Dennis Lukens (born June 28, 1952) is an American professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

coach and former player.

Playing career

Lukens played college soccer for

Springfield College Springfield College is a private college in Springfield, Massachusetts. It confers undergraduate and graduate degrees. It is known as the birthplace of basketball because the sport was invented there in 1891 by Canadian-American instructor J ...

, and professionally for the Boston Storm. He was the founder of the Boston Storm.

Coaching career

He began his career as a coach with

Bridgewater State College Bridgewater State University is a public university with its main campus in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. It is the largest of nine state universities in Massachusetts. Including its off-campus sites in New Bedford, Attleboro, and Cape Cod, BSU h ...

between 1988 and 1991. Lukens has been on the coaching staff of clubs such as the

California Cougars The California Cougars were an indoor soccer team, founded in 2004. The team was a charter member of the Professional Arena Soccer League (PASL-Pro), the first division of arena (indoor) soccer in North America. They played their home matches a ...

(where he was Assistant Coach), and he was also Head Coach of both the Boston Storm, and the Bay Area Seals. He has also been Head Coach of the Saint Lucia under-23 national team, as well as Krystal Kherson in the

Ukrainian Second League Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * Som ...

. Lukens became the first American to coach soccer in the former Soviet Union, and the first to coach in the Ukraine. In January 2014 he was one of six American coaches working professionally in Europe. Lukens has also been Director of Coaching for the Massachusetts Youth Soccer Association, and he has worked with the United States Soccer Federation. He took over as manager of Ukrainian club Sudnobudivnyk Mykolaiv in 2016. He also works as the club's president. Later Lukens has been Technical Director for the Elite Development Academy out of

Fullerton, California Fullerton ( ) is a city located in northern Orange County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 143,617. Fullerton was founded in 1887. It secured the land on behalf of the Atchison, Topeka and Sa ...

. In 2020, Lukens became involved with Dublin County as team manager and chairman, in their bid to enter the

League of Ireland First Division The League of Ireland First Division ( ga, Céad Roinn Sraith na hÉireann), also known as the SSE Airtricity League First Division, is the second level division in both the League of Ireland and the Republic of Ireland football league system. Th ...

. Their bid was unsuccessful due to the club's issues in securing

Morton Stadium Morton Stadium, or the National Athletics Stadium, is an athletics stadium in Santry Demesne, Santry in Ireland. Often called Santry Stadium, it is the centre for athletics events in Dublin city and the home track of Clonliffe Harriers. It h ...

for home games. Despite having two full-time staff and arranging 20 playing contracts, they lost out to

Treaty United Treaty United Football Club is an Irish association football club based in Limerick. The club was founded in 2020 following the demise of Limerick F.C. and began playing in the League of Ireland in 2021. They play their home matches at Market ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lukens, Dennis 1952 births Living people American soccer players Boston Storm players American soccer coaches American expatriate soccer coaches Expatriate football managers in Ukraine American expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine FC Krystal Kherson managers Association footballers not categorized by position Expatriate football managers in the Republic of Ireland American expatriates in the Republic of Ireland Expatriate football managers in Saint Lucia American expatriates in Saint Lucia