew and Colorado Rapids.
 
Now a member of DeRose's impressive coaching tree, Regan starred as a student-athlete at Bradley from 1999-2002 and is counted in virtually all of the previously noted highlights of DeRose's career.  A 2014 inductee into the Bradley Athletics Hall of Fame, Regan also was named to the Missouri Valley Conference Men's Soccer All-Centennial Team. The 2002 All-American and MVC Defensive Player of the Year helped the Braves to three MVC Tournament championship game appearances and the first two NCAA Tournament appearances in program history before becoming the 17th overall selection of the 2003 MLS SuperDraft by the MetroStars. 
 
During a six-year MLS career, Regan played for the MetroStars (2003-05), Chivas USA (2006) New York Red Bulls (2007) and Toronto FC (2008).  He was named the MetroStars US Soccer Humanitarian of the Year in each of his three seasons with the club.
 
Since his retirement as a player, Regan has embarked on an impressive administrative and coaching career that has included positions in Major League Soccer, the United States Soccer Federation, one of the nation's premier club teams and collegiate soccer.

Upon his retirement as a player, Regan remained with Toronto FC as Chief Scout from 2008-11, while also serving as an assistant coach for USSF Youth National Teams at the U-15, U-17, U-18 and U-20 levels from 2008-13.  From 2011-12, he also served USSF as Technical Advisor and Youth National Team Scout and from 2012-13, Regan worked as the St. Louis Scott Gallagher Soccer Club Development Academy Director and U-17/18 head coach.

Regan returned to Bradley from Indy Eleven of the North American Soccer League, where he worked from 2013-17 as an assistant coach, interim head coach and director of soccer operations.  During the fall of 2016, he also worked as an assistant coach at DePauw University, helping the Tigers to the second round of the NCAA Division III Men's Soccer Championship.  While serving as the general manager for USL League Two expansion franchise Peoria City during the club's first two seasons in 2022 and 2023, as well as head coach in 2023, Regan has helped the club to top-three finishes in its division in each of its first two seasons.

Regan is married to former Bradley University volleyball star Jenna Passman Regan, who was inducted into the Bradley Athletics Hall of Fame in 2016, making the couple the first husband-and-wife duo to each be enshrined in the school's athletics hall of fame.  The couple has two children, Micah and Brynne.