Brian Quinn (born 24 May 1960) is a Northern Irish-American soccer coach and former player. He spent most of his professional career in North America where he played in the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League may refer to: *North American Soccer League (1968–1984), a former Division I league *North American Soccer League (2011–2017) The North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional men's soccer league b ...

and Major Indoor Soccer League. He later coached in the

Continental Indoor Soccer League The Continental Indoor Soccer League (CISL) was a professional indoor soccer league that played from 1993 to 1997. History In the summer of 1989 Dr Jerry Buss, the owner of the Los Angeles Lakers and California Sports, told his executive Vice Pre ...

and

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

Player

Professional

As a youth, Quinn had preferred

Gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by kic ...

and

hurling Hurling ( ga, iománaíocht, ') is an outdoor team game of ancient Gaelic Irish origin, played by men. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goals, the number of p ...

to soccer. It was not until he was fourteen that he began to play the game regularly in the Down & Connor League with Corpus Christi Youth Club and Blessed Oliver Plunkett Youth Club (Now St. Oliver Plunkett FC)."Sockers' Quinn draws attention" ''Evening Tribune'' (San Diego) – Wednesday, 18 January 1984 In 1978, he began his playing career with

Larne F.C. Larne Football Club is a professional Northern Irish football club based in Larne, County Antrim that play in the NIFL Premiership. History The club was founded in 1889 and plays its home matches at Inver Park. The club's colours are red and w ...

In 1979, he signed with

Everton F.C. Everton Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Liverpool that competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club was a founder member of the Football League in 1888 and has compe ...

between 1979 and 1981, but spent his entire time on the reserve squad. In 1981, Quinn moved to the US to join the

Los Angeles Aztecs The Los Angeles Aztecs was an American professional soccer team based in Los Angeles, California that existed from 1974 to 1981. The Aztecs competed in the North American Soccer League (NASL) from 1974 to 1981 as well as the 1975 NASL Indoor tour ...

of the

. When the Aztecs folded at the end of the season, he moved to the

Montreal Manic The Montreal Manic or the Manic de Montréal were a professional soccer team based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, that played in the North American Soccer League. The Montreal Manic were brought back in 2020 by Canadian businessman Gary Gaul as an ...

for 1982 and 1983 outdoor seasons. The Manic folded at the end of the 1983 season, and Quinn signed with the

San Diego Sockers San Diego Sockers may refer to: *San Diego Sockers (1978–1996), a soccer team in the North American Soccer League *San Diego Sockers (2001–2004), a soccer team in the World Indoor Soccer League and second Major Indoor Soccer League *San Diego S ...

as they prepared for the 1983–1984 NASL indoor season. In 1984, he played the last NASL season with the Sockers. In the fall of 1984, the Sockers jumped to the Major Indoor Soccer League as the NASL collapsed. He also played a season in the

Canadian Soccer League The Canadian Soccer League (CSL; french: Ligue canadienne de soccer — LCS) is a semi-professional league for Canadian soccer clubs primarily located in the province of Ontario, and claims the history of the Canadian National Soccer League (C ...

in the late '80s with the Hamilton Steelers. Brian played seven MISL seasons Sockers winning six championships. In 1987, he played one outdoor season with the Hamilton Steelers of the

. In August 1991, he announced that he was leaving the team to sign with the US national team. In October 1991, the national team sent Quinn on loan back to the Sockers until January 1992.

National team

Quinn earned 48 caps for the US national team between 1991 and 1994 upon becoming an American citizen. A midfielder, he was a final cut for the

1994 World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national association football, soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the countr ...

squad. He scored his only international goal in a 3–0 win over

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

. He made his debut against the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

in a friendly played at

Foxboro Stadium Foxboro Stadium, originally Schaefer Stadium and later Sullivan Stadium, was an outdoor stadium in the New England region of the United States, located in Foxborough, Massachusetts. It opened in 1971 and served as the home of the New England Pa ...

. Quinn was most recently nominated to US Soccer's National Soccer Hall of Fame Veteran's ballot.

Coach

In February 1995, the

, now playing in the

, hired Quinn to replace long-time head coach

Ron Newman Ronald Vernon Newman (19 January 1934 – 27 August 2018) was an English professional association football player and coach. He was a member of the American National Soccer Hall of Fame. Life Born in Fareham, Newman, after non-league footbal ...

. In 1997, he became the head coach of the San Jose Clash of

. As the youngest coach in league history, he compiled a 35–41 record over nearly three seasons. He then returned to the

. He remained with them until the team ceased operations at the end of 2004. He has launched the Brian Quinn School of Soccer. In 2008, he became an assistant coach with the

University of San Diego The University of San Diego (USD) is a private Roman Catholic research university in San Diego, California. Chartered in July 1949 as the independent San Diego College for Women and San Diego University (comprising the College for Men and Schoo ...

men's team. In addition, he furthers Youth Soccer Development as the Director of Younger Boys Soccer at the San Diego Soccer Club. He also wrote the foreword to the book, ''A History of the World Cup: 1930–2006'', which was released in August 2007.

Awards and honors

In March 2013, Quinn was one of six men named to the 2013 class of the Indoor Soccer Hall of Fame. The other inductees are

Gordon Jago Gordon Harold Jago (born 22 October 1932) is an English former football player and manager, and the former director of the Dr. Pepper Dallas Cup international youth tournament. Playing career Born in Poplar, London, Jago began his profession ...

Preki Predrag Radosavljević ( sr-Cyrl, Предраг Радосављевић; born June 24, 1963), better known by the nickname Preki (), is a Serbian-American former soccer player and coach. He is currently an assistant coach with Seattle Sounde ...

Kai Haaskivi Kai Haaskivi (born 28 December 1955 in Lahti) is a retired Finnish soccer player. He starred in the North American Soccer League, playing outdoor as well as indoor soccer. He also played for the Finland national football team. He now coaches in ...

, Zoltán Tóth, and

Mike Stankovic Mike Stankovic (born November 11, 1956) is a retired Serbian Americans, Serbian-American association football, soccer defender (association football), defender who played professionally in the North American Soccer League (1968–1984), North Ame ...

References

External links

NASL/MISL statsBrian Quinn School of Soccer
{{DEFAULTSORT:Quinn, Brian 1960 births 1991 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 1992 King Fahd Cup players American color commentators American soccer coaches American soccer players Association football midfielders Association footballers from Northern Ireland Larne F.C. players Living people NIFL Premiership players Canadian Soccer League (1987–1992) players CONCACAF Gold Cup-winning players Continental Indoor Soccer League coaches Everton F.C. players Expatriate association footballers from Northern Ireland Expatriate soccer players in Canada Expatriate soccer players in the United States Expatriate sportspeople from Northern Ireland in Canada Hamilton Steelers (1981–1992) players Northern Ireland emigrants to the United States Los Angeles Aztecs players Major Indoor Soccer League (2001–2008) coaches Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) players Montreal Manic players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) indoor players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players San Diego Toreros men's soccer coaches Association footballers from Belfast San Diego Sockers (NASL) players San Diego Sockers (original MISL) players San Jose Earthquakes coaches United States men's international soccer players World Indoor Soccer League coaches Women's United Soccer Association commentators