Mark Berson (born March 16, 1953) is an American retired
soccer coach. He spent 43 seasons as head
men's soccer coach at the
University of South Carolina. He started his coaching career at
The Citadel
The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, commonly known simply as The Citadel, is a public senior military college in Charleston, South Carolina. Established in 1842, it is one of six senior military colleges in the United States. ...
in 1976.
Collegiate career
Berson graduated from
Summit High School in
Summit, New Jersey in 1971 and enrolled at the
University of North Carolina
The University of North Carolina is the multi-campus public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the NC School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referred to as the UNC Sy ...
.
Mark Berson profile
CSTV
CBS Sports Network (a.k.a. CBSSN) is an American pay television network owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global. When it launched in 2002 as the National College Sports Network (later College Sports Television also known as ...
. Accessed November 5, 2007. "A 1971 graduate of Summit (N.J.) High School, Berson attended the University of North Carolina and received his Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism in 1975." On the Tar Heel soccer team, he played midfielder his freshman year and goalie the final three years. Berson graduated in 1975 with a degree in journalism and later earned a master's of education degree in sport administration in 1977 from Ohio University
Ohio University is a public research university in Athens, Ohio. The first university chartered by an Act of Congress and the first to be chartered in Ohio, the university was chartered in 1787 by the Congress of the Confederation and subseq ...
.
Coaching career
Berson took a position as an assistant coach on The Citadel's men's soccer program in 1976. A year later, he became the head coach and guided the Bulldogs to their best record ever with an 11–5 mark. In 1978, Berson accepted the head coaching position at the University of South Carolina. He led the Gamecocks to a 13–3–1 record in the program's first season and in the second season they obtained a spot in the NCAA Men's Soccer Championship. The program achieved a high level success under his guidance and his teams won three conference championships in only seven years of being in a conference. The program has made a total of 22 appearances in the NCAA Men's Soccer Championship, all under his direction. Berson coached three players who appeared in the World Cup (Clint Mathis, Josh Wolff and Brad Guzan) for Team USA, spanning a total of 21 years.
When he retired after the 2021 season, he had the most wins of any active coach in NCAA Division I with 522 career victories.
Personal life
Berson is married and has two children, Erin and Luke, who both went to the University of South Carolina.
Head coaching record
References
External links
USC Biography
at GamecocksOnline.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Berson, Mark
Living people
1953 births
North Carolina Tar Heels men's soccer players
Ohio University alumni
Soccer players from New Jersey
Sportspeople from Summit, New Jersey
Summit High School (New Jersey) alumni
South Carolina Gamecocks men's soccer coaches
The Citadel Bulldogs men's soccer coaches
Association footballers not categorized by position
American soccer coaches
Association football players not categorized by nationality