East Stroudsburg University
Koehler Fieldhouse
East Stroudsburg, PA 18301
(570) 422-3642
(570) 422-3306 (Fax)
Director
Intercollegiate Athletics
Tom Gioglio
(570) 422-3642
Director
Sports Information
Greg Knowlden
gknowlden@
po-box.esu.edu
(570) 422-3312
|
Assistant Coaches
Contact Coach Sheska
E-mail: jsheska@po-box.esu.edu
Phone: (570) 422-3303
Head coach Jerry Sheska enters his 26th season at East Stroudsburg University after leading the Warriors to their 14th PSAC championship and 14th appearance in the NCAA Division II Tournament in his tenure in 2006.
Sheska returned ESU to the winner's circle after a two-year absence and claimed the program's 12th conference title in the last 15 years. He was named PSAC Coach of the Year as well, the seventh time he has been honored by his peers in the conference and the 14th Coach of the Year award he has earned in his career.
He won his 350th career game as a collegiate men's soccer coach and is ranked fifth among active Division II coaches with 366 victories and eighth with a .723 winning percentage going into the 2007 season. The veteran head coach also earned the 400th win of his career when including his 39-10-2 record from 1992-94 as the first head coach in the history of the ESU women's soccer program.
Sheska has led ESU to 24 consecutive winning seasons and has finished below .500 just once in his career, in his inaugural season in 1982. Since then, his teams have won at least 10 games in all but one season, and have won 16 or more games in 11 of the past 13 years.
ESU has qualified for the NCAA Division II Tournament in all but three seasons since 1994, and returned to the postseason after a two-year absence in 2006. The Warriors' best finish was an appearance in the Final Four in 2000, when they finished the year ranked third in the nation.
The 2000 Final Four squad came in the middle of an unprecedented stretch of seven straight PSAC championships from 1997-2003, and the Warriors advanced past the first round of the NCAA tournament in four of those seasons - 1997, 2000, 2002 and 2003.
ESU's most recent postseason win was a 2-1 decision over New York Institute of Technology in the first round in 2003, a victory which set the school record with 19 wins. The Warriors fell 2-1 in overtime to Lock Haven last season, the same team they beat 1-0 just five days earlier to win the PSAC crown. The 1997 and 2002 teams advanced to the national quarterfinals, as did the 1988 club that delivered Sheska's first postseason victory.
A 1968 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 that reached the quarterfinals 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 for three years at ESU as a catcher and first baseman. He later played semiprofessional 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 10 years at Morris Knolls High School in Denville, N.J. before coming to ESU. He was head coach for three years, and his final team in 1981 finished with a 17-3-1 record.
His coaching background also includes experience as a professional coach in the American Soccer League. He holds a U.S. Soccer Federation "A" coaching license.
Sheska started the ESU women's soccer program in 1992 and guided the team for three seasons. His 1994 team won the first PSAC championship in school history and finished with an 18-2 record.
A faculty member at ESU, Sheska teaches both undergraduate and graduate classes in sport studies and exercise science. He holds bachelor's and Master's degrees in Health and Physical Education from ESU and a Ph.D. from Madison University.
|
|
|
|
