Tracey Leone officially joined the Harvard women's soccer staffas a coaching assistant in May 2007.
In her first season with the Crimson, the team finished 10-6-1,and had two NSCAA All-Northeast Region selections in Lizzy Nicholsand Katherine Sheeleigh. Harvard followed that up with a10-3-5 performance in 2008, capturing its first Ivy League titlesince 1999 and qualifying for the NCAA tournament for the firsttime since 2004.
For the fourth time in her career, Leone works beside with herhusband, Ray Leone, the head coach of the Crimson. Recently the duospent time together at Arizona State with Tracey joining the SunDevils' staff in 2005 as an assistant. Prior to ASU, Tracey and Raycoached together at Clemson with each serving stints as the Tigers'head coach. Tracey broke into the collegiate coaching ranks atCreighton, serving as an assistant for the Bluejays.
With over 17 years of coaching experience at both internationaland collegiate levels, Leone's impressive credentials on the benchmake her one of the top mentors in the business. A three-timenational champion as a student-athlete at North Carolina, Leonealso has been a part of three World Championship teams. In 2003,she became the first American to win a World Championship as both aplayer and as a head coach, bringing home the first in 1991 as amember of the US Women's National Team and the latter as the headcoach of the US Under-19 National Team.
Tracey Leone playing with the US National Team |
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Leone, who is a USSF `A' Licensed Coach, has spent severalseasons as a member of the US Women's National Team coaching staff,serving as the head coach of the Under-19 squad from 2000-03 beforeserving as an assistant coach of the gold medal-winning US OlympicTeam at the 2004 Games in Athens, Greece.
Prior to her stint with the US National Team Program, Leone spentsix seasons on the sidelines at Clemson, serving as the program'shead coach from 1994-97 and then as the co-head coach with herhusband in 1998 and 1999. Leone brought the Tigers to the DivisionI level in 1994 and then guided them on a historic run thatincluded an appearance in the NCAA tournament, marking the firsttime a program advanced to the national tournament in its firstvarsity season of NCAA Division I competition. For her efforts,Leone was selected as the 1994 South Region Coach of the Year.
During her tenure with the Tigers, her squads strung together astreak of 57 consecutive weeks in the national rankings whilemaking six NCAA appearances in as many seasons. In the post-season,Clemson would reach the Sweet 16 in 1998 and twice advance to theElite 8 (1997 and 1999). Upon her departure from the Tiger programfollowing the 1999 campaign, Leone had compiled a record of 89-39-4for a .690 winning percentage.
Prior to assuming the coaching duties at Clemson, Leone spentseven years as a member of the Olympic Development Program(1993-2000) where she was named the Nebraska Director of Coachingand was a member of the Midwest and South Region OlympicDevelopment Staff. Her duties also included a stint as an assistantcoach with the Under-21 National Team and as the head coach of theUnder-17 South Region Team.
Her first collegiate coaching stint came in 1991 as she was namedan assistant coach for the women's program at Creighton withhusband Ray serving as the program's head coach. On the coachingstaff for two seasons (1991-92) and the recruiting staff in 1993,Leone was a major contributor to the success the Bluejays found in1993 when they earned a place in the national rankings on thestrength of a 14-3-2 (.789) season. The team's win total was aschool record at the time and was equaled one year later.
In her playing days, Leone spent four years as a member of the USWomen's National Team (1987-91) which culminated with the Americanswinning gold at the 1991 World Championships.
At North Carolina, Leone earned All-America honors while helpingher team to three NCAA titles. Her play also earned her a placeamong the Atlantic Coast Conference's (ACC) All-Time Top 50 playersin women's soccer history. Leone graduated from UNC in 1989 with aBachelor of Arts in Education and a North Carolina Teachingcertificate for grades K-6.
