Mike Freitag is a retired American

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 ...

defender who played professionally in the Major Indoor Soccer League. He served six seasons as the head coach of the

Indiana Hoosiers The Indiana Hoosiers are the intercollegiate sports teams and players of Indiana University Bloomington, named after the colloquial term for people from the state of Indiana. The Hoosiers participate in Division I of the National Collegiate Ath ...

men's soccer team.

Player

Youth

Freitag graduated from

Christian Brothers College High School Christian Brothers College High School (CBC High School) is a Lasallian Catholic college preparatory school for young men in Town and Country, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Louis and ...

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

. He then attended

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universi ...

where he played on the men's soccer team from 1976 to 1979. He was a 1979 First Team All American. He graduated with

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in physical education and earned a master's degree in sports administration from Indiana in 1986.

Professional

In 1980, Freitag signed with the

San Diego Sockers San Diego Sockers may refer to: *San Diego Sockers (1978–1996) The San Diego Sockers were a soccer and indoor soccer team based in San Diego, California. The team played in the indoor and outdoor editions of the North American Soccer League ( ...

of 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 ...

, but played no first team games. That fall, he moved to the

Denver Avalanche The Denver Avalanche were an American soccer team based out of Denver, Colorado that played in the Major Indoor Soccer League from 1980 to 1982. Their home arena was McNichols Sports Arena. History In February 1980, the Major Indoor Soccer ...

of the Major Indoor Soccer League.

Coach

After retiring from professional soccer in 1982, Freitag remained in Colorado where he coached at the youth level. He was a member of the U.S. Soccer Federation Coaching Committee from 1990–91. He also spent time as the head coach of both the Colorado State Olympic Development Program (1987) and the Region IV Olympic Development Program (1989–90) . In 1993, Freitag returned to

to become an assistant coach with the men's soccer team. In 2004, he replaced

Jerry Yeagley Jerry Yeagley (born January 10, 1940 in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, Lebanon, Pennsylvania) is a former soccer player and coach. He was the coach of the Indiana Hoosiers men's soccer team from 1973 to 2003. His teams won six NCAA Men's Soccer Championsh ...

as head coach and promptly took the team to the 2004 Division I Men's College Cup championship. He was named the

Big Ten Coach of the Year Coaches and media of the Big Ten Conference award the following individual honors at the end of each American football, football season. In addition, the ''Chicago Tribune'' awards the Chicago Tribune Silver Football to the most valuable football p ...

in 2006 and 2007. After the Hoosiers lost 10 games in 2009, the university announced on December 2, 2009 that they would not renew Freitag's contract. In his six seasons as head coach, Frietag compiled an 86–32–19 record. Freitag spent a total of 24 years at Indiana as a player, graduate assistant, assistant coach and head coach and was involved in five of Indiana's seven national championships. In June 2011, Freitag was added to the

University of Denver The University of Denver (DU) is a private university, private research university in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1864, it is the oldest independent private university in the Mountain States, Rocky Mountain Region of the United States. It is ...

men's soccer staff as a volunteer assistant coach.

References

External links

NASL/MISL stats

{{DEFAULTSORT:Freitag, Mike 1958 births Living people American soccer coaches American men's soccer players Denver Avalanche players Indiana Hoosiers men's soccer coaches Indiana Hoosiers men's soccer players Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players San Diego Sockers (1978–1996) players All-American college men's soccer players Men's association football defenders