BOISE STATE TENURE (Since 1998)...
Steve Lucas is entering his 12th season at Boise State and his 10th as head coach. His tenure at Boise State spans the entire history of the program which enters its 12th season in 2009. In the spring of 1998 the Virginia native was hired as an assistant coach to help build the fledgling soccer program that was to begin play that fall. He has been an integral part of Bronco soccer ever since. After two seasons as the assistant he became the second head coach in program history when he was promoted on January 18, 2000.
In the last nine years as head coach Lucas has led Boise State from a struggling young program to an established Western Athletic Conference (WAC) contender. He guided the Broncos’ move from the Big West Conference to the WAC in 2001. In 2003 he saw the dream of an on-campus competition field come to fruition with the opening of the Boas Tennis & Soccer Complex’s stadium, where the Broncos have gone 27-12-10 (.653) in six years.
Lucas has led the Broncos to a 73-79-18 overall record in his time as head coach. In the last five years his teams have posted four winning records and one .500 mark going a combined 46-38-13 (.541). The program has advanced to the WAC Tournament six times in eight years of membership including four-straight 2005-2008. In 2003 he was named the Western Athletic Conference’s Coach of the Year.
During Lucas’ tenure as head coach the program’s on-field accomplishments include two second place conference finishes in 2001 and 2007, one conference player of the year, one league freshman of the year, 19 all-conference honors, 17 conference players of the week, three regular-season conference scoring champions, one NCAA Idaho Woman of the Year, and four “Gem” state championships.
In the classroom, Lucas’ teams are the top academic performing team in the WAC. They have recorded the best APR (academic performance rating) in the league for the last two years. During his nine seasons in charge he has had 96 young women play for him, 49 (51 percent) of them earned conference all-academic team honors at least once during their careers, 94 total honors. There has been one conference female scholar athlete of the year and one NSCAA/addidas all-region scholar athlete. During that same time span his teams have posted a combined accumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher in 17 of 18 semesters. They have also received national recognition twice from the NSCAA (National Soccer Coaches Association of America) for team GPA. Additionally, in eight years of WAC membership Boise State has posted league highs for the number of individuals named to the conference’s all-academic team and the total number of honors received with 47 and 90 respectively.
PRIOR COLLEGIATE COACHING EXPERIENCE (1993-95)...
Prior to his arrival at Boise State he spent three years as an assistant coach at his alma mater New Hampshire College (now called Southern New Hampshire University). While at NHC he helped guide the Penmen to a combined 45-8-4 overall record and one appearance in the NCAA Division II Tournament.
CLUB COACHING EXPERIENCE (1993-97)...
Lucas has also been heavily involved in club soccer over the years. In New Hampshire he coached with the Manchester United Soccer Club and the John Rootes NHC Soccer School in Manchester. In 1996 Lucas moved his family to Idaho where he became the director of coaching and player development for the Les Bois United Soccer Club of Boise from 1996 to 2000. He resigned that post in 2000 when he took the head coaching position at Boise State but has stayed involved with the club to this day.
COLLEGIATE PLAYING CAREER (1987-90)...
As a collegiate player, Lucas has the distinction of owning national championship rings from two different schools. He started his collegiate career at Clemson University in Clemson, S.C., where he was a member of the 1987 NCAA Division I National Championship team. In 1988, he transferred to New Hampshire College in Manchester, helping the team to the 1989 NCAA Division II National Championship. In addition to the national titles, his collegiate teams went a combined 77-15-3 overall and won two conference championships.
PERSONAL...
Lucas received his bachelor’s degree in Marketing from New Hampshire College in 1996. He is a native of Springfield, Virginia, where he attended high school. Steve and his wife, Tina, have two daughters, Kylie (19) a sophomore at Boise State and Kassidy (15). They also have one son, Kamden (8). The Lucas family lives in the city of Boise.