Nation’s Winningest Soccer Coach with .900 winning percentage and an average of 20 wins a season
Yavapai Community College’s Mike Pantalione retired in mid-January after a 32-year career as head soccer coach at Yavapai Community College. He started as head soccer coach in 1988.
Mr. Pantalione received his decree from the University of Montana. According to an article in the February 25, 2021 QUADCITIES by Mr. Ray Newton, “prior to that, Pantalione had been coaching and directing soccer programs in England and then the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, Kenyon College in Ohio, Jesuit High School in Portland, and Archbishop Wood High School in Philadelphia. In all, he has been active in soccer for 40 years.”
Pantalione is considered an “ icon in the Quad Cities and even more so in the collegiate soccer world,” wrote Mr. Newton. He also wrote that: “No men’s soccer coach in the nation has a record that even comes close to Pantalione’s .900 winning percentage. He is the only coach in intercollegiate soccer to average more than 20 wins a season.”
“A Hall of Fame recipient, he coached the Roughriders to several National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) championships. His team won its first national championship in 1990 – two years after he founded the team. The Roughriders won national championships again in 1992, 1997, 2002, 2003, 2007 and 2009.”
You may read the entire in-depth great article on Mr. Panalione’s life and contributions to soccer locally and nationally in Mr. Newton’s story in the QUADCITES. You can read the program on line by clicking here or going to https://www.quadcitiesbusinessnews.com/nations-winningest-soccer-coach-retires/?fbclid=IwAR0yOArsW9H9q-8olKamXY9Hnb2GqRGrshQYisaJTMMQAMxqtMPTL3ydkig.