By Samantha Paul
Scoreless. After 90 minutes of regulation play and 30 minutes of extra time, the United States women’s national soccer team could not find the back of the net against China. During an international friendly, either side would’ve accepted the draw. But there was a FIFA Women’s World Cup title on the line.
With over 90,000 spectators packed into the Rose Bowl, and millions more watching on at home, the U.S. and China would go to a nail-biting penalty shootout to determine the 1999 Women’s World Cup winner. American goalkeeper Briana Scurry mentally prepared to step onto her line, and she knew the expectations: she had to make a save.
But before she went back on the pitch, USWNT head coach Tony DiCicco, formerly a goalkeeping coach for the team, helped her focus.
“I told her all she could be in this shootout was a hero,” DiCicco told the Associated Press after the match. “Bri was the hero.”
DiCicco was a leader in understanding these instances of mental toughness and how they affect athlete performance. It is also grounding moments like these that cemented him as the player’s coach he is remembered as today.
Though she later admitted to leaving her line early, Scurry successfully saved Chinese left back Liu Yang’s penalty kick, playing a central role in the U.S. team’s 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup gold. Then Brandi Chastain scored the match’s decisive penalty to defeat China 5-4 and was immediately crowned the face of the championship team after her iconic jersey-waving celebration.
As the coach with the highest winning percentage in USWNT history, many would assume that DiCicco, too, reveled in the confetti of his career successes. As an assistant coach, DiCicco was a part of the first-ever USWNT World Cup win in 1991. As head coach, he guided the team to a third-place finish in the 1995 Women’s World Cup, Olympic gold in 1996 and the Women’s World Cup crown in 1999.
However, DiCicco was typically one for little attention or fanfare. It was very characteristic of him to leave the spotlight to his athletes. He did his job well, and if his team gained recognition, he was happy with that.
This may also be why DiCicco’s story as one of the greatest soccer coaches ever is not well-known enough.
How exactly did a man from a small town in Connecticut find himself on the sideline of the World Cup Final in 1999? What got him to that moment of hoisting the trophy over his head and living every soccer player’s dream of being on the biggest stage in the world?
DiCicco, born in Wethersfield, Conn, was exposed to sports early in life. On youth teams, then later varsity squads throughout high school, he was a standout multi-sport athlete, playing basketball, baseball, and of course, captaining and goalkeeping for the soccer team.
DiCicco was also a true leader his entire life. In high school, he was a member of the student council, executive committee and served as vice president for his senior class. It was clear very early on that DiCicco’s leadership and magnetic energy attracted and inspired others.
With his remarkable success in goal, DiCicco brought his talents to the Springfield College soccer program. Under esteemed head coach Irv Schmid ‘43, DiCicco recorded eight shutouts in 1968 to help the then-Chiefs to a New England Championship and NCAA Atlantic Coast College Division title. During his senior season in 1969, DiCicco was named co-captain, Most Valuable Player and earned All-American honors.
In recognition of these collegiate achievements, Tony DiCicco was inducted into the Springfield College Athletics Hall of Fame in 1995.
Tony DiCicco’s eldest son, Anthony, said that the impact of a Springfield College education is best understood by those near to and a part of the Springfield community. The values and lessons that his father learned on Alden Street were ones that he carried with him through his career and life.
“What led him to be the coach that he became, a huge amount of that was the impact that going to Springfield had,” Anthony DiCicco said. “The spirit, mind, body connection that is in the DNA of Springfield was embodied by Dad and that national championship team he was a part of.”
Springfield College's mission is to educate the whole person in spirit, mind and body for leadership in service to others. DiCicco embodied that philosophy in life and coaching, understanding that although the on-field result is what athletes train for, personal development off the pitch is equally important.
As a lifelong athlete, DiCicco found that the physical aspect of the Springfield College ideology came through sports. He was an avid skier his entire life, and after graduating from Springfield in 1970, DiCicco spent five years as a professional in the now-defunct American Soccer League. He even playing for the U.S. men’s national team in 1973.
Of course, DiCicco more famously went on to have a long career coaching soccer. From his beginnings as a middle school PE teacher in Vermont to coaching the national team, DiCicco was continually helping to educate the next generation in physical health.
The mental component of the Springfield College philosophy was one that DiCicco valued deeply and put at the center of his coaching style. DiCicco challenged himself to learn from everyone he met, priding himself on being a people person and lifelong learner. Regularly expanding his worldview and understanding of others further translated onto the field, where knowing your athletes is just as important as knowing your opponent.
In an interview with Positive Coaching Alliance in 2016, DiCicco said, “You're going to have a bad game, you’re going to miss an opportunity… and how do you respond to that in nurturing positive mental skills?”
Whether training veterans at the national level or youth players in Connecticut, DiCicco stressed “nurturing positive mental skills” and mental well-being in his coaching. He recognized that bettering his athletes did not necessarily require longer or more intense training sessions, but rather an awareness of what his players were dealing with after they took off their cleats.
As a result, DiCicco brought on mental skills and performance coach Colleen Hacker to work with the USWNT heading into the 1996 Olympics. She helped the players understand many of their anxieties concerning major tournaments and that prioritizing mental health can often be the difference maker in championships.
“We had all the right pieces going into '95, but we didn't have that final piece when things started to kind of crack. It was one of the great strengths of our coach Tony DiCicco in bringing Dr. Hacker in,” USA soccer legend Mia Hamm said in an Olympic interview. “The addition of Dr. Hacker as our mental skills coach made a huge difference in our preparation both as individual athletes and collectively as a team.”
Additionally, defender and co-captain of the '99ers squad Carla Overbeck told the Los Angeles Times, “The good thing about Tony is he has a pulse on our team… Do we need a day off? Have we been training too much?… He has a huge heart. He would do anything for any of us and we all know that.”
Hacker’s contributions made a world of difference with the national team, which won gold in Atlanta that year. After coaching with DiCicco and during her 12-year tenure with U.S. Soccer, Hacker continued to help players with the mental challenges of the sport.
DiCicco truly opened a door for further discussions around mental health in sports and supporting athletes as people. Anthony said his father’s approach to coaching could only be described as “humanistic”.
Finally, as for enriching the spirit, DiCicco relied on his family. His wife, Diane, and their four boys, Anthony, Alex, Nick and Drew, were all true motivators in his work.
His love of his family and desire to spend time with his kids were also primary motivators in his departure from the national team following its 1999 World Cup win. After a long career with U.S. Soccer, DiCicco sought to prioritize balance.
“The main reason I’m stepping down is that it’s more important for me to be a world-class husband and father than a world-class coach,” DiCicco said in an interview in the fall of 1999. “When I looked at the generous financial opportunities available to me next year, I didn’t see how they could possibly enrich my life more than spending time with my wife and boys.”
So, as the USWNT was declared World Cup champions in 1999 and the players hoisted the FIFA trophy over their heads, Tony DiCicco was proud of his athletes and his role in their journey. However, it was a bittersweet moment as his last major tournament with an extraordinary and historic group of athletes.
Looking back on the 1999 U.S. women’s national team 25 years later, it’s clear that Tony DiCicco played a central part in a generationally influential moment. Fans and future professionals sat in front of television sets and watched on as the '99ers changed the trajectory of women’s sports, with a Springfield College alumnus at the helm.
Additionally, while DiCicco’s coaching philosophy certainly incorporated some of the tenets of the Springfield College mission and successfully led to a World Cup title, it’s doubtful that this was any conscious effort on DiCicco’s behalf. It simply speaks to his character that he was considerate of all aspects of each person when also working to make them great athletes.
Although his time with the senior national team came to a close, DiCicco’s coaching journey was far from over in Pasadena. He continued his career in soccer in other areas, serving as commissioner of the Women’s United Soccer Association (WUSA), the first professional soccer league for women in the United States, from 2000-2003.
SoccerPlus, a collection of companies DiCicco founded in 1982, continued to flourish, including SoccerPlus Goalkeeper School, a program that provided youth players with nationwide training camps. SoccerPlus continues to offer soccer instruction to both goalkeepers and field players today.
DiCicco also continued coaching in the best way he knew how; with technical knowledge of the game and an understanding of his players on and off the field. In 2008, DiCicco returned to coach with U.S. Soccer, this time with the women’s U-20 squad. Under his guidance, the team, which included a young Syndey Leroux, Alyssa Naeher and Alex Morgan, won the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Chile that year.
In recognition of his contributions to women’s soccer globally, DiCicco was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2012. He will be remembered as a leader and lover of soccer who left an undeniable mark on the game and a lasting legacy in the culture of mental health in sports.
In 2017, DiCicco lost his battle with cancer. He was 68 years old.
“As much as he absolutely adored soccer and his time with the national team, we had incredible memories off the field,” Anthony DiCicco shared as he emotionally remembered his father. “Whether I'm outdoors on the field or whether I'm skiing here, one of the things I say a lot is that I feel his presence.”
It is extraordinarily rare to have a positive influence on everyone you meet, or in turn for everyone to have a positive opinion of you, but DiCicco is someone whose name and memory are met only with fond smiles and glowing praise. The impact he had on women’s sports and soccer was extraordinary, but the lasting impact he had on people was even greater.
“He had an ability to see special qualities in people that extended far beyond soccer and had a massive impact on—if you look at what the national team has done—millions of lives,” Anthony Dicicco said. “He made himself available to everybody and was really insistent on being present in every interaction he had. It's a powerful thing, especially for someone who's developed some semblance of celebrity… certainly in the sports world.”
Following DiCicco’s death in 2017, former USWNT co-captain and midfielder Julie Foudy compiled comments and cherished stories about Tony from the 1999 players, including stars such as Hamm, Michelle Akers and current U.S. Soccer president Cindy Parlow Cone, to honor his memory and role on the team.
“The more titles, the more that coach is deemed successful. And by that standard, Tony DiCicco was a huge success,” Foudy wrote for espnW. “But to measure Tony's coaching career by titles and accolades is inadequate and seems oddly empty. Because Tony was not just successful, he was significant.”