Jeff Baicher (born November 16, 1968, in Sunnyvale, California) is a retired American soccer forward whose professional career took him through multiple leagues, including the

Western Soccer League Western Soccer Alliance was a professional soccer league featuring teams from the West Coast of the United States and Western Canada. The league began in 1985 as the Western Alliance Challenge Series. In 1986, it became the Western Soccer All ...

, American Professional Soccer League, Continental Indoor Soccer League and Major League Soccer. He ended his playing career with the Bay Area Seals of the

USL A-League The USL Championship (USLC) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that began its inaugural season in 2011. The USL is sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer) as a Division II league since 2017, pl ...

. He earned two

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with the U.S. national team and coaches youth soccer.

Youth

Baicher was born and raised in California. He lived in Santa Clara County while growing up and entered organized soccer with the Sunnyvale United Soccer Club. He also attended Homestead High School where he played on the boys soccer team. After graduating from high school, Baicher attended

Foothill College Foothill College is a public community college in Los Altos Hills, California. It is part of the Foothill–De Anza Community College District. It was founded on January 15, 1957, and offers 79 Associate degree programs, 1 Bachelor's degree p ...

, a local two year community college near his home and went to two straight State Championships. In 1989, he transferred to Santa Clara University where he spent the next two seasons. In 1989, Baichers first year with the Broncos, the team won the

NCAA championship The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges and ...

title against

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

after the two schools played even through four overtimes. 1989 Baicher was named NCAA player of the year and was scouted by Manchester United and the US National Team. While at Santa Clara, he paired with fellow forward Paul Bravo who later teamed with Baicher at both the

San Francisco Bay Blackhawks San Francisco Bay Blackhawks were a professional soccer team which came into existence in 1989 as a team in the Western Soccer League (WSL). The Blackhawks spent time in the American Professional Soccer League (APSL) and the United States Interreg ...

and the San Jose Clash. Baicher was named NCAA top 11 and was named NCAA All-America both in his Junior and Senior year. He ended his two years at Santa Clara fifth on the NCAA list of assists per game with 37 in 43 games.

Minor leagues

While still in college, Baicher began playing for the professional soccer club

of the

during the collegiate off season. He would remain with the Blackhawks for their entire existence under that name, beginning with the team’s first season in 1989 and ending in 1991. During his years with the Blackhawks, he became an integral part of this dominant U.S. club. That same season, the Blackhawks went to the semifinals of the CONCACAF Champions' Cup. The last two seasons saw Baicher play for Laurie Calloway as well as former Broncos team mate Paul Bravo .
/sup>. In 1991, Baicher was recruited and traveled to England where he had a trial with Manchester United. Baicher trained with the first team and reserves and saw time with the reserve squad during the 1991 season before returning home in early 1992 for ACL reconstruction in his left knee. In 1994, Baicher spent the season with the Central California Valley (CCV) Hydra of the U.S. Interregional Soccer League (USISL). The next year found him with the

Monterey Bay Jaguars California Jaguars were an American soccer team that played in Salinas, California at the Salinas Sports Complex. They joined the USISL in 1995 as the Monterey Bay Jaguars, but changed the name a year later. They played in the A-League in 1997 ...

of the USISL Professional League. That season, Monterey Bay compiled a 16–4 record, taking their Division championship. That put them in the Sizzling Nine tournament where they failed to make the title game. The 1995 season also saw Baicher spend time with the

San Jose Grizzlies The San Jose Grizzlies were a professional indoor soccer team based in San Jose, California. The team was founded on November 24, 1993, and played in the Continental Indoor Soccer League (CISL). After playing in the 1994 and 1995 CISL seasons, th ...

of the Continental Indoor Soccer League (CISL).
/sup>

MLS

In 1996, the San Jose Clash of Major League Soccer drafted Baicher for 1996 MLS Inaugural Player Draft. He went on to play from 1996 to 1999 in San Jose. The first two seasons saw him reunited with his former Blackhawks coach Laurie Calloway as well as his recurring team mate Paul Bravo. The team thought so highly of him that they protected him in the

1997 MLS Expansion Draft The 1997 MLS Expansion Draft was held November 6, 1997. Two teams participated, the Chicago Fire and Miami Fusion F.C., both expansion Major League Soccer clubs starting play in the 1998 season. Format Each team in the league made ten players, in ...

. However, in 1999, while he was the team’s second leading scorer, San Jose sent him to the

New England Revolution The New England Revolution is an American professional soccer club based in the Greater Boston area that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), in the Eastern Conference of the league. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having compe ...

for

Jair In the Biblical Book of Judges, Jair or Yair ( he, יָאִיר ''Yā’īr'', "he enlightens") was a man from Gilead of the Tribe of Manasseh, east of the River Jordan, who judged Israel for 22 years, after the death of Tola, who had ruled of ...

on August 13, 1999. The mid-season trade sparked considerable controversy as

Robert Kraft Robert Kenneth Kraft (born June 5, 1941) is an American billionaire businessman. He is the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Kraft Group, a diversified holding company with assets in paper and packaging, sports and entertainment ...

owned both teams. Kraft owned the New England Patriots of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) and had grown up and lived in the New England area his entire life. At the time it appeared as if Kraft had made the trade in order to boost the Revolution’s prospects at the expense of the Clash.
/sup> Regardless, Baicher spent only the remainder of the 1999 season with the Revs before being traded, with a third round draft pick, to the Kansas City Wizards on January 3, 2000, for the Wizards’ second, third and fourth round picks in the 2000 Super Draft.
/sup> Baicher was furious with the trade and refused to move to Kansas City. He had spent his entire playing career in the San Francisco bay area and his wife had long established herself in the

Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that serves as a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical areas San Mateo Coun ...

computer industry. He demanded that the league send him back to San Jose. When MLS refused to invalidate the trade or pressure the Wizards to send him to the Earthquakes, Baicher retired from MLS.
/sup>. Baicher was named the team’s Offensive Player of the Year but decided to retire from playing professionally.

National team

Baicher was scouted by US soccer for his performance in the NCAA final in 1989. He joined the US National Team pool after his junior year at Santa Clara University and spend the next five years in and out of the team. He played 22 times against opponents like Bayern Munich, Flamingo and Boca Juniors. Baicher earned two

with the United States men's national soccer team, U.S national team in 1990 and 1991. His first cap came as a substitute for Bruce Murray in a February 13, 1990, victory over

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. His second, and last, cap came a year later as a substitute for

Fernando Clavijo Fernando Caetano Clavijo Cedrés (January 23, 1956 – February 8, 2019) was a Uruguayan-American soccer defender and former head coach of the New England Revolution and Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer. He played three seasons in the ...

in a February 1, 1991, loss to Switzerland.

Coaching

Since retiring from playing professionally, Baicher has joined the coaching ranks with

Bethany University Bethany University was a four-year private coeducational Christian university located in Scotts Valley, California, in Santa Cruz County. It operated from 1919 until closing in 2011 and was endorsed by the Assemblies of God USA, a Pentecostal d ...

. He is currently the Boys Coaching Director and coach for the DeAnza Force Soccer Club.

References

External links

DeAnza Force bio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Baicher, Jeff 1968 births Living people American men's soccer players American Professional Soccer League players Foothill Owls men's soccer players Santa Clara Broncos men's soccer players United States men's international soccer players Western Soccer Alliance players San Francisco Bay Blackhawks players USISL players Central California Valley Hydra players California Jaguars players Continental Indoor Soccer League players San Jose Grizzlies players San Jose Earthquakes players New England Revolution players Sporting Kansas City players San Francisco Seals (soccer) players American soccer coaches Major League Soccer players Sportspeople from Sunnyvale, California Soccer players from Santa Clara County, California Men's association football forwards Homestead High School (California) alumni