The Dallas Sidekicks have announced Ed Puskarich as their new Head Coach. Puskarich is the seventh Head Coach in Sidekicks’ history.
“The Dallas Sidekicks are super excited to have Ed Puskarich at the helm. Ed brings a wealth of knowledge, community relationships with his club, and 40-plus years of soccer experience. The Dallas Sidekicks have big expectations for the future,” said President Jesse Llamas.
“We are going to work hard. I want to be entertaining. I want to be fast. I’m going to bring some old-school indoor soccer tactics that I think are lacking in the indoor game right now,” Puskarich commented.
Dallas native Puskarich played soccer and football at SMU and started his professional soccer career in 1984 with the Houston Dynamo in the United Soccer League. Puskarich also played indoor with the Columbus Capitals, Fort Wayne Flames, Los Angeles Lazers, Memphis Storm, Dayton Dynamo, Chicago Power, and Milwaukee Wave.
In 1996 Puskarich was drafted by the Dallas Burn for whom he played in 18 games. Puskarich ended his playing career in 2003 with the Texas Rattlers in the USL D3 Pro League.
Puskarich had a long pro career with over 650 professional games both indoor and outdoor soccer spanning over 19 years.
Puskarich started his coaching career in 1993 as the Head Coach of NCAA Division II North Central College in Naperville, Illinois, and then Aurora University.
After playing for the Burn, he transitioned into an assistant coach position within the club in 1997 and held the position until 2000. Puskarich founded Texas Spurs in 1999.
Since then, the Texas Spurs have become one of the premier youth programs as well as joining Adult soccer leagues such as the Women’s Premier Soccer League and the United Premier Soccer League.
“My first priority is to meet the guys and make sure that they know that we have a plan in place to win,” Puskarich said. “I want our players to know that me and the organization have their back. We have a couple of combines planned and a training camp that will be unique this year.”
The 2023-24 Sidekicks Home Opener is on Saturday, December 9th at 7 PM at the Credit Union of Texas Event Center in Allen.
I think that having a good coach is actually a half of success. I hope he will find a new very good approach to help the team with winning games and make them more successful. A skilled coach not only brings technical knowledge and expertise but also provides guidance, motivation, and leadership to the team – and he is one of them. If he analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the players and develop strategies to maximize their potential, they will definitely start to play better and be at the top of the table as it usually happens when a skilled coach comes to a club.