Men's Soccer

Jerry Sheska
How to Contact:
Coach Sheska
Koehler Fieldhouse, Office 10
ESU, East Stroudsburg, Pa. 18301
Phone: (570) 422-3303
jsheska@esu.edu

Forget all the victories, championships and trophies, what means the most to East Stroudsburg Coach Jerry Sheska is his players.

For 19 years, Sheska has worked with ESU soccer players developing them as individuals and combining them into cohesive, successful teams.

Those teams have:

·Won 70 percent of their games with a 278-107-18 record for a .708 winning percentage

·Captured ten Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference championships including three in a row and seven in the last eight years.

·Qualified for 10 NCAA Division II tournaments with the furthest advance to the Final Four in Miami Beach in 2000.

Rather than the above achievements (and his 11 Coach of the Year Awards), Sheska would prefer emphasizing the more than 200 players he has coached, almost all of whom have graduated and gone on to successful careers.

"That's what is really important - the players. The rest of the stuff is insignificant. What you remember as a coach are the players and their relationships with you and their teammates," said Sheska.

With his team's continual success, Sheska says one of his main objectives each season is taking the pressure off his players and making sure they enjoy themselves.

"Because of our success, a lot is expected of us each year. So I don't emphasize wins and losses, all I ask is that the players work hard all the time in practice and games and the record will take care of itself," said Sheska.

Sheska admits he's changed as coach since he took over the ESU program in 1982.

"I'm much more patient now. I used to complicate the game and tried to do too much." he says. "Now I let them play more and let the game be the teacher. We just stop now and then and make necessary corrections."

Sheska's system continues to work as he is one of the nation's most successful NCAA Division II soccer coaches, ranking fifth in the nation in victories and eighth in winning percentage.

A graduate of ESU, Sheska played three years of varsity soccer for the Warriors as a midfielder and back. He was a member of ESU's 1965 team which reached the quarter-finals of the NCAA Division I Soccer Tournament before losing to Michigan State. He was co-captain of the 1967 team.

He also competed in baseball three years at ESU, playing both catcher and first base. He later played semi-professional baseball for seven years.

After graduation, the Bethlehem, Pa. native served in the United States Army including a tour of duty as an infantry sergeant in Vietnam.

Sheska coached soccer for ten years at Morris Knolls High School in Denville, N.J. He was head coach for three years with his final team in 1981 finishing with a 17-3-1 record.

His coaching background also includes experience as a professional coach in the American Soccer League. He is one of the few coaches to hold a U.S. Soccer Federation 'A' Coaching License.

He also started the ESU women's soccer program in 1992 and guided the team for three seasons. His 1994 women's team won the first PSAC championship game and finished with an 18-2 record. His three-year women's coaching record was 39-10-2.

A faculty member at the school, Sheska teaches both undergraduate and graduate classes in the Department of Movement Studies and Exercise Science. He holds both a master's degree and a bachelor's degree in Health and Physical Education from ESU.

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