Knox College

"In my career playing soccer, I have had the opportunity to be coached by a ton of coaches with many different backgrounds within the US and outside as well. I have had some amazing coaches, but also some very poor ones. Somehow, Brian O'connor sits at the bottom of my list. And I've had some really awful jerks as coaches. He's not a rude person, but he is one of the worst I've ever seen or been coached by. His communication is beyond poor. I can't even begin to explain with words how awful of a communicator he is. For example, he never emails us (only texts through a "group me" app), and what he does communicate is worth little to nothing to anyone (e.x. he said recently in the group chat "need people to sign up for baseball asap. [then he attached a link to a google form]. then said "it needs to be filled out by tomorrow." and then, "don't make me chase people down."). What are we signing up for? Playing baseball? Helping out at the baseball games? If so what are we doing to help at the baseball games? I mean it's ridiculous. Things like that all the time. When it comes to coaching, if you want to escape the American youth game of kick and run don't come here. From playing players out of form, to only playing a few number of players, Brian will bring you into the team only for you to lose yourself feeling like you have no place and not knowing why you even are here in the one horse town called Galesburg IL. When players that he plays don't listen to him and do as he instructs he comes and yells at the bench about why he's telling us these things and why we should do them and then doesn't sub any of the players that are not listening to him. So he really has no sense of control over what the team does at all and there is really no respect between players and him. There isn't much else I can say about Brian except for stay as far away as possible. I've seen him ruin soccer for many lives. He ruined it for me. I was excited about college ball, but no longer. I even discussed a bit with him, and he said he'd communicate with me better. That didn't happen. I'm sure by now you're not surprised. He is a very poor coach, and I urge you to not waste your time even considering Knox College Soccer."

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"Fantastic Coach all around. Saw potential in me and was able to help me achieve it, while pushing myself and teammates to be the best versions of ourselves on and off the field. "

"Great coach, every single player on the team will get their shot. Big emphasize on fitness and attitude. Helps tremendously with life after college with recommendations "

"Top 4 Most Important Things 1. Be on Time 2. Come in Fit 3. Communicate 4. Accountability "

"Sometimes can be unreasonable and sporadic. Can be tough to play for. However, this may not be the case for every player as college soccer (any college sport) is just not as enjoyable as HS sports. "

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