Gary Ross is taking on a new position at Taylor, stepping down from his role as the head men’s soccer coach.
After 20 years of leading the Trojans, Ross will be moving into a full-time role as a regional director of development in Taylor’s Advancement Office.
In this role, Ross will be able to support the needs of the University as a whole, through relationship development and fundraising.
In the meantime, assistant coach Drew Glover has stepped in as the interim head coach.
Before ascending to the head coaching role in 2004, Ross had served as an assistant coach for the Trojans.
While Ross is proud of his teams’ accomplishments, he said the most meaningful part of his time as head coach was his relationships with the players and how they impacted each other.
After 20 years with the Trojans, Ross finished with a career record of 150-166-34. In 2011, he led the Trojans to their first regular season league championship (8-0-1) and NAIA National Tournament bid, ranking as high as No. 17 nationally.
“Winning the MCC (Mid-Central College Conference) championship at home in front of an unbelievably large crowd, those are fun moments, but at the end of it, you remember the relationship with the players and the guys that you’ve impacted and the guys that have impacted you,” Ross said. (The Crossroads League was known as the MCC until 2012)
In 2014, the Trojans placed second in the Crossroads League (7-2), earning Ross his second MCC Coach of the Year award.
He has also been awarded the NSCAA NAIA Mideast Region Coach of the Year and was honored as one of seven finalists for NSCAA NAIA National Coach of the Year in 2011.
“The mission of the program is to develop tough-minded Christ-like men, intent on furthering God’s Kingdom,” Ross said.
Ross valued building his players’ character and faith. The men’s soccer program has taken nine mission trips to Northern Ireland since 2005.
During these trips, the team works alongside a local ministry called Revival in Our Town (RIOT) to reach the local youth by combining the Gospel and soccer.
Ross said he is ready to move to the frontlines of supporting the university and its mission.
“With the direction that the university is going, it’s an extremely exciting time to be involved in that,” he said.
