Anthony D. DiCicco Jr. (August 5, 1948 – June 19, 2017) was an 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 ...
player and coach and TV commentator. He is best known as the coach of the
United States women's national soccer team
The United States women's national soccer team (USWNT) represents the United States in international women's Association football, soccer. The team is the most successful in international women's soccer, winning four FIFA Women's World Cup, Wom ...
from 1994 to 1999, during which time the team won an
Olympic
Olympic or Olympics may refer to
Sports
Competitions
* Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896
** Summer Olympic Games
** Winter Olympic Games
* Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...
gold medal in
1996
File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...
and the
1999 FIFA Women's World Cup
The 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup was the third edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the world championship for women's national soccer teams. It was hosted as well as won by the United States and took place from June 19 to July 10, 1999, at ...
. He was also coach of the USA team that won the
2008 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup
The 2008 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup was the 4th edition of the tournament. It was held in Chile between 19 November and 7 December 2008. Sixteen teams, comprising representatives from all six confederations, took part in the final competition, i ...
.
Early life
Born in
Wethersfield, Connecticut
Wethersfield is a town located in Hartford County, Connecticut. It is located immediately south of Hartford along the Connecticut River. Its population was 27,298 at the time of the 2020 census.
Many records from colonial times spell the name ...
, DiCicco was 1966 graduate of
Wethersfield High School in
Wethersfield, Connecticut
Wethersfield is a town located in Hartford County, Connecticut. It is located immediately south of Hartford along the Connecticut River. Its population was 27,298 at the time of the 2020 census.
Many records from colonial times spell the name ...
, where he lettered in soccer, baseball and basketball.
In 1970, DiCicco graduated from
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 ...
in Massachusetts, where he was an
All-American goalkeeper
In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...
his senior year. He played with the
Connecticut Wildcats
Rugby league has been played in the United States by club teams since the 1970s. In that time a number of amateur and semi-professional clubs have been established and ended up going defunct.
American National Rugby League
*Aston Bulls (1998–2 ...
and
Rhode Island Oceaneers Home field was Pierce field East Providence RI
Rhode Island Oceaneers was a soccer team.
History
The original Rhode Island Oceaneers soccer team was established in 1974. That season, they won the league title after a 16-2 regular season. U.S. Socc ...
of the
American Soccer League for five years, and made a single appearance for the
United States men's national soccer team
The United States men's national soccer team (USMNT) represents the United States in men's international soccer competitions. The team is controlled by the United States Soccer Federation and is a member of FIFA and CONCACAF.
The U.S. team ha ...
in 1973. During this time, he also taught Physical Education at Bellows Falls Middle School in Bellows Falls, Vt. for at least the 1972–1973 school year.
Coaching career
International
In 1991, DiCicco became the goalkeeper coach for the U.S. women's team; he was also the goalkeeping coach for the 1993 U.S. men's under-20 team. He took over as head coach of the women's team in 1994, and compiled a record of 105–8–8, culminating with the team's dramatic win over
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
in the 1999 World Cup final.
In 2008, DiCicco coached the U.S. U-20 Women's national team to victory in the
FIFA Women's U-20 World Cup in Chile.
Club
DiCicco served as head coach of the
Boston Breakers
The Boston Breakers were an American professional soccer club based in the Boston neighborhood of Allston. The team competed in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). They replaced the original Breakers, who competed in the defunct Women's ...
of the
Women's Professional Soccer
Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) was the top-level professional women's soccer league in the United States. It began play on March 29, 2009. The league was composed of seven teams for its first two seasons and fielded six teams for the 2011 sea ...
from 2009 to 2011.
Sports administration
DiCicco was the founding commissioner of the
Women's United Soccer Association
The Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA) was the world's first Women's association football, women's soccer league in which all the players were paid as professionals. Founded in February 2000 in sports, 2000, the league began its first se ...
from 2000 to 2003.
DiCicco has also served on a Technical Advisory board for U.S. Soccer.
Broadcasting
DiCicco worked as a commentator and analyst for
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
's and
Fox Sports
Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world.
The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the Fo ...
' broadcasts of women's soccer, including the main broadcast booth for the
2015 FIFA Women's World Cup
The 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup was the seventh FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international soccer championship contested by the women's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The tournament was hosted by Canada for the ...
.
Writer
DiCicco was co-author of "Catch Them Being Good: Everything You Need to Know to Successfully Coach Girls" with Colleen Hacker and Charles Salzberg.
Honors and awards
Individual
DiCicco was elected to the National Soccer Hall of Fame Class of 2012.
International
Coach
Women's Olympics Soccer (1):
1996
File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...
FIFA Women's World Cup
The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior women's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association ( FIFA), the sport's international governing bo ...
(1):
1999
File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...
FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup
The FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup is an international association football tournament, organized by FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association), for national teams of women under the age of 20. The tournament is held in even-numbere ...
(1):
2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
Personal life
DiCicco and his wife, Diane, have four sons: Anthony, Andrew, Alex, and Nicholas.
DiCicco died on June 19, 2017, from cancer at his home in Wethersfield, Connecticut.
He was 68 years old.
References
External links
U.S. Soccer player bioLinkedin.com public profileTony DiCicco, U.S. Women's National Soccer Coach, World Cup Champion – amherst.edu*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dicicco, Tony
1948 births
2017 deaths
People from Wethersfield, Connecticut
Sportspeople from Hartford, Connecticut
Soccer players from Connecticut
American soccer players
Association football goalkeepers
United States men's international soccer players
American Soccer League (1933–1983) players
Connecticut Wildcats soccer players
Rhode Island Oceaneers players
American soccer coaches
United States women's national soccer team managers
1995 FIFA Women's World Cup managers
1999 FIFA Women's World Cup managers
FIFA Women's World Cup-winning managers
American color commentators
Association football commentators
American people of Italian descent
American sportspeople of Italian descent
American women's soccer coaches
Deaths from cancer in Connecticut
National Soccer Hall of Fame members
Springfield Pride athletes
Women's Professional Soccer coaches
American Olympic coaches